The US Navy would have stood by and allowed US Marines to be captured when ordered by the politicians in central command or the White House to stand down.
The fact that Sadr is alive today and calling on the Iraqi military and police to turn against us shows the limits place on our soldiers by the PC politicians. If you go to war you have to take it to the enemy if he is in Tehran, Saudi Arabia or Venezuela. Limiting the exercise of our power to Iraq and Afghanistan has created a mess where the enemies are free to act outside the borders we define.
I agree with you about the politicians. When the trouble occurred in Fallujah, followed by the emergence of the Mahdi Army, Bush was unwilling to allow our troops to take decisive action. That lack of action may have lost us Iraq, and by extension, peace in the Middle East.