'd have thought the last 100 years should have proved that bombing people in the Middle East does no bloody good at all
Hardly, if we stopped playing tiddley winks with them, we might have more luck. Why did the Germans and Japanese get special treatment. You start treating them as a serious enemy, and fight to win you will see results.
As I have said before, the psychology of all this hasn't change in thousands of years. We as a species have been taking over, defeating, losing, suppressing etc for eons, the MO's for successful campaigns is not rocket science.
Our biggest problem is us, and our enemys know it.