Obama's policy shift was less counterinsurgency and more counter-terror.
And since many of the imbeds were associated with COIN, they have fewer places to go.
Last week NBC was lamenting this since they had had an imbed in the Korengal Valley for a long time and that was one of the first COIN missions in Afghanistan.
Whereas there had been 8 military compounds in Korengal supporting COIN, there is now only one compound with a pure counter-terror mission.
And NBC covered extensively the blowing up of the abandoned compounds so they would be of no use to the insurgents.
As McChrystal said, the COIN mission will now be limited to the population centers, the main roads and the broad valleys.
Certainly the recent Marjah assault in Helmund was covered extensively by the imbeds.
Pulling out of remote village areas/valleys to concentrate on the cities - yep, that was the Vietnam strategy. that worked out well...
For anyone who wants to see the truest story on the Korengal, watch for the movie "Restrepo" coming out 2 July - and/or read the book 'WAR" (Sebastian Junger) coming out next month, available at pre-order savings on Amazon now.
Sebastian Junger (wrote "Perfect Storm")and award winning videographer, Tim Hetherington (from the UK, now NYC) embedded a total of 10 months with BATTLE CO, 173rd AIRBORNE, in the Korengal. "Restrepo" a tiny firebase also called "the Tip of the Spear" as it was the outermost firebase in "The Valley of Death" aka - REMEMBER THIS - "Taliban Central" (I say "remember this" because the spin from Washington is that 'there are ONLY villagers in the Valley, no Taliban.' Tell that to the Navy SEals that were sent in there alone in 2005. Tell that to the tiny handfuls of troops that have been sent in since, to pickax out a shelf on the mountainside - ALWAYS undermanned and under armed - sent there, as one report said, as "bullet magnets' to draw out the Taliban.
"Restrepo" will go down as the most WAR "War" movie of decades. Junger and Hetherington did this on their own. No orders/editing from above. They simply filmed, month after month, firefight by firefight (BATTLE CO. was in over 1,000 firefights during this, their first deployment) - and they put YOU boots on the ground with the troops.
You are as 'there' there as you'll ever be.
After the deployment, when the guys were back at base in Italy, Sebastian and Tim went there and filmed up close and personal interviews with the men - those that made it back. (THey had, proportionately, the highest losses...which could be expected, given the reason they were 'staked out' there.
After Sebastion and Tim developed their movie they, to make sure Hollywood would have no fingers in it's final product, entered the film in January's Sundance Film Festival. Out of nearly 900 documentaries entered, only a handful were chosen for screening. "Restrepo" was one. On the awards night, the very last award was for the all out best film - The Grand Jury Award. Yes, you guessed it.
You can go on line and find scads and scads of reviews extolling this film. National Geo picked up, first, the broadcast rights. (Will air on TV in Nov., DVD's available after.) Then they won the fierce competition for Theatrical rights - and it will hit theaters 2 July. WAnt to see what this war is all about - with no Hollywood script, no media spin, no input from the brass, no 'actors' - 'just' the men themselves, hour by hour, month by month, in the Korengal. (neither McC nor his 'boss' can touch this. This is straight from the troops to YOU.)
Watch the trailer, meet the men - click on 'the platoon' and put curser on each photo)
http://www.restrepothemovie.com/
A couple reviews: Sebastian and Tim explaining the film:
http://makingof.com/posts/watch/1284/directors-sebastian-junger-and-tim-hetherington
next, scroll down for photo "Restrepo" their "home" - no electric, no running water, scarce food, constant firefights -
http://www.slugmag.com/festivals.php?sid=583
If you're still reading this post, at least you're showing more interest in our troops and the truth than the general public - and even, sad to say, freepers. Even in FR, if title of the thread doesn't include "OJ" or "Paris" or "Idol" etc, (guaranteed to get hundreds of hits) - there won't be much traffic on the thread.
I hope you will continue on and view the links - maybe even bookmark them and pass along - and mark your calenders to see the film.
LIVE LINKS NEXT POST
PER THE ABOVE POST
Watch the trailer, meet the men - click on ‘the platoon’ and put curser on each photo)
http://www.restrepothemovie.com/
A couple reviews: Sebastian and Tim explaining the film:
http://makingof.com/posts/watch/1284/directors-sebastian-junger-and-tim-hetherington
next, scroll down for photo “Restrepo” their “home” - no electric, no running water, scarce food, constant firefights -
http://www.slugmag.com/festivals.php?sid=583