Just out of curiosity...
What "something else" do you think they should have tried?
Most of what I've heard from people I respect in the military field says we should have come down a lot harder earlier on, and to hell with the professional pants-wetters who believe any violence in a war is a bad thing. I even heard this from Iraqis in the early parts of the war, who were wondering why we were walking on eggshells everywhere we went, and letting obvious troublemakers off the hook. Sadr's head should have been on a plate two years ago.
Incidentally, if we had just let Saddam, Iran, and the rest go happily on their way while we were tied down in Afghanistan, the result a few years from now in that area would have been anything but peace and stability.