We don't get a lot of these reports in the MSM - and the reason for this is because if the MSM started reporting on the increasingly effective Iraqi security forces, then they might have to admit that we're doing some good work in Iraq and that would just knock the bottom out of the MSM worldview:
For the past five months, the Iraqi National Police received a great deal of specialized training from Coalition advisors, with the INP taking on a little more responsibility each time out.
The Soldiers responsible for the training, from 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, focused much of their efforts on the training, and are seeing growing results.
“Up to this point, we’ve been planning all the operations,” Troop C commander, Capt. Adam Grim explained of the partnership between his Soldiers and the INP.
However, the focus of these operations has shifted recently with increasing efforts concentrated on turning over added security responsibilities to the Iraqi Force.
Police officers with the National Police’s 6th Brigade took major steps toward this goal during missions Friday and Saturday. While members of the INP were involved in the execution of previous missions, these cordon-and-search operations were planned exclusively by the INP.
As I keep saying, the only thing which can cost us victory in Iraq is ourselves - specifically, our entirely ill-informed so-called "anti-war" people. If we allow them to have their way, then we'll lose.
Sometimes I do wonder about the steps a person has to take to become someone who simply does not wish the United States to emerge victorious. The circular reasoning based upon incorrect data that the critics use is something that you can't get after careful thought - you have to unthinkingly just swallow it and then seal your mind off firmly to any contrary indicators. Talking to our critics is like talking to a brick wall these days - they are armoured from ear to ear against common sense.
We have to stick at it, good people: the world requires it, our nation requires it, the men and women of our armed forces who have given so much require it. If we fail in this war because we here at home let the troops down, then we'll never live down the shame of it. So, keep a stout heart - do not, under any circumstances, let the critics grind you down. They are just mindlessly parroting what they've been told - and, really, its not entirely their fault; the modern world is fixed in a manner that makes honor and courage rather difficult to attain. That some do become honorable and courageous is testimony to how high a man can rise even in the worst of circumstances, but that many have become dishonorable cowards is a fact to be pitied.
Posted by Mark Noonan at December 12, 2006 07:38 AM
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We've been hearing about how the Iraqi defence forces have been / are being trained for three years now yet the situation continues to collapse.
This means either the training simply isn’t taking or isn’t being done right.
Your man Bush and his pals started this war and were responsible for its success and now that it’s obvious it isn’t going to happen you’re looking to blame everyone but those in charge.
Talk about dishonorable, cowardly but this sort of thing isn’t to be pitied but rather regarded with contempt.
Posted by:
salvage at December 12, 2006 07:49 AM
As I keep saying, the only thing which can cost us victory in Iraq is ourselves - specifically, our entirely ill-informed so-called "anti-war" people. If we allow them to have their way, then we'll lose.
Ironically enough, if this happens, then Iraq truly will become the repeat of Vietnam that the "anti-war" crowd claims it to be.
Didn't a few of the North Vietnamese generals actually admit that they wanted to give up, but were motivated to continue on by our "anti-war" movement?
Posted by: Bigfoot at December 12, 2006 08:36 AM
You had your chance to win and you blew it. The war was supposed to last 6 weeks or 6 months, remember?
Do you think Americans are stupid enough to trust you guys to get us out of Iraq when you were the retards that got us into it in the first place?
Wake up and smell the codpiece. The only mission "accomplished" by this war is stuffing the pockets of corporate robber-barrons. But that was the whole reason we started the war to begin with... right?
(Ed. Note: this comment is left up because it at least tells the truth that most lefties who come here won't admit - they really think this war was cooked up by the White House in order to line the pocket of Big What Have You, or to Fight for Israel/Likud, or Because the Black Helicopters Made It Happen...)
Posted by: (Ed. Note: Possible Anti-Semitic Name Deleted) at December 12, 2006 10:09 AM
Our current military is the envy of the world and should be remembered as the force that defeated Iraq forces in a matter of days.
