Ken, a lot of the disagreements are due to difference in opinion regarding who the bad guys are; Are they some crazy arabs who happen to have found a base in Afpak? or are they the entire top-to-bottom network of Islamist warriors who operate with and without state support and patronage? Or are they just the high level ideologues and organizers within the state who operate the network (meaning one can leave the foot soldiers alone and go straight for the head)? or just the particular people involved in plotting and carrying out a particular attack?
In my own view, changing the strategic direction of the Pakistani military was more important than finding and killing any particular crazy Arab (because without state support this is just a minor headache and not worthy of a trillion dollar bondoogle). I also think this was possible...maybe is still possible. In this view, I remain in a minority even on this forum.
Over to Robert sahib