Anbar Awakens Part II: Hell is Over (GREAT< GREAT READ)

michaeltotten.com ^ | 09/18/2007 | milwguy

[milwguy]

Violence has declined so sharply in Ramadi that few journalists bother to visit these days. It’s “boring,” most say, and it’s hard to get a story out there – especially for daily news reporters who need fresh scoops every day. Unlike most journalists, I am not a slave to the daily news grind and took the time to embed with the Army and Marines in late summer.

................“We don’t need to wear body armor or helmets,” he said.

I was poleaxed. Without even realizing it, I had taken off my body armor and helmet. I took my gear off as casually as I do when I take it off after returning to the safety of the base after patrolling. We were not in the safety of the base and the wire. We were safe because we were in Ramadi.

[milwguy]

The pictures in this article are just as important as the words Totten writes. You can see we have won the 'hearts and minds' of the people of Ramadi.......Rome was not built in a day, but our continuing efforts are producing unmistable results. With a little patience, the Anbar awakening will spread through the country, and General Petreaus will be spoken of in years hence in the same breath with the likes of Washingtom, Sherman, Patton, and Eisenhower.

[Mr. K]

Where are the “Great News From Iraq” STORIES DAMMIT??

SHOW PEOPLE WHOSE LIVES ARE BETTER AND HAPPIER AND TELL THE WORLD THAT *WE* *DID* *THIS* for these people!!

[elpadre]

Reid, Pelosi, Murtha, and the other anti-Bush, anti-military will call the writer a liar as they do anyone who writes an honest portrayal of the events on the ground.

[Tennessean4Bush]

ping

[justDave]

Thanks for the post. Good read.

[Nervous Tick]

>> Where are the “Great News From Iraq” STORIES DAMMIT??

Sorry. Can’t print that.

It doesn’t fit the “America must wallow in guilt and Europe is great!” agenda.

[JerseyDvl]

bump

[reagan_fanatic]

It’s depressing that good news like this will be buried by the MSM simply because it does not fit their anti-Bush agenda.

[jveritas]

One of the best articles I have ever read. Thank you for the ping FRiend.

[Wil H]

It’s “boring,” most say, and it’s hard to get a story out there

Translation...We can't advance the anti-war agenda by writing about Ramadi anymore. We would have to lie,. That's not a problem, we lie a lot, but we'd get caught if we tried anything about Ramadi since it is so peaceful here now.

So we are off down to Basra where the Brits have pulled out, let's see if we can stir up trouble there..

[penelopesire]

Great article! Thanks for posting it.

[M. Dodge Thomas]

Ramadi, it seems to me, is an example of both the potential and limitations of US efforts to stabilize Iraq.

On the one hand, we have been able to suppress the most radical Islamic forces - especially “Al Qaeda in Iraq” - and restore civic order for at least as long as we are willing to garrison the area.

On the other, Ramadi is almost entirely Sunni, so we are not faced with the problem of suppressing the much larger Shiite-Sunni conflict which is tearing up areas such as Baghdad.

Perhaps Ramadi represents what we might hope to accomplish in Sunni areas of Iraq were it partitioned along religious lines, somewhat like the partition between india and Pakistan post WWII?

[wastedyears]

Great stuff

[jdsteel]

Thanks for posting. I’ve read his stuff before. I even sent him a few bucks via paypal (info at the bottom of his article). Perhaps if a few other Freepers did as well it would help him continue his work.

[LoneStarGI]

The most significant thing I took away from that blog was that the soldiers are beginning to feel so safe that they are starting to not wear their helmets and body armor. As they reporter said, the Green Zone is considered a ‘safe’ area but he still would not remove his helmet even there.

Another thing that’s telling is that the insurgents are beginning to avoid that place, not necessarily because the Americans will beat them (that’s never stopped them before), but because the civilian populace would attack them.

[Cap Huff]

Have you read the interview of a “mukhtar” from Fallujah posted over at Roggio’s site? It is interesting in that the local political boss is not in support of the Iraqi central government, but still speaks in terms of “Iraqi’s” in his answers. Here’s an excerpt:

INDC: What do you think of the national Iraqi government now?

Mukhtar: I do not believe in this government, and 90 percent of the Iraqi people are just like me.

INDC: Many people who analyze Iraq are worried about whether the government will reconcile with the people of Anbar. What do you think the chances for that are?

Mukhtar: No comment.

INDC: Is there anything else you think the American people should know about Fallujah?

Mukhtar: Fallujans don’t like any enemy who tries to fight or hurt them, because they have traditional values, and they refuse any challenge or change to those traditional values.

INDC: What do you think about Fallujah’s future?

Mukhtar: Things will be much better.

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2007/09/no_comment_an_interv.php

If you read the whole thing you will get a better picture of what seems to be going on in the Sunni Triangle.

[Tribune7]

ping

[milwguy]

MOst of the Iraqi soldier in the area are SHIA, but they are more secular, as are the tribes in Anbar. I take exactly the opposite away from the story. As Tottne analogizes, it is the equivelent of when we integrated the army with blacks and whites. The mainly Shia soldiers in the area are protecting SUNNIS, and in the process, maybe teaching each other about religous tolerance. AQI is on the run, and the locals would rather have SHIA soldiers protect them than have SUNNI AQI murder themselves and their families. That can only be a positive.

[HereInTheHeartland]

“but because the civilian populace would attack them.”

That has always been the thing I have been waiting for.
When that happens, we have won.
Great news...

[Albertafriend]

Thanks for posting this. The pictures display very vividly why we need to stay there and fight for these people and our own security and freedom. This article affected me deeply.