Sometimes an Iron fist is needed. Still the situation was very bad in Germany from 1945to 1947 and it turned out well.
I read an article in Esquire that compared WWII Germany to Iraq and they said that, unlike Iraq, zero Americans died in post-surrender occupation as opposed to the 500 or so soldiers who've died since Bush declared major combat at an end a year ago. I don't know the specifics of Esquire's research, or how accurate they are... or if they're fudging the interpretation... just repeating what I read.