Muqtada al-Sadr and His Militia Need Taken Out

Think it was two years ago now that we had al-Sadr surrounded, the Mosque he and his minions were using surrounded. We should have leveled the Mosque if that's what was required to have gotten al-Sadr, have broken the back of his militia, forced a full and unconditional surrender. We instead allowed Muqtada al-Sadr and his militia to walk away unscathed, and in that gave him a huge victory in the eyes of his people...he had stood up to America, and survived to tell the tale. George Bush Senior made the same mistake in the first Desert Storm when our troops had the Red Army surrounded...instead of tightening the noose, it was opened, Saddam's troops allowed to scatter back to Baghdad.

When historians write the story of this war, when they pinpoint the defining moments that shaped the events, steered them towards particular outcomes, the show down at the Mosque with al-Sadr will be one of those moments. The Bush administration's, even America's need to be politically correct saw our troops held back...GOD FORBID footage of our troops taking down a Sacred Mosque be flashed around the world on the six o'clock news. What a tactical blunder, a mistake of monumental proportions. On the one hand we have George W. Bush thumping his chest, talking tough, and telling the terrorist, we will hunt you down, we will find you, and we will deal with you, yet when it came down to it, the war on terror took a second seat to appearing politically correct on the six o'clock news! We should have blown that Mosque sky wide and handsome, but instead we allowed al-Sadr to walk away, and that act made him a folk hero of monumental proportions.

Now, America is faced with another one of those DEFINING MOMENTS, and not surprisingly it involves the exact same thug we let live two years ago...he is not happy with Bush's planned meeting with al-Maliki, wants the meeting canceled, worse wants to attend. He has gone on television over in the Middle East, his words racing around the world demanding that the meeting be canceled, or he pulls his people out of the government...now, it is no surprise that al-Sadr is backed financially and militarily (on some level) by Iran. We are seeing here a chess game, and the very nation of Iraq rides in the outcome. If Bush backs down, if this meeting is canceled, Muqtada al-Sadr and by proxy Iran wins. For all intents, al-Sadr will have shown the entire world that it is he, and he alone who is the power behind the puppet, it is he who is the true leadership of Iraq, he becomes the MONEY PLAYER, and by proxy, America cedes Iraq to Iran and their brand of government by theocracy.

We are at another defining moment...do we finally draw that proverbial line in the sand, or do we yet again pull back in the name of political correctness, in the name of not creating waves? My decision...take the gloves off, send Bush to the meeting, and make an announcement that al-Sadr is now a wanted man, and that his militia has 48 hours to lay down their arms. We either fight our way through an unavoidable blood bath to the other side and perhaps victory, or we pack up our troops and bring them home.

Radical cleric threatens walkout over Bush visit (click for story)

In a test of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's rule, a representative of anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's bloc Friday threatened to suspend participation the government if al-Maliki meets with President Bush next week. Meanwhile, police reported a U.S. raid on al-Sadr's office in Baquba.