Free Republic

All describe the bizarro-world contrast between what most Americans seem to think is happening in Iraq versus what is really happening in Iraq. Knowing this disconnect exists and experiencing it directly are two separate matters. It’s like the difference between holding the remote control during the telecast of a volcanic eruption on some distant island (and then flipping the channel), versus running for survival from a wretch of molten lava that just engulfed your car. I was at home in the United States just one day before the magnitude hit me like vertigo: America seems to be under a glass...

No joke. So despairing is he of the gap between what he’s seeing on the ground versus what he’s seeing in the papers, especially in Basra, that he’s offering his reports and photos to the National Newspaper Association at no charge. But he needs your help, in two ways: Using the lessons learned from “Bless the Beasts,” it probably won’t be enough just to make the news I am reporting available to NNA-member publications at no cost. There may need to be a little irritating sand in order to get a pearl out of this oyster…[R]eaders can first check to...

The reporter who was one of the first to acknowledge that Iraq was in a state of civil war, Michael Yon, has some very interesting things to say in his recent email: "Iraq is on the mend, al Qaeda is on the run, and the civil war has abated to a point where the term “civil war” no longer applies."

In his book, Gates of Fire, Steven Pressfield offers the following translation of the epitaph engraved on a commemorative stone placed on top of the burial mound of the Spartans at Thermopylae: Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here, obedient to their laws, we lie. He was shot; four months ago—nearly to the day—in a stinging attack that caught the American soldiers driving Humvees through Mosul. But Command Sergeant Major James Pippin realized they were in a “nearside ambush,” and ordered his driver to assault directly into the RPG and machine gun fire. Riding the offensive momentum, the...

Michael Yon is an independent journalist and former Green Beret who was embedded in Iraq for nine months in 2005. He has returned to Iraq for 2007 to continue reporting on the war. Here is a portion of his latest dispatch exclusively for FOXNews.com.__________________________________ Click here to read the full dispatch.When we dropped ramp in the “Mechanics� section of Baqubah, and linked up with Iraqi soldiers, I heard my danger chimes peal. Minutes after we hit the ground — POW! — a shot was fired close by and dust kicked in the air. An Iraqi soldier had managed to accidentally...

Of all of the reporting that has come from the Iraq war, Mike Yon is in a class all by himself. His E-magazine represents some of the finest writing and most concise reporting that I’ve had the pleasure to read. Today’s email inbox flashed a familiar message that appears when Mike has a new post ready. The email message included an interesting, and blogworthy prediction: Readers of my dispatches have gotten first hand reports of the kinds of positive indicators that General David Petraeus described in his progress report. The atmosphere is changing in Iraq and I’ve been posting dispatches...

Hunting al Qaeda, I of III Witches Sink, Insurgents Float Writing these words from downtown Baqubah at a place called Combat Outpost White Castle, I am surrounded by soldiers from Alpha Company 1-12 Cav who are preparing for combat. Tomorrow, [15 July] they will clear a dangerous palm grove that abuts the Diyala River, a place where just last night approximately 7 suspected enemy were killed by American forces. Among the dead apparently were several members of Tonto’s family. But before tomorrow’s mission, there is today’s mission, which includes linking up with 1920 Revolution Brigades [1920s] to swap information. Open...

Weeks ago, as the deadline for General David Petraeus’s progress report on the war loomed, journalists were already asking me what I thought of it. Then, as now, I do not know what to think of the report since it is not yet published. Even this coming week, after listening to the general’s testimony before Congress, I will have to read the report and transcripts numerous times, sleep on the information, and reflect on it in light of my own observations of the situation in Iraq. The outcome of the war in Iraq, and to some extent the greater War...

Many readers of Swampland would probably disagree with Michael Yon's position on Iraq, but he has been on the ground, in the line of fire for 18 months and his reports about the hard work and occasional successes of U.S. troops have to be respected. What Yon is seeing now--what I also saw in Iraq, what Michael O'Hanlon and Ken Pollack also saw--is a significant turn of the Sunni population against Islamic extremists. This development is undeniable and encouraging. It points to the difficulty that Salafists are going to have in trying to control the "street" in other Islamic nations:...

