Visit Michelle's website. Read the whole article. Don't miss her photos, Capt. Travis Patriquin's PowerPoint presentation on counterinsurgency tactics, or Lt. Mark J. Daily's essay on why he joined the military.
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Posted on 12/24/2007 1:12:01 PM PST by OESY
Remember when the Associated Press told you what the top 10 stories of the year were–and that was the end of discussion? No more. One of the wonderful benefits of the Internet is that it ended the monopoly of the MSM Deciders. Permanently.
Here’s the wire service’s list of what news directors and editors voted the biggest stories of 2007. They picked the Virginia Tech massacre as the number one story. Sure, it was a tragedy. But the top story of the last 12 months–the one with the largest historical ramifications, the one that should define the entire year? Come on.
For the remainder of 2007, I’ll be posting year-in-review retrospectives drawing on my monthly archives to spotlight the blog posts and topics that interested you and me. The ones that generated the most discussion. Or backlash. Or laughter. Or tears. The ones that have stayed in my heart and memory bank long after I hit the “publish” button.
Let’s start with the beginning: January 2007. For me, what happened in January defined the rest of the year. We rang in 2007 with vehement Democrat opposition to the “surge” in Baghdad. In the ensuing 12 months, Democrats tried and failed repeatedly to sabotage and undermine this military campaign. Their poisonously partisan allies at MoveOn attempted to smear Gen. David Petraeus. Their fellow travelers in the MSM fought tooth and nail to obscure the successes of the counterinsurgency tactics with their relentless “grim milestone” drumbeat. But by year’s end, even anti-war Democrats and adversarial media outlets alike were forced to acknowledge that undeniable military progress and security improvements had been made.
Is there still a long way to go? Hell, yes. Were there other ancillary factors that contributed to the decrease in violence and the “awakenings” in Anbar province and Baghdad? Yes again. But go back to January. Refresh your memories of the anti-surge rhetoric and the conventional wisdom.
Here’s a reminder of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s resolution opposing the surge, which passed 12-9 on Jan. 25:
Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., the panel’s chairman, said the legislation is “not an attempt to embarrass the president. … It’s an attempt to save the president from making a significant mistake with regard to our policy in Iraq.”
…Biden, who sponsored the measure with Hagel and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the measure is aimed at getting the administration’s attention. He noted that Bush has said he will be moving forward with his Iraq plans he outlined in a Jan. 10 address regardless of what Congress says.
The measure “is designed to let the president know that there are many in both parties, Democrats and Republicans, that believe a change in our mission to go into Baghdad — in the midst of a civil war — as well as a surge in ground troops … is the wrong way to go, and I believe it will have the opposite — I repeat — opposite effect the president intends,” Biden said....
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Biden=A@@clown
i have hated that guy since the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, plus the hair plugs are disgusting. LOL
Biden = tool
Biden = idiot
Biden = dumbest man in the Senate
Surge==working, MSM anti-surge==also working (sound of crickets)
Here is the key sentence in her article:
Is there still a long way to go? Hell, yes.
I will say, "Probably hell, no." We're now in the endgame.
During 2007 the "voice" of Osama bin Laden issued a statement that Iraq was lost, and he blasted the Iraqi people for cowardice and apostacy. (I say "voice" because I believe Mr. bin Laden assumed room temperature some years ago.) Since then Iraq has quieted down, al-Quaeda forces have largely fled back to Afghanistan, and it looks like the surge had the desired effect. Iraqis will end up solving their own problems.
In Pakistan, we notified the government that we had located some 30 to 40 terrorist training bases, and we asked permission to bomb them. The Pakistani government leaks like a sieve, and hours after we made that request, those bases were abandoned by the terrorists who moved to Afghanistan -- where we greeted them with the best bombs the US Air Force could drop. After some local unpleasantness, the Pakis have calmed down, and the state of emergency has been lifted.
Even in faraway France, the Muslim rioters and car bombers ("yutes") stopped after two nights when the new president made it clear this wasn't going to be tolerated the way the last administration tolerated it.
We've never given much thought as to what the end of this war would look like. Now I think we're seeing it. A firm resolve -- combined with the best munitions in the world -- has shown the enemy that he has to rethink his goal of world domination.
In 2008 I would expect one last great battle in Afghanistan before the Islamic fascists pack it in. We're very close to the end.
Are you guys saying Biden is an 
?
“Are you guys saying Biden is an ?”
Perhaps......
Maybe.....
Under consideration...
ROGER!
Please stop insulting A@@clowns.
Noted.
I’ve been duly chastised.....
I desperately pray you are right.
Would you please contact Gage and tell him get his head out of his nether regions and take the offer he has refused to let some of the Fighting Marines no longer needed in Iraq to help out our troops in Afghanistan - and to hell with his ego?
A 'surge' for Afghanistan? : By Gordon Lubold Thu Nov 29, 3:00 AM ET Kabul, Afghanistan - The top general of the Marine Corps is pushing hard to deploy marines to Afghanistan as he looks to draw down his forces in Iraq, but his proposal, which is under discussion at the Pentagon this week, faces deep resistance from other military leaders....
Commandant Gen. James Conway's plan, if approved, would deploy a large contingent of marines to Afghanistan, perhaps as early as next year. The reinforcements would be used to fight the Taliban, which US officials concede is now defending its territory more effectively against allied and Afghan forces....
But Gates refused: per
Gates Said to Oppose Force Shift to Afghanistan
THOM SHANKER
Published December 6, 2007
BAGHDAD, Dec. 5 — Senior Pentagon and military officials said Wednesday that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates had decided against a proposal to shift Marine Corps forces from Iraq to take the lead in American operations in Afghanistan
If you've seen the videos and articles on what is happening in some of the remote Provinces where our troops are holed up in hell, you might say> "WTF?"
Sounds like a bit of politics and territorial egos are getting in the way = nothing new.
The fighting in Afghanistan is the fiercest it's been since the beginning. There are provinces ruled by the Taliban - The insurgency in Afghanistan has been by the Taliban.
Gates turned down the Marines saying he would, instead, make NATO fulfill the commitment they made but never followed through on, instead.
So he went to Scotland, loaded for bear, to confront NATO. He came away with a butt full of buckshot...but he still wont deploy additional troops - at the same time, saying that we will be there for many years to come.
In the meantime, do some research on what's going in up in the Kunar Province = GOODLE Kunar Korengal Battle Company - and see if you think they could use the extra boots on the ground?
Now that's saying something!
Hey, Michelle — Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! :)
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