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Personally I believe the US fighting forces are holding back way too much. We should really do shock and awe like the campaign started out trying to do. A war from the air raining down destruction until there is little to no resistance left.
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Well, now, there's a problem with that - it is inconsistent with the latest rationalization for why we are there. The problem with disguishing a war with imperialistic objectives as a liberation effort is that you just can't do that. I don't think that a lot of the support the President has now
The first think I would do if I was in charge politcally right now is send anyone who even nodded in agreement with this sort of bravado off to some insignificant post in Figi. While, after recent events, it has a certain emotional appeal, tactically it has never proven to work - whether it was the saturation bombing tactics of WWII or the ten year long Rolling Thunder campaigns of Vietnam - not to mention that the technique did not work for the British, the French, the Dutch, the Belguins, nor the Portugese.
In addition to alienating the rest of the Iraqi population - which you may not care about, but have to admit we need - it would be the absolute best recruting campaign imaginable for the likes of alQaida. It could topple our new buddy in Pakistan, destroy what we've accomplished in Afghanistan, and further strengthen the bad guys in a number of the the other bumfuckistans that we need right now.
Short term? I'd get SERIOUS about the need to treat post-Saddam Iraq like post-Hitler Germany. At the risk of seeming to emulate Ribbentrop and Molotov, I'd get the foreign ministers of the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council together, carve the sucker up into zones, and REALLY occupy Iraq. Oh, the concessions that would be necessary to make that happen would probably cost the Haliburtons some money - but it would be well worth it.
When we occupied Germany a former Nazi couldn't fart without it being within earshot of the Allied occupation forces. In Vietnam in the 60s & 70s, like in Iraq today, the enemy can operate with impunity unless we happen to be in their face - and if we are they can simply wait ten minutes. "Occupation-lite" does not work. It failed in Vietnam for us twice (the first time it was American dollars and French lives); it failed for the other powers listed above; and it failed for the Soviets in Afghanistan. The smoke and mirrors fantasy that we can turn power back over to the Iraqis in June has got to end.