More good news.What i fail to comprehend is why we haven’t eliminated Al Sadr.How difficult would it be to take him out?I understand the new .50 cal sniper rifle is highly accurate out to 1 mile or more?One clean shot-no collateral damage for the msm to whine about.Wouldn’t “cutting off the snakes head” be to our(and Iraqs)benefit?
> What i fail to comprehend is why we haven’t
> eliminated Al Sadr.
Do the current ROEs allow him to be specifically targetted?
My impression is that he was off the target list for a
long time, but may be back on it, and has been keeping
a very low profile on that account. He knows very well that...
> I understand the new .50 cal sniper rifle is highly
> accurate out to 1 mile or more?
If he’s on the list, and a sniper could get that close,
a concrete-filled PGM could more easily be dropped on him.
I suspect his demise will be as collateral damage when
a coven of his close associates are targetted someday.
A .408 is lighter, faster and more accurate than a .50cal round. Some of the guns in that caliber also employ a suppressor, so there’s significantly less sound. You do hear a nice crack but it’s not like an explosion.
Because in the rats nest that is Counter Insurgency Al Sada is playing in the Gray area. He isn't wholly against us and yet is not wholly on our side. Thus we don't really have the grounds to squish him and we don't really know that what might replace him may not be worse.
You also need to consider what message wacking Al Sadr send to the Iraqis. Take him out and you send the message "See the Americans and their Democracy are no different then Saddam. Speak against them and they kill you". Even if it were possible to pull an untraceable hit, we are going to get the blame.
Counter Insurgency is not Total War. This is as much about Politics as it is about Military action. Al Sadr is an annoyance, he is not a threat at this point. Taking him out would hurt us more then help us at this point. However, after the Coalition authority expires in 2008, I expect the Iraqis themselves will arrange for Al Sadr to have an "accident". He is too much a thug for any new Govt to want him around.