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Victor Davis Hanson: The other Iraq: An eyewitness account (VDH in Iraq)
jewishworldreview.com ^ | February 23, 2006 | Victor Davis Hanson

Posted on 02/23/2006 5:02:02 AM PST by Tolik

<...snip...> ...Almost every media stereotype about the American military vanishes when visiting frontline bases. The world still sees dated Abu Ghraib photos, not Iraqi civilians receiving topflight care in the emergency room in the American-run hospital in Baghdad.

We hear that the U.S. Army is worn out — propped up by national guardsmen and reserves. Yet young enlistees differ. They claim instead that more mature reservists are a godsend for reconstruction efforts since so many back home were successful contractors, businessmen, teachers and mechanics. Complaints circulate about the weight, not the dearth, of body and truck armor. I saw hundreds of Humvees on the roads, but not one was unarmored. I shot AK-47s with professional Iraqi soldiers and felt far safer amid their professional live fire than back at home at the local municipal range.

Critics dub our military a "mercenary" force and sometimes call for renewal of the draft. But it is hardly a late-imperial Roman legion filled with foreigners and malcontents, but rather a true volunteer force, whose diversity in age, gender, race and religion would shame a university faculty or newsroom. Most of the colonels I met are as well educated as academics, but far more willing to debate and question their own beliefs...

<...snip...>

(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: iraq; vdh; victordavishanson
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1 posted on 02/23/2006 5:02:03 AM PST by Tolik
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To: Tolik; neverdem; Lando Lincoln; quidnunc; .cnI redruM; yonif; SJackson; dennisw; monkeyshine; ...


    Victor Davis Hanson Ping ! 

       Let me know if you want in or out.

Links: FR Index of his articles:  http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=victordavishanson 
His website: http://victorhanson.com/     NRO archive: http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson-archive.asp

2 posted on 02/23/2006 5:02:55 AM PST by Tolik
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To: Tolik

"...a true volunteer force, whose diversity in age, gender, race and religion would shame a university faculty or newsroom...."


LOL!
Loved that one!


3 posted on 02/23/2006 5:07:00 AM PST by voletti (Awareness and Equanimity.)
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To: Tolik; CMS; Old Sarge; WakeUpAndVote; freema; Coop; kjfine; Arrowhead1952
They claim instead that more mature reservists are a godsend for reconstruction efforts since so many back home were successful contractors, businessmen, teachers and mechanics.

VDH is right on the money. The Iraq we see in the media is nothing like the one that exists in real life, according to many I've rubbed shoulders with here. I HATE THE MSM!!!

4 posted on 02/23/2006 5:18:06 AM PST by StarCMC (Old Sarge is my hero...doing it right in Iraq! Vaya con Dios, Sarge.)
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To: Tolik
The MSM is attempting to control and manipulate the opinions and emotions of the American television-watchers!??

Whodua thunk???

5 posted on 02/23/2006 5:18:36 AM PST by IronManBike (Lodestar in the LoneStar--multitask)
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To: voletti

That sentence really jumps out, doesn't it. Especially paired with the news about Larry Summers ouster from Harvard.


6 posted on 02/23/2006 5:22:24 AM PST by maica (We are fighting the War for the Free World. Democrats and the media are not on our side.)
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To: Tolik

I hope Hanson is correct. I know the MSM is infested with liars and traitors. I hope that what we do in IRAQ will last and start something new for the Middle East. Freedom worth fighting to keep.


7 posted on 02/23/2006 5:24:44 AM PST by wmileo
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To: voletti; StarCMC; freema; armymarinemom; boxerblues; mystery-ak
"...a true volunteer force, whose diversity in age, gender, race and religion would shame a university faculty or newsroom

That really is an excellent smackdown! :-D

8 posted on 02/23/2006 5:28:19 AM PST by Coop (FR = a lotta talk, but little action)
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To: StarCMC
I HATE THE MSM!!!

ROTFL! Change "hate" to "despise" and we posted almost the exact same thought at the same time on two different threads (mine was about the economy).

