Tuesday, May 4, 2004
Well, the quagmire people are back in full-force. It remains to be seen whether they're finally right or not. One thing's for sure, those who are slaves to the 24 hour news cycle are spinning their wheels in the mud with no way out.
Any tough fight, any difficult situation which can't be solved through massive force alone requires patience and perseverance. Our guys have it. Do we back home? Read what a great job our guys are still doing. No one beats the US:
Winds of Change: Another letter from Iraq: (I quote the "civilian translation" from the comments)
For those who can't quite picture the situation from the terse mil-speak:
Picture a convoy, lightly armed, carrying tanks on huge flatbed trucks. Huge chains holding the tanks on the trucks. Skeleton crew inside tanks. Convoy commanded by a transportation Captain; 1st Lt. tanker in charge of the tanks / skeleton crews. (Transportation is a support branch; the tanker is in a combat arms branch.)
They hit a big ambush and a transport truck is disabled. This young 1Lt, probably 24 yrs old or so, sizes up the situation, has his NCOs start firing back from the tanks that are still on the trucks. And WHILE they are firing, he has them break out of the chains by using the shear strength of the tanks, backing off the transports (nobody back there making sure they weren't going off the edge, either), organizes the defense and gets them all out of there, including the lightly armed transportation people, alive.
And saves all the equipment except for the one disabled HET.
Just an incredible display of leadership, quick thinking and courage. No wonder the 2 star met him in the field and wrote to the 4 star about him.
I'm incredibly proud of our young men and women out there.
As are we all.
It's so easy to lose heart when you're back home soaring or falling on every news report. The pictures from Abu Ghraib are a horrible setback - a battle lost...but the war? No. Not yet. Not by a long shot.
We get it drilled into us so often that the folks over there weren't set up right, that "they" didn't plan properly...that even the supporters of the effort start thinking, "Well, maybe it's time to to re-think this thing..." And I mean not in a tactical sense, but strategically. I mean the whole shebang.
But really, the fact is, you can't trust the analysis of anyone on this side of the Atlantic. In fact, the analysis you get from anyone on that side of the Atlantic is really akin to the blind man describing the elephant unless they're pretty high up on the food-chain...and they ain't talkin'. (Do I really need to remind everyone to be cautious of the media and they're "narrative by headline" ways?)
You can look for a few signs. The exercise of patience paying off. The use of internal forces to do the job appropriate to them, while we do what we're good at - killing bad guys. Here's a story about the other Shi'ites working on putting al Sadr in his place. They want us humble, but they DON'T want us gone just yet, and in their own way, they're doing our work for us, although this is the type of work that takes a little time and patience.
Iraq Shi'ite Political Leaders Try to Contain Sadr:
The move is the first collective effort by Sadr's political rivals to try to avoid further violence in Najaf and Kerbala, and regain political ground lost to the firebrand cleric, whose nationalist brand of Islam has gained him support.
"It is a shame to ask the occupation forces to solve this problem," Shi'ite leader Mohammad Bahr al-Uloum told a meeting of Shi'ite parties, including those on the Governing Council.
"We are taking a clear stand: Najaf and Kerbala must be disarmed. These are holy cities that must have a Vatican (news - web sites)-like status," he added...
Our guys have patience, so we need to as well. We owe to them. Sometimes I think some of the Iraqis are more forward-thinking than we are. Omar, an Iraqi at Iraq the Model writes:
I mean about a month ago, we had considerable reactions and somewhat large demonstrations in response to the killing of Hamas leader, and in the mid of maniac reactions from Arab media and people, the absence of large demonstrations and outrage on the streets of Iraq becomes really strange and give rise to questions. Why the Iraqi people are not really upset with this issue?
Is it because of the firm and rapid response from the American officials to these terrible actions?
Or is it because the Iraqi people lack compassion with the majority of these prisoners?
Could it be that the Iraqi people and as a result of decades of torture, humiliation and executions, took these crimes less seriously than the rest of the world?
Or have the majority of Iraqis finally developed some trust in the coalition authorities and in the American army, to sense that these actions must be isolated and will be punished?
I can’t say I have the full answer but I guess it’s a combination of a little bit of all the above...
...Then came the big question “who do you think is going to lead Iraq in the transitional phase? And will that leader be one of the current members of the GC”? This question was directed to me. I said that I don’t think that the future president will be chosen from inside the GC and I asked my friends back "if you were to choose your president from the GC, whom would you elect”? They all agreed that Adnan Pachachi would be the best available choice in such circumstances. As a matter of fact, I share the same opinion because this man is acceptable to many Iraqis due to his moderate attitudes and clean background and he has no militia or the kind of followers that can abuse their man's power to harm others, break the law or have illegal advantages.
When I said goodbye to my friends I sensed some optimism inside me when I realized they are paying more attention to the future and were not fooled by the Arab media to act only in response to emotions.
No doubt, there are MANY forces out there praying for us to be badly hurt, and don't give one damn what happens to Iraq in the process - some intentionally because their interests are in conflict with ours, and others who simply haven't thought it through. But remember, there are plenty of others who seem to oppose us, that when push comes to shove, will find themselves in the "be careful what you wish for" boat. A lot of Iraqis are in that group. The Shi'ites in the Reuters item above are like that.
Say, I could be wrong (I'm not a human news aggregator) but it seems to me the press has been in some confusion about what to do since the Likud vote against Sharon's disengagement plan. That's the impression I get. They've spent all this time stomping their feet and vilifying through their headlines the only President to endorse a Palestinian State (that would be Bush), that when the vote went THEIR WAY - when they got what they wished for - they were at a loss. "How do we spin this? We got what we wanted, but it's not quite how we wanted it." Be careful what you wish for. It's like The Monkey's Paw, bearer of cruel gifts.
No, for my part, I sit, wait, watch...and avoid wishing.
