Very amusing... I guess y'all are to young to remember Viet Nam.... had the same problems there.... politicians trying to run the war and not the "boots on the ground" field commanders.
You CANNOT send a "message" to zellots, or fannatics.
They are NOT god fearing people, so the best our soldiers can do is arrange a meeting with their maker.
FWIW, the soldiers that we have lost over there is only a drop in the bucket compared to the Iraquis that have been killed or maimed by their OWN people, Its also a drop in the bucket compared to the number of people killed for absolutely no reason at all by drunk drivers.
You can believe what you want to, but you also seem to have forgotten that our military is an ALL VOLENTEER military.
The draft has not been reinstated since the last time I checked.
I fully expect the draft to be reinstated, and to preclude any problems with womans equal rights, and lawsuites by the ACLU, women will also be included in the draft.
Manditory military service works for Israel, and many other countries, it will work here too. There is also something to be said for Judges going back to giving repeat offenders a choice of jail or military service.

No its not what you want to hear, but reality bites.