What Would Genghis Kahn and Others Do in Iraq?

There is, of course, a very long history of invading armies taking over new territory. Given that, and the trouble we've had in Iraq, I've wondered if there is an historical template for how to take over a defeated country and whether we ignored that historical template in Iraq. At one point I did some reading and sent a few emails around looking for answers. I managed to learn a little bit about how this was done in the past, but not enough.

So I was interested to see "How would four of the greatest war leaders in history have handled Iraq?" in the LA Times, particularly the first one on Genghis Khan's takeover of Iraq in the 13th century:

• Genghis Khan: Law and order, by Jack Weatherford
• Caesar: Diplomacy and power, by Adrian Goldsworthy
• Lincoln: Focus on the real foe, by Harold Holzer
• Washington: The crying game, by Joseph J. Ellis