We did that with Japan in WW2. Bombed the hell outta them, nuked 'em and then rebuilt the economy/infrastructure with our own cash and technology... and now they build better electronic equipment than us. At least they're our ally though.

The American ppl as a whole have gotten lazy and comfortable again. Just like we were up until 9/11. Think of it as we've hit the snooze button again, cause we feel that all the "policies" and "agencies" are protecting us. That and the politicians don't want to have the US looked upon as being "inhumane" for a 'bomb then run' campaign. Remember, we need to be the "bigger person" in this event, regardless of what brought us into it. Rules of war and all that ya know...
I agree though. We should've levelled Iraq, and turned it into a world class athletic compound, turned Afghanistan into a parking lot, and employed the Japanese to construct an uber-high speed train to ferry ppl back and forth. But that's not PC.

 

yeah, thats pretty good