They won the war!!! Let the Iraq people have their civil war and get our brave men and women out of their way. Finally the majority of the American people are on the side of our troops and against the chickenhawk neo-cons who wanted this war for years.
Even anti-war republicans are coming out of the woodwork. We are bankrupting our goverment and destroying our military.
Support our Troops by sending care packages and donating to the USO as they spend another Christmas in harms way.
Posted by: navyvet50 at December 12, 2006 10:46 AM
”… the modern world is fixed in a manner that makes honor and courage rather difficult to attain”
Perhaps not so much as you might think. There are literally thousands of acts of honor and courage undertaken everyday by the members of the military in Afghan, Iraq and around the world, by police , fire fighters and civilians of every persuasion and walk of life.
The problem is, we don’t get to see what is being done and therefore have a lack of a visible roll model. Why are our roll models not visible? For one thing, those who perform these acts do not do so for a pat on the back or for recognition. They do it because it’s instinctively “the right thing to do”. They live by a moral code and conduct using the model of “do unto others”. They live with a faith that someone else will step up in their time of need or a member of their family or a friend though they ask for nothing in return for their goodness.
Sometimes people around us or the msm or a person of supposed leadership might mock those who live by courage and honor. They are cowards and all too often cowards are given a false recognition called attention. They become bolder and feel a sense of empowerment with that attention.
We must all call cowards by their name so that the attention they receive becomes undesirable. We need to show everyone watching or listening to a coward that the only thing a coward has to offer is an empty lie.
At the same time we need to rightly recognize the courageous and the honorable so their deeds will become what everyone with goodness in their hearts wants to be a part of.
Attaining courage and honor does not require superman like deeds. Attaining courage and honor is simply doing what’s right when called on to do so (of course that presupposes you actually understand what’s right). Having courage sometimes feels lonely. We need to make sure the righteous are heard and stand shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters so they never stand alone.
The truth will prevail. Those who dwell with evil fear the light. We need to all shine the light as brightly as we can and live with honor and courage. Only then will you find true peace.
Posted by: DM at December 12, 2006 10:52 AM
I'm sorry, but I must ask how you can rationalize that it is the citizens, particularlly those who are critical of the war's prosecution, that are "letting the troops down"?
The average man and woman has little operational input in the whole affair, while the executive branch, Pentagon, and Congress are the ones who have systematically failed in providing adequate funding and equipment (Rumsfeld's "you go to war with the army you have"), intelligence (Bush insisting the whole world believed in Saddam's WMD when that is absolutely false), and direction.
It isn't the anti-war crowd which is causing the prolonged struggle in Iraq, it is, plain and simple, those making the decisions and their failure to anticipate anything beyond an easy victory. Instead of being truthful with the American people, they claimed over and over that we would be greeted as liberators, that there would be no sectarian violence, and that the war would pay for itself.
And while we appriciate your patronizing attempts to plead ignorance on our behalf, the reality is that those who still behold to the president and MSM's perspective that Iraq isn't a civil war where unspeakable violence is being carried out because this administration-which by the way has no personal military experience-says so, is just as guilty of swallowing circular logic as you accuse the anti-war crowd to be.
We are against this war because we love our country and military men and women, not-as your believe-because we hate it. My heart breaks every day as Iraqis struggle to put together a country we dismantled for our "war on terror". Saddam was bad, yes, but the US helped make him that way. The quicker our leaders begin telling the truth the quicker the world will begin being confident in the American cause.
Posted by: Anillo at December 12, 2006 11:23 AM
“The war was supposed to last 6 weeks or 6 months, remember?”
Which is it 6 weeks or 6 months, or are you just making this up? And which war are you referring to, the Iraqi war, the war on terrorism, the war against Bush or some other war?
All you’ve shown with a statement like that is ignorance and a propensity for worthless arguing even if you do it poorly.
