This guy is nothing but trouble. Someone needs to put a boot in his a**.
We did starting in April 2004. He fled Baghdad and went to Karbala then elsewhere inciting violence against the Iraqi government and Coalition forces. The US forces were destroying large numbers of his militia in Baghdad, Karbala and elsewhere.
Several times we almost caught or killed him. At one point he was even injured from one of our drones that hit his motorcade with a Hellfire. But we took out some of his Lieutenants since he was in another vehicle. He got hurt in the arm though and you could see him all bandaged up preaching from his Mosque.
(Opinion)
It's a balancing act I believe. I think the Iraqi government nor the Coalition really wants to deal with the fallout of "taking him out." This would cause serious issues. Instead we will try to buy him into the process and over time even allow him to legitimize himself. Make him part of the establishment in Iraq. In the meantime there is a balance where he isn’t too much trouble and we aren’t going after him with all we have either.
Red6