Time to remove the gloves.

According to news reports, the cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, head of the militia often in question, has left the country of Iraq and is now in Iran. His departure has been linked to the new push against the militia he controls.

However, sources working for Muqtada al-Sadr are saying he is simply avoiding media coverage for thirty days.

If this is truly the case and he is now in Iran, then now is the time to totally destroy his infrastructure as well as those within his militia. They are leaderless and what better time than now to get the job done.

This leads us to the security crackdown presently under way in an attempt to secure Baghdad. The U.S. and Iraqi military have increased patrols, established checkpoints, earlier curfews and a host of other plans in their quest to bring peace to the city.

This is not going to accomplish much, for as we all know by now, the militia and insurgents simply put down their weapons and blend into the population.

If peace is to be established in Baghdad, then the gloves must be removed from U.S. forces enacted by the present administration in Iraq. Our military needs to be able to go into the neighborhoods and destroy the militia and insurgents as well as their leadership.

The borders need to be secured to stop the insurgents presently flowing in through Syria and Iran as well as the weapons used to arm these individuals.

The use of force must be approved by the Iraq leadership and if they fail to comply, then we need to ignore them and go in and get the job done once and for all.