9 posted on 02/23/2006 5:29:17 AM PST by Coop (FR = a lotta talk, but little action)
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To: StarCMC
See reports by Michael J Totten from the Kurdistan: Michael J. Totten: Kurdistan. Iraq Without a Gun; Dream City of the Kurds; Massive Reconstruction
10 posted on 02/23/2006 5:29:42 AM PST by Tolik
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To: Tolik
The "Greatest Generation" had nothing on this crop. They are the best educated, most dedicated force in history. What other Army would go into combat allowing reporters to witness its every move? None in the past would have dared. The U.S. military is bloodied, not broken. A bloodied Army is more dangerous. Be afraid, Iran and Syria, be very afraid.

As the war enters its fourth year the number of troops lost to all causes is approaching 2,400. That number may ring a bell - it's the same losses we suffered at Pearl Harbor; in the first three hours of WWII.

11 posted on 02/23/2006 5:35:32 AM PST by Dilbert56
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To: Tolik
We must have patience. It took us four decades to defeat the Soviet Union. To foster democracy in Iraq and defeat Islamofascism may take even longer. But its the only way to ensure we will be safe at home - by spreading the seeds of liberty abroad.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

12 posted on 02/23/2006 5:41:09 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: Dilbert56
The loss of all those brave lives are to be mourned. And the task of living is to ensure they will not have died in vain - that as Abraham Lincoln proclaimed in the aftermath of another momentous occasion, to give a new birth of freedom and ensure that government of the people, for the people and by the people shall not vanish from the earth.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

13 posted on 02/23/2006 5:45:21 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: Tolik
"Yet while things have changed radically in Iraq, the pessimistic tone of our reporting remains calcified."

"Almost every media stereotype about the American military vanishes when visiting frontline bases."

The agenda of the "Media" is discrediting President Bush and his administration.

Though this is not its only agenda, its agenda does DEFINITELY NOT include bringing truth to the people, protecting the United States and the American people, or bringing the American Dream to the Iraqi people!

The "Media" is a Propaganda Machine. Advancing its agenda is its overriding concern. The discrediting of President Bush is foremost in its agenda. The "Media" and its so-called "journalists" will stop at nothing to achieve this nefarious objective.

14 posted on 02/23/2006 5:56:19 AM PST by Savage Beast (9/11 was never repeated--thanks to President Bush and his surveillance program.)
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ping later read


15 posted on 02/23/2006 6:29:18 AM PST by prairiebreeze (The Mainstream Media: today's carnival barkers.)
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To: Tolik
Excellent article and really good to see VDH on the ground in Iraq.

As an aside, I read VDH's Carnage and Culture when it first came out 5/6 years ago and loved it. I started rereading it the other night and find it even more engrossing now that I'm more familiar with Hanson.

Thanks, Tolik

16 posted on 02/23/2006 6:36:15 AM PST by metesky ("Brethren, leave us go amongst them." Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnston Clayton - Ward Bond- The Searchers)
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To: Tolik

Inspirational...


17 posted on 02/23/2006 6:40:23 AM PST by ryan71
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To: StarCMC; Coop

"VDH is right on the money. The Iraq we see in the media is nothing like the one that exists in real life, according to many I've rubbed shoulders with here. I HATE THE MSM!!!"

I HATE THE MSM TOO! The MSM deludes itself, looks in the mirror far too often to see who is the fairest one of all while selling it's soul and AMERICA'S to the devil.

This is my favorite quote from the article:
"Yet what amazes is not so much the audacity of even thinking the United States could attempt such a thing, but rather that it may just pull it off after all — if only we remain patient."




18 posted on 02/23/2006 7:14:51 AM PST by freema (Proud Marine FRiend, Mom, Aunt, Sister, Friend, Wife, Daughter, Niece)
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To: Tolik
Yet what amazes is not so much the audacity of even thinking the United States could attempt such a thing, but rather that it may just pull it off after all

When I read this sentence I visualize Rummy with a proud little smile on his face.

19 posted on 02/23/2006 7:27:33 AM PST by oldbrowser (We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow......R.R)
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To: Coop

LOL - GMTA and all that!


20 posted on 02/23/2006 8:10:56 AM PST by StarCMC (Old Sarge is my hero...doing it right in Iraq! Vaya con Dios, Sarge.)
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