Harry Reid was despondent after the all-night Senate session produced yet another defeat for the Democrats. “We did the very best we could,” he said. “I strongly believe we should have a bipartisan foreign policy…We need to do something to change the course of the war.” “We need to do something to change the course of the war.” What that “something” is has been and remains a mystery. After his pre-emptive declaration of defeat in April, the majority leader has nothing to offer. His plaintive cry for “bipartisanship” may play well with the blue-state ponytails, but the fact is, to...

At first, he said, they would only target Shia, but over time the new al Qaeda directed attacks against Sunni, and then anyone who thought differently. The official reported that on a couple of occasions in Baqubah, al Qaeda invited to lunch families they wanted to convert to their way of thinking. In each instance, the family had a boy, he said, who was about 11-years-old. As LT David Wallach interpreted the man’s words, I saw Wallach go blank and silent. He stopped interpreting for a moment. I asked Wallach, “What did he say?” Wallach said that at these luncheons,...

Baqubah, IraqSince the publication of “Bless the Beasts and Children� many questions have arisen: some of which I can and will answer here, and some whose answers lie elsewhere.Today, late afternoon on 3 July in Baqubah, Colonel Hiduit from 2nd Brigade 5th Iraqi Army was able to provide some additional details about the murders, as the ongoing investigation begins to yield more facts. The name of the village was not on any maps I examined while preparing the dispatch, but Colonel Hiduit said the name is al Hamira. Coordinates to the area of the gravesites are MC 679 381.In my...

In Iraq, I was allowed to accompany a British Army unit called “The Queen’s Royal Lancers,” whose motto is “Death or Glory.” It seems appropriate to tribute this dispatch to Her Majesty. And so I will take special care in the writing, on the chance that Her Majesty might read about her soldiers at war, as viewed through the eyes of an American. British soldiers truly are fighting in Iraq. On three consecutive missions with three different British units, their soldiers killed roughly 40 enemy in combat action that also saw two British soldiers killed in action, and three wounded....

Reality in Iraq Gunshots ring out at three in the morning as I write these first sentences. Gunshots, providing muse and meter for this dispatch home to America. Gunshots, three of them. The war is close. Baghdad as seen from the roof of the Pontifical Babel College for Philosophy and Theology, where the 1-4 Cavalry from Fort Riley, Kansas, have set up a Combat Outpost, or “COP.” The soldiers from 1-4 Cav have named it COP Amanche (Apache + Comanche).All of the more than one hundred photos in this dispatch were taken in proximity to the three main structures visible...

Michael Yon has provided some of the best reporting on the ground in Iraq. He embeds with the troops, reporting honestly on the ups and downs of our efforts there. He has proven himself courageous under fire and keeps returning to give Americans a clear view of the status of our mission. Now, however, Yon may find himself booted out of Iraq: A general emailed in the past 24 hours threatening to kick me out. The first time the Army threatened to kick me out was in late 2005, just after I published a dispatch called “Gates of Fire.” Some...

Michael Yon is an independent writer, photographer and former Green Beret who was embedded in Iraq for nine months in 2005. He has returned to Iraq for 2007 to continue reporting on the war. Here is a portion of his latest dispatch for FOXNews.com. One year after the Iraq ground war had begun, I was in Massachusetts studying cults and working on an unrelated book project, when Master Sgt. Richard L. Ferguson died in a Humvee rollover on March 30, 2004, while conducting combat operations in Samarra, Iraq. “Fergy” was a fixture in the 10th Special Forces Group, and I...

The recent loss of five helicopters in Iraq has caught the attention of the media. Also in the media is all the new talk of Iranian influence on weapons in Iraq, although my readers learned about the issue more than a month ago in Walking the Line (Part Two of Three). In the face of all this “new” controversy about “foreign” weapons in the battle space, I recalled some of the many photos I.ve taken of caches of weapons captured by Iraqi and American forces in Iraq. The photo above is from one of these. None of the military persons...

The evening of 30 December, CSM Jeffrey Mellinger talked over dinner with troops about progress and setbacks in Iraq. This was about twelve hours before Saddam was to hang, but that was still a big secret to nearly everyone. American Brigadier General Francis Wiercinksi would later tell me that neither he nor the current governor of Salah al Dinh Province, where Saddam was born, were aware of the impending execution. On the eve of the hanging, Mellinger delivered a no-room-for-BS-talk, the only kind combat soldiers will tolerate without shutting someone out or walking away. One soldier was against the death...

