Michael Totten is an embedded reporter with the 82nd Airborne Division in Baghdad right now. If you really want to understand what's happening on the ground in Iraq, you need to watch his blog here.
Today he has a lengthy post that's worth reading in its entirety, but one of the gems in it is something you simply won't hear in the MSM:
“Most of what we’re doing doesn’t get reported in the media,” [Lieutenant Wolf] said. “We’re not fighting a war here anymore, not in this area. We’ve moved way beyond that stage. We built a soccer field for the kids, bought all kinds of equipment, bought them school books and even chalk. Soon we’re installing 1,500 solar street lamps so they have light at night and can take some of the load off the power grid. The media only covers the gruesome stuff. We go to the sheiks and say hey man, what kind of projects do you want in this area? They give us a list and we submit the paperwork. When the projects get approved, we give them the money and help them buy stuff.”
Not everything they do is humanitarian work, unless you consider counter-terrorism humanitarian work. In my view, you should. Few Westerners think of personal security as a human right, but if you show up in Baghdad I’ll bet you will. Personal security may, in fact, be the most important human right. Without it the others mean little. People aren’t free if they have to hide in their homes from death squads and car bombs.
As you can see, things are really progressing now. Another great resource I just came across is a website called Victory Caucus. I encourage you to go check it out - it's a collection of data from Iraq that includes things like the latest headlines, details on operations, and lots of statistics like coalition casualties, average number of attacks per province, and incidents of sectarian violence. This is a great resource if you want to know what's going on over there!
A final thought on the war. President Bush has never -- in my opinion -- been great about communicating his message to the American public, even when I believe he's been absolutely right. But, in a speech today in South Carolina, Bush did exactly what he needed to do. He laid out the case for the war, why we're in it, and what it means for us to fail. I highly encourage you to take a few minutes and read the whole speech, but one passage strikes me in particular:
Nearly six years after the 9/11 attacks, America remains a nation at war. The terrorist network that attacked us that day is determined to strike our country again, and we must do everything in our power to stop them. A key lesson of September the 11th is that the best way to protect America is to go on the offense, to fight the terrorists overseas so we don't have to face them here at home. And that is exactly what our men and women in uniform are doing across the world.
The key theater in this global war is Iraq. Our troops are serving bravely in that country. They're opposing ruthless enemies, and no enemy is more ruthless in Iraq than al Qaeda. They send suicide bombers into crowded markets; they behead innocent captives and they murder American troops. They want to bring down Iraq's democracy so they can use that nation as a terrorist safe haven for attacks against our country. So our troops are standing strong with nearly 12 million Iraqis who voted for a future of peace, and they so for the security of Iraq and the safety of American citizens.
There's a debate in Washington about Iraq, and nothing wrong with a healthy debate. There's also a debate about al Qaeda's role in Iraq. Some say that Iraq is not part of the broader war on terror. They complain when I say that the al Qaeda terrorists we face in Iraq are part of the same enemy that attacked us on September the 11th, 2001. They claim that the organization called al Qaeda in Iraq is an Iraqi phenomenon, that it's independent of Osama bin Laden and that it's not interested in attacking America.
That would be news to Osama bin Laden. He's proclaimed that the "third world war is raging in Iraq." Osama bin Laden says, "The war is for you or for us to win. If we win it, it means your defeat and disgrace forever." I say that there will be a big defeat in Iraq and it will be the defeat of al Qaeda.
He goes on to detail -- and I mean detail -- fact after fact of who we face in this war and what they are attempting to do, as well as how our military is succeeding on a daily basis. Along the way, he obliterates myth after myth that is spouted by anti-war leftists in this country and around the world. This was a great speech, and every American should give it a read. Many who oppose the war will learn a great many things about the enemy and the stakes we face. We can only hope they'll come around and support our mission and our troops. It is support that is well-deserved and sadly withheld by a few in the liberal leadership in America.
There's my two cents.
No comments:
Post a Comment