A different slant on things here.
Yes, I'm sure most locals knew of his presence.
I don't agree with the "it would have been appropriate to level the whole town" thing. Why?
Bad publicity / relations.
That and the fact that this is all these people have ever known.
Don't get me wrong. Should this place turn out to be a "hot bed" of harboring terrorists, etc., - then I'd agree with the scorched earth policy.
Notice how the Iraqi forces were the first ones on the scene for this? Followed closely by the boys?
Why is it we are there?
That, and there's the fact that SOMEBODY gave him up. For all we know, it was the guy three houses down. There's also the fact that, if you lived next door to the Manson family or to Adolph Hitler and knew blow by blow what they had done and/or were capable of, would you confront them directly? The man was basically a psychotic mass murderer. If you were in that village, you best bet was to either lay low or inform the officials...quietly. You don't do something to attract the attention of a guy who gets his kicks by beheading basically random people.
We do not have all of the information. Likely there were some survivors. IMHO, by the looks of the Z-mans corpse, there were heroic efforts extended. He was Epi'd, shunted, SP'd, and in my opinion given a smooth ride courtesy of the plant that takes away all pain and suffering. Unless you have never worked with trauma, which I suspect. How DARE you infer or insinuate that our men did anything less than the best. I may not agree with the premise for overthrowing Iraq, and I think Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are in dire need of nuclear therapy. Yet please do not cast aspersion on the finest fighting force in the history of mankind. Dipsh!t.