Michael Yon on Washington Journal now, if you miss it there will be a repeat and of course they keep the Internet feeds up for a week or so.

About six weeks ago, Matt from Blackfive.net called about a Navy SEAL named Justin who had been diagnosed with leukemia. Justin’s life likely could be saved with a bone marrow transplant, and with a giant database of willing donors, Justin’s chances might have looked promising. Yet when Justin was tested, it turned out he carried an uncommon trait called the Philadelphia chromosome. Doctors said his chances of finding a match were about 1 in 25,000, and therefore his chances of survival were grim. That is…until groups like Soldiers Angels and Blackfive got involved and called for a blogstorm. I recall...

We walked into a small room where a soldier lay face up, eyes closed. His hair was cut short to the nubs. Arnold Duplantier was in a black body bag with the corner folded back. He was shirtless. The sniper's bullet had found the opening in his body armor and gone straight into his chest and through his heart. CSM Mellinger puts his hand on Arnold's shoulder, pats the shoulder and then places his hand on Arnold's head, as if to say something to Arnold. Another young soldier bear hugs CSM Mellinger the way a son might hug a father...

When you steal from a MilBlogger Posted By Blackfive ...you're going to get busted. I believe that many of you will recognize the photo on the cover of Shock Magazine. [see below] That's right. Stolen from Michael Yon. When I asked about it, Mike sends: The publisher, HFM, is one of the largest media conglomerates in the world with over 200 magazines and newspapers in 33 countries. This is a major launch with an initial print run of 300,000. Personally, I think Mike is more pissed about the photo being used for some kind of political agenda than getting ripped...

Mosul, Iraq Combat comes unexpectedly, even in war. On Monday, while conducting operations in west Mosul, a voice came over the radio saying troops from our brother unit, the 3-21, were fighting with the enemy in east Mosul on the opposite side of the Tigris River. Moments later, SSG Will Shockley relayed word to us that an American soldier was dead. We began searching for the shooters near one of the bridges on our side of the Tigris, but they got away. Jose L. Ruiz was killed in action. Although the situation in Mosul is better, our troops still fight...

Saturday, August 20, 2005 Proximity Delays Mosul, Iraq During radio interviews, listeners sometimes call in with questions for me. People who follow the war closely and read my dispatches might ask about events covered by mainstream news but about which I've posted few details, if any. Thousands of emails pour in. "Did you know about the letter to Zarqawi?" (Yes, I was in the Deuce Four daily briefing when it was first displayed and read, about a week before the media learned about it. The letter was captured minutes down the road from here.) "Did you know about the Chemical...

Deuce Four's LTC Erik Kurilla shot three times (Michael Yon dispatch)Source: Michael Yon Saturday, August 20, 2005 Proximity Delays Mosul, Iraq During radio interviews, listeners sometimes call in with questions for me. People who follow the war closely and read my dispatches might ask about events covered by mainstream news but about which I've posted few details, if any. Thousands of emails pour in. "Did you know about the letter to Zarqawi?" (Yes, I was in the Deuce Four daily briefing when it was first displayed and read, about a week before the media learned about it. The letter was...

BlogThis!Michael Yon : Online Magazine From MSNBC.com: "There is actually good reporting coming from Iraq -- check out Michael Yon's blog, for example. And it's possible to get a clearer picture of the strategic picture than most big media accounts provide." Wednesday, August 10, 2005 Jungle Law Combat Physics Mosul, Iraq The first person to use a shield might have been a hairy man who, days earlier, barely survived a barrage from the stone-throwing man in the cave next door. As the use of weaponized sticks and stones spread, improved shields probably were not far behind. Throughout recorded history, bigger...

Mosul, Iraq The first person to use a shield might have been a hairy man who, days earlier, barely survived a barrage from the stone-throwing man in the cave next door. As the use of weaponized sticks and stones spread, improved shields probably were not far behind. Throughout recorded history, bigger and better shields always play catch-up to their bigger and better ballistic brethren. Common wisdom posits that defense systems are preventative measures, but in fact, they are reactive. Every castle wall can be defeated. Somewhere along the line people realized, "the best defense is a good offense." Adherence to...