The big difference in those two and the middle east is that Germany and Japan were not backward, third world countries and we had just finished utterly defeating them. They had no fight left and they could see that the values we were installing were not that different from their own.

The Romans knew how to do it but that was then and this is now. We have passed the point of using tactics like decimation to control the locals.

Frankly, I don't know how to go about it without appearing to be imperialistic in the eyes of the locals. If we hang around to feed them we are trying to impose our cultural values. If we leave the food and go home the new guys trade it for weapons.

Somebody needs to figure it out.