Posted by: DM at December 12, 2006 12:55 PM
Posted by: Chester at December 12, 2006 08:36 PM
"the reality is that those who still behold to the president and MSM's perspective that Iraq isn't a civil war where unspeakable violence is being carried out"
Would you consider South Africa to be in a civil war too, since more people has died there as a result of violence than in Iraq during 2006. Ofcourse not, that can't be, Nelson already got his nobel peace prize
Posted by: Osiris at December 14, 2006 03:20 AM
The war is still winnable. It is a question of price. The recipe for victory in Iraq looks like this:
1. It would have to start with a massive increase of troops that would necessitate some kind of draft and a hefty tax hike to pay for it.
2. The military tactics would have to realign themselves into those of a brutal repression. Terror tactics and collective punishment (stuff like the execution of civilians for every American soldier killed) are the only kind of tactics that are proven capable of quelling an insurrection.
3. Of course to do this, the executive and the military would have to assume an authoritarian stand that would override and suppress the will of both the American and the Iraqui people and their elected representatives (what we call a coup).
This would probably work but I dont think it is a price that even the most right-wing hawk is willing to pay. What was defeated in this war is the naive notion that you can wage war without serious planning and major sacrifice. Selling this idea is what the Bush administration is ultimately guilty of and the American people bear the collective responsibility of having believed it.
Posted by: JLR at December 16, 2006 09:53 PM
Order Matt and Mark's book on Amazon or Barnes and Noble
We've been hearing about how the Iraqi defence forces have been / are being trained for three years now yet the situation continues to collapse.
This means either the training simply isn’t taking or isn’t being done right.
Your man Bush and his pals started this war and were responsible for its success and now that it’s obvious it isn’t going to happen you’re looking to blame everyone but those in charge.
Talk about dishonorable, cowardly but this sort of thing isn’t to be pitied but rather regarded with contempt.
As I keep saying, the only thing which can cost us victory in Iraq is ourselves - specifically, our entirely ill-informed so-called "anti-war" people. If we allow them to have their way, then we'll lose.
Ironically enough, if this happens, then Iraq truly will become the repeat of Vietnam that the "anti-war" crowd claims it to be.
Didn't a few of the North Vietnamese generals actually admit that they wanted to give up, but were motivated to continue on by our "anti-war" movement?
You had your chance to win and you blew it. The war was supposed to last 6 weeks or 6 months, remember?
Do you think Americans are stupid enough to trust you guys to get us out of Iraq when you were the retards that got us into it in the first place?
Wake up and smell the codpiece. The only mission "accomplished" by this war is stuffing the pockets of corporate robber-barrons. But that was the whole reason we started the war to begin with... right?
(Ed. Note: this comment is left up because it at least tells the truth that most lefties who come here won't admit - they really think this war was cooked up by the White House in order to line the pocket of Big What Have You, or to Fight for Israel/Likud, or Because the Black Helicopters Made It Happen...)
Our current military is the envy of the world and should be remembered as the force that defeated Iraq forces in a matter of days.
They won the war!!! Let the Iraq people have their civil war and get our brave men and women out of their way. Finally the majority of the American people are on the side of our troops and against the chickenhawk neo-cons who wanted this war for years.
Even anti-war republicans are coming out of the woodwork. We are bankrupting our goverment and destroying our military.
Support our Troops by sending care packages and donating to the USO as they spend another Christmas in harms way.
”… the modern world is fixed in a manner that makes honor and courage rather difficult to attain”
Perhaps not so much as you might think. There are literally thousands of acts of honor and courage undertaken everyday by the members of the military in Afghan, Iraq and around the world, by police , fire fighters and civilians of every persuasion and walk of life.
The problem is, we don’t get to see what is being done and therefore have a lack of a visible roll model. Why are our roll models not visible? For one thing, those who perform these acts do not do so for a pat on the back or for recognition. They do it because it’s instinctively “the right thing to do”. They live by a moral code and conduct using the model of “do unto others”. They live with a faith that someone else will step up in their time of need or a member of their family or a friend though they ask for nothing in return for their goodness.
