Posted on 11/24/2008 7:12:46 PM PST by AJKauf
Once it was impossible to keep track of all the bloodshed. Now it's impossible to keep track of all the progress.
General Petraeus once told me during the height of the fighting, that South Baghdad was the canary in the mineshaft. In his exact words regarding what Lieutenant Colonel Pat Frank had to deal with in one of the toughest places in Iraq, "It will be the canary in the mineshaft; if they can pull it off, this will be doable.”
It is critical to point out that General Petraeus told me this in 2007 — just at the crest of the surge during some of the fiercest fighting in the war. Many people at home were saying the new strategy was a complete failure, but the coalition and Iraqi soldiers were not tapping out, not taking a break, giving no quarter to the enemy, and expecting none in return.
I’ll finish this story where General Petraeus could not, because this was still at the height of combat; the war truly had just peaked and nobody knew this yet. A year later, in June 2008, I emailed to Gary Sinise: “I bet you 5 bucks it will end this year. Probably a few casualties for us still, but that by early 2009, a reasonable person will say it’s over.”
Gary emailed back, asking if that was what I really thought, and my responding email was candid and informal..
(Excerpt) Read more at pajamasmedia.com ...
Never doubt Micvhael Yon!
It isn't that the MSM haven't noticed we won a war. It's that most of its members were rooting for the other side.
Beautiful article.
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