I’ve been reading “No True Glory” about the battle for Fallujah. If that book can be believed, the American military is incredibly careful about not creating collateral damage among the civilians in order to avoid the fallout that it creates.
The trouble is that if we don’t kill the civilians, the towelies do it anyway and blame it on us. THAT is the counter-insurgency problem we have to deal with.
Remember, the hajis use a variation of the “kill’em all, let God sort ‘em out” approach. They think if the victim was righteous, he/she will go to paradice, if not, to hell with ‘em.