"The US military is quite able to play hardball."
They are able to play but they will not for fear of offending the PC community. They would rather let this war drag out, have more of our soldiers killed or maimed, then fight it the right way. Nothing will change this.
Seems to me that the only thing these islamics understand is torture and beheadings so I say why not give them what they want? Capture a bunch of them and behead them - and watch them squirm.