Category Archives

Archive of posts published in the category: Iraq

Another History of Iraq

From American ThinkerDecember 28, 2008Iraq and Its LessonsBy Randall Hoven Excerpts Fourth, as I have summarized before, Iraq has improved dramatically on multiple fronts since the end of “major combat operations.” Five of Iraq’s provinces accounted for 87% of insurgent

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The Hardest Work has Been Done

Excerpt from “Moment of Truth in Iraq” by Michael Yon “When our troops start drawing down, as they should when the conditions are favorable, the drawdown must be done methodically, for reasons both strategic and logistic. A hasty withdrawal would

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One Iraq

Excerpt from “Moment of Truth in Iraq” by Michael Yon “Iraq is one nation.” Those who suggest that Iraq should be partitioned, noting Iraqis often do not get along and the Sunni-Shia rift is profound, miss the crucial reality that

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When Even the Good News is Reported as Bad

from Slate MagazineIraq’s Budget Surplus ScandalWhy do we have such a hard time hearing good news from Baghdad?By Christopher HitchensUpdated Monday, Aug. 11, 2008, at 6:53 AM ET Excerpts Largely attributable to the bonanza in oil prices, to new discoveries

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War Beyond Left and Right

Excerpt from “Moment of Truth in Iraq” by Michael Yon “All news organizations, from the newbie blogger to the New York Times, from right-wing talk radio to NPR, from CNN to Fox, all ultimately depend upon the financial support of

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The Moral High Ground Wins

Some summary notes from “Moment of Truth in Iraq” by Michael Yon Iraq is one country and should not be divided. Iraqis are Iraqi first; Sunni and Shia second. Al Qaeda is defeated but not finished. They are psychopathic brutal

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A True Martyr

“The murderer was dressed as a woman as he walked down the alley toward the mosque full of worshippers. It was Friday, late in January, just before the Muslim holy day of Ashura.” “The bomb strapped to the murderer’s body

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Being Right by Being Wrong

7/22/08 I was up early and watched an interview with Obama after his tour of Iraq. Obama was asked if he regretted his opposition to the surge since it apparently has worked quite well. He stood by his original vote,

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Tough, Smart and Principled……. Not!

from the Weekly Standardby Joe Lieberman Senator Obama this morning said that he wants a foreign policy that is “tough, smart, and principled.” This afternoon, I ask: was it tough when Senator Obama voted to order U.S. forces to retreat

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Covering the Rest of the Story

Why are such significant stories covered so poorly. When our troops are accused the story is trumpeted on the front page; when they are acquitted, hardly a peep. The same is true for the incredible story of the mass of

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Bush’s Big Mistakes

by Henry Oliner While Doug Feith in his excellent, “War and Decision” analyizes what went wrong ( and what went right) in the war on terror, he does not spare his own boss Rumsfeld or Bush. While Rumseld was brilliant

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The Wrong Flag

During the fall of Bagdad Doug Feith was watching the famous scene of the toppling statue of Saddam, live on television. He noticed the US soldier draping an American flag on the head of the fallen statue. He recoiled seeing

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Improvise- Adapt- Overcome

Doug Feith’s “War and Decision” tries to set the record straight as he saw it up close about the decision to send troops into Iraq and what went wrong. There was general agreement between the agencies that Saddam had to

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Yellow Cake

With little fanfare compared to the tired old “Bush lied; troops died” refrain, we now know that Saddam had stockpiled 550 tons of yellow cake. It has recently been in the news as sold and shipped to a Canadian company.

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Iraq Myths

The public has accepted several myths about our actions in Afghanistan and Iraq that have been perpetrated by biased and incomplete reporting; often repeating distortions until they are accepted as facts. This problem was magnified by quarelling departments, security leaks,

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Unfolding History

I am reading Douglas Feith’s “War and Decision”; his detailed account of the meetings and policy decisions after 9/11. Feith was Under Secretary of Defense reporting directly to Donald Rumsfeld. While his personal perspective is tilted toward the Department of

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How Will Bush Be Seen in the Future?

Defending or even praising the state of affairs in Iraq and the Middle East is like arguing whether mustard based or honey based bar-B-Q sauce tastes better on a turd. But ‘World War IV’ by Norman Podhorertz makes a solid

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Will We Be Able to Learn from the Iraqis?

Ralph Peters writes about how well the surge is going in Iraq. Read the article Al Qaeda is running and devasted by the Patreus effort. The Sunnies have joined with us and delivered a devastating defeat to the terrorist camp.

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Uninformed and Misinformed

Not the NewsThe elite media’s coverage of Iraq is a fiasco. By Clifford D. May Mark Twain famously said “if you don’t read the newspapers you are uninformed — if you do read the newspapers you are misinformed.” Today, those

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The Right and Wrong Way to Fight a War

From Ralph Peters in the New York Post LOSE THE MERCENARIES “The lawless actions of mercenaries on steroids undercut the progress made at such great cost by our troops. Last weekend, a convoy ferrying nervous-Nellie diplomats (do we have any

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