Sometimes people around us or the msm or a person of supposed leadership might mock those who live by courage and honor. They are cowards and all too often cowards are given a false recognition called attention. They become bolder and feel a sense of empowerment with that attention.
We must all call cowards by their name so that the attention they receive becomes undesirable. We need to show everyone watching or listening to a coward that the only thing a coward has to offer is an empty lie.
At the same time we need to rightly recognize the courageous and the honorable so their deeds will become what everyone with goodness in their hearts wants to be a part of.
Attaining courage and honor does not require superman like deeds. Attaining courage and honor is simply doing what’s right when called on to do so (of course that presupposes you actually understand what’s right). Having courage sometimes feels lonely. We need to make sure the righteous are heard and stand shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters so they never stand alone.
The truth will prevail. Those who dwell with evil fear the light. We need to all shine the light as brightly as we can and live with honor and courage. Only then will you find true peace.
I'm sorry, but I must ask how you can rationalize that it is the citizens, particularlly those who are critical of the war's prosecution, that are "letting the troops down"?
The average man and woman has little operational input in the whole affair, while the executive branch, Pentagon, and Congress are the ones who have systematically failed in providing adequate funding and equipment (Rumsfeld's "you go to war with the army you have"), intelligence (Bush insisting the whole world believed in Saddam's WMD when that is absolutely false), and direction.
It isn't the anti-war crowd which is causing the prolonged struggle in Iraq, it is, plain and simple, those making the decisions and their failure to anticipate anything beyond an easy victory. Instead of being truthful with the American people, they claimed over and over that we would be greeted as liberators, that there would be no sectarian violence, and that the war would pay for itself.
And while we appriciate your patronizing attempts to plead ignorance on our behalf, the reality is that those who still behold to the president and MSM's perspective that Iraq isn't a civil war where unspeakable violence is being carried out because this administration-which by the way has no personal military experience-says so, is just as guilty of swallowing circular logic as you accuse the anti-war crowd to be.
We are against this war because we love our country and military men and women, not-as your believe-because we hate it. My heart breaks every day as Iraqis struggle to put together a country we dismantled for our "war on terror". Saddam was bad, yes, but the US helped make him that way. The quicker our leaders begin telling the truth the quicker the world will begin being confident in the American cause.
“The war was supposed to last 6 weeks or 6 months, remember?”
Which is it 6 weeks or 6 months, or are you just making this up? And which war are you referring to, the Iraqi war, the war on terrorism, the war against Bush or some other war?
All you’ve shown with a statement like that is ignorance and a propensity for worthless arguing even if you do it poorly.
Well stated, Anillo.
"the reality is that those who still behold to the president and MSM's perspective that Iraq isn't a civil war where unspeakable violence is being carried out"
Would you consider South Africa to be in a civil war too, since more people has died there as a result of violence than in Iraq during 2006. Ofcourse not, that can't be, Nelson already got his nobel peace prize
The war is still winnable. It is a question of price. The recipe for victory in Iraq looks like this:
1. It would have to start with a massive increase of troops that would necessitate some kind of draft and a hefty tax hike to pay for it.
2. The military tactics would have to realign themselves into those of a brutal repression. Terror tactics and collective punishment (stuff like the execution of civilians for every American soldier killed) are the only kind of tactics that are proven capable of quelling an insurrection.
3. Of course to do this, the executive and the military would have to assume an authoritarian stand that would override and suppress the will of both the American and the Iraqui people and their elected representatives (what we call a coup).
This would probably work but I dont think it is a price that even the most right-wing hawk is willing to pay. What was defeated in this war is the naive notion that you can wage war without serious planning and major sacrifice. Selling this idea is what the Bush administration is ultimately guilty of and the American people bear the collective responsibility of having believed it.