Hearts and Minds

The Marine Corps has introduced a new type of shoulder-mounted rocket, capable of levelling a home if fired through a window or other opening. Noah at Defensetech spells out the problems with this:

But in an era of precision bombs, where collateral damage is expected to be kept to a minimum, such massively brutal weapons have become highly controversial. These days, every civilian casualty means a few more “hearts and minds” are lost. Thermobaric weapons almost invariable lead to civilian deaths. The Soviet Union was heavily criticized for using thermobaric weapons in Afghanistan because they were held to constitute "disproportionate force," and similar criticisms were made when thermobarics were used in the Chechen conflict. According to Human Rights Watch, thermobaric weapons "kill and injure in a particularly brutal manner over a wide area. In urban settings it is very difficult to limit the effect of this weapon to combatants, and the nature of FAE explosions makes it virtually impossible for civilians to take shelter from their destructive effect."

On top of the ongoing controversy of the US's use of incendiary weapons like White Phospohorus, a more efficient way of destroying people's homes isn't exactly going to make the US any new friends in Iraq.