He was backed-up (at some distance) by soldiers

It might have been interesting to see how well he would have done if there were no soldiers at all.

The courage of such people is undeniable. You can make a good case that it takes more balls to walk certain places in the world without a gun than with one. If you check this thread you can see that such people often pay for such courage with their lives, and there are many such examples. Courage alone doesn't help much in some areas of the world unless you're backed by force.

It is also worth noting that the hands-on close-to-the-people techniques you discuss are being extensively used by the military in Iraq, particularly the Marines, and have been quite successful. Remember, there are millions of Iraqis who are not shooting at our soldiers.