Posted on 11/17/2008 9:56:03 AM PST by Jet Jaguar
"THE WAR IS OVER AND WE WON:" Michael Yon just phoned from Baghdad, and reports that things are much better than he had expected, and he had expected things to be good. "There's nothing going on. I'm with the 10th Mountain Division, and about half of the guys I'm with haven't fired their weapons on this tour and they've been here eight months. And the place we're at, South Baghdad, used to be one of the worst places in Iraq. And now there's nothing going on. I've been walking my feet off and haven't seen anything. I've been asking Iraqis, 'do you think the violence will kick up again,' but even the Iraqi journalists are sounding optimistic now and they're usually dour." There's a little bit of violence here and there, but nothing that's a threat to the general situation. Plus, not only the Iraqi Army, but even the National Police are well thought of by the populace. Training from U.S. toops has paid off, he says, in building a rapport.
He says the big problem everybody is talking about now is corruption. But hey, we have that here, too. He'll be heading to Afghanistan next week. "Afghanistan is a bad situation, but on Iraq I can't believe things have turned out so well."
He thinks that Obama will be able to pull troops out, and send some to Afghanistan, without creating problems in Iraq. Michael will be reporting from Afghanistan soon, and sending back video, so stay tuned. Things aren't going swimmingly there.
UPDATE: Rand Simberg: "No thanks to the Democrats, including Barack Obama and Joe Biden, who tried to keep it from happening. I see that they still can't bring themselves to utter the word 'win' with respect to the war. They continue to talk about 'ending' it. Well, it looks like George Bush did that for them, and he won it as well."
ANOTHER UPDATE: More thoughts at The Mudville Gazette.
MORE: Yon emails this correction: "Actually, NONE of them have fired their weapons in combat during this tour, and about half of them are combat veterans from Afghanistan and/or Iraq." Sorry, I had misunderstood that bit.
Let’s get those medals out for Pelosi and Reid for winning the war.
The MSM won’t report on it until Febuary at the earliest... most likely April, right around tax day.
Naw, we lost. Don’t you listen to the cable propaganda news or read it NY Slimes. We lost long, long ago. All our troops left in Iraq are POWs now.
So Iraq is now safer than the US.
They’ll give Obama credit for the victory so will liberal history professors.
Thank you President Bush and our brave troops.
replicates exactly what I’ve been hearing from Iraq. Infantry units not engaging in combat for 6 months or more.
The Iraq victory ‘myth’ is now CONFIRMED!
And it will “help” “ease” the brunt for the Dems pointless full scale invasion of our (nuke-armed) ally Pakistan.
Thanks for posting this report. Michael Yon is one of the very few reporters I believe.
Dear Lord: May the successes of our galant troops be preserved in spite of the new Administration’s policy of defeat.
Well done!
How convenient ... they announce that the war has been won AFTER the election is done. And, the President responsible for staying the course and selecting the generals to do the work is being kicked out on his rear and threatened with war crimes trials. Go fig.
It is being reported today that the Iraqis have agreed to an extension of the US presence for the next three years.
I wonder why they agreed to this so quickly after the election?
Move the division to Chicago. There is plenty of action for troops there.
God Bless our troops! (And Michael Yon, the Ernie Pyle of Iraq and Afghanistan.)
I think the mainstream media will wait until January 21, 2009 “WAR OVER” It will cement the Bush is war president, Obama peace president meme.
THANK YOU PRESIDENT BUSH FOR SEEING THIS THROUGH AND WINNING THE WAR.
“It is being reported today that the Iraqis have agreed to an extension of the US presence for the next three years. I wonder why they agreed to this so quickly after the election?”
It was pretty much ready to sign in July actually.
When Obama went to visit Iraq, he violated the Logan Act and encouraged the Iraqis to not negotiate with the US.
I think the holdup was due to trying to help get Obama elected.
bump
I don’t think so though because it would in effect cement Bush as a good president. Think about the presidents during wartime: Madison, Lincoln, Roosevelt, TR, Wilson, FDR, Truman... all (rightfully or wrongfully) considered good or great presidents by historians. Sure you have a few less well known war presidents like Polk or LBJ but by and large war presidents (like presidents who have been assassinated) have gone down as among the best presidents. I highly doubt the media will want to give Bush that sort of credence.
I think instead they will wait until well into Obama’s term so it will look like he is the one doing it; he is the one “changing” things.
He and most of his troops never fired their weapons and many of them believe that the few who did report action actually fired their weapons to receive the medal given for combat.
I am not trying to disparage our troops in any way but it was so peaceful there that few believed any real fire fights actually occurred.
We have nearly achieved total victory.
Sure is safer than much of Obamaland (Chicago) and many of its suburbs.
Is there still time to get this to the NY Slimes for tomorrow’s front page?
Is there still time to get this to the NY Slimes for tomorrow’s front page?
ROTFLOL!
We may have finally won the war, but how many years and lives and dollars will winning the peace cost us? Like old Paul Harvey has repeatedly pointed out, you can lead a horse to water, but he may not drink; we can donate order and security and modern, representative democracy to Sandland, but it will not last. They’re not ready, and they’re not worthy.
I'm thinking waterboarding would be more appropriate for those two.
BTTT!
Thanks.
I can not find this at the web site....where is it?
I cannot find it at the link now.
But while searching, I came across this interview of Yon posted today.
http://bosse2008.blogspot.com/2008/11/michael-yon-live-from-kuwait.html
http://theneinblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/michael-yon-we-have-won-war-in-iraq.html
Same article at a different site.
Thanks.
You bet.
My bad. That was from July.
Back to searching.
"There's nothing going on. I'm with the 10th Mountain Division, and about half of the guys I'm with haven't fired their weapons on this tour and they've been here eight months."Thanks neverdem.
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