* We should have killed al Sadr when we had the chance after four contractors were brutally killed and dragged through the streets of Fallujah. When the Mahdi Militia first raised its ugly head, we should have cut it off in Fallujah. Instead we sent in an Iraqi colonel who was actually sympathetic to al Sadr's cause. We should have gone in there with overwhelming force and killed him. If he wanted to be a martyr, by all means oblige him. Instead, al Sadr's been a pain in our side for years and has caused the deaths of hundreds of American soldiers.
It's interesting that you think killing all these people would change anything in the long run. Their dying as matyres would have made them an even stronger symbol for others than they already are. Killing someone doesn't mean you have proved that his believes were wrong. Others will follow, others who probably wouldn't have become so radical if the USA hadn't begun this war in the first place.
Revenge is never single sided and no matter how many people you kill, it is impossible to kill an idea. The third Reich may have ceased to exist, but there are still Nazis around the world. In Germany, in the USA and in so many other countries. And there will always be people on this planet who don't consider our "freedom" as their way of living.
I don't know how we are supposed to solve this problem, but I'm sure that war is not the right answer.
