I understand your frustration. You try to start a serious thread about Michelle and Bryan’s trip to Iraq,and it quickly degenerates into a commentary about how good Michelle looked in her camouflage uniform. It’s human nature; most people are jackasses, including this site, and despite your best efforts.

But there are many serious people who read your threads and greatly appreciate them whether they agree with your analysis or not.

You just keep plugging, and we’ll keep reading.

If you want more comments, juice your stuff up with T & A, maybe

Or try Not Being Wrong………

I’ll bet you more people read your Iraq posts than read my Iran posts at Jawa.

Hey what are you doing slacking off! It’s been 20 seconds scince I last hit the refresh on my jawa page. Blogg, boy, blog!

I know this is the wrong place but it got too crowded over there so I thought I could write this on one of the dead posts that nobody reads.

I always read your Iraq articles, just not much to say about the subject anymore.

I hope you don’t mind, but I found this over on The Corner from Mona Charen. It’s the speech Gen. Patraeus made upon taking command. We picked the right guy for the mission.

To the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Civilians of Multi-National Force-Iraq:

We serve in iraq at a critical time. The war here will soon enter its fifth year. A decisive moment approaches. Shoulder-to-shoulder with our Iraqi comrades, we will conduct a pivotal campaign to improve security for the Iraqi people. The stakes could not be higher.

Our task is crucial. Security is essential for Iraq to build its future. Only with security can the Iraqi government come to grips with the tough issues it confronts and develop the capacity to serve its citizens. The hopes of the Iraqi people and the coalition countries are with us.

The enemies of Iraq will shrink at no act, however barbaric. They will do all that they can to shake the confidence of the people and to convince the world that this effort is doomed. We must not underestimate them.

Together with our Iraqi partners, we must defeat those who oppose the new Iraq. We cannot allow mass murderers to hold the initiative. We must strike them relentlessly. We and our Iraqi partners must set the terms of the struggle, not our enemies. And together we must prevail.

The way ahead will not be easy. There will be difficult times in the months to come. But hard is not hopeless, and we must remain steadfast in our effort to help improve security for the Iraqi people. I am confident that each of you will fight with skill and courage, and that you will remain loyal to your comrades-in-arms and to the values our nations hold so dear.

In the end, Iraqis will decide the outcome of this struggle. Our task is to help them gain the time they need to save their country. To do that, many of us will live and fight alongside them. Together we will face down the terrorirsts, insurgents, and criminals who slaughter the innocent. Success will require discipline, fortitude, and initiative — qualities that you have in abundance.

I appreciate your sacrifices and those of your families. Now, more than ever, your commitment to service and your skill can make the difference between victory and defeat in a very tough mission.

It is an honor to soldier again with the members of the Multi-National Force-Iraq. I know that wherever you serve in this undertaking you will give your all. In turn, I pledge my commitment to our mission and every effort to achieve success as we help the Iraqis chart a course to a brighter future.

Godspeed to each of you and to our Iraqi comrades in this crucial endeavor.