Stephen Soldz on the psychodynamics of occupation:

"So what do occupation soldiers do when the stated reason for their occupation of another country is to liberate the populace, but many of that populace regard them as invaders and either respond sullenly to their presence, or actively resist occupation? One coping strategy is to try and distinguish between the 'good guys' and the 'bad guys.' As Staff Sgt. Riley Flaherty expressed it: 'What's really hard is the fine line between the bad guys and the good guys.... Because if you piss off the wrong good guys, you're really in trouble. So you've really got to watch what you do and how you treat the people.' That is, the occupied population is split into its good and bad elements, with evil projected onto the bad, and the good construed as largely childlike and in need of protection, but also prone to turn bad at a moment's notice.

However, the task of an occupation army is one of control of the populace. As Sgt. 1st Class Glenn Aldrich, from the same unit as Sgt. Flaherty, put it: 'I've got 200,000 Iraqis I've got to control with 18 people... so I've got to command respect. And unfortunately, all that hearts and minds stuff, I can't even think about that.' He goes on to explain 'There are things I have to do out here that I can't explain to my chain of command, and that the American people would never understand.'