I would say Gerecht is arguing not so much for a massive crackdown, but rather a massive U.S.-led effort to crush the Sunni insurgency and clear the decks for a religious Shia theocracy in Iraq led by the less anti-American Shia clerics selected by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani (and perhaps even al-Sadr, if he refrains from too much anti-American activity by the looks of this article). Gerecht appears to believe that by doing this, we'll somehow split political Shiism so that Iran's leadership is marginalized (the whole depending on the Najaf quietists to fight our battle against the Qom Khomeinists idea), leading to pro-American factions in both Iran and Iraq.

I agree that this is largely a waste of ink.