re: alternative
Nation building would require recruiting an entirely new occupation army. The real army would stand by to defeat serious organized attempts to overthrow the nation builders. The nation builders would operate from entirely different principles, more like police and constabulary than armed forces.
What makes me put my head in my hands in sheer frustration is that this is pretty much what is being done in Iraq right now. There are huge numbers of people working on reconstruction while the military does its best to hold the enemy at bay.
The media is driving this war like it drove Vietnam, and with the same goal: to drive it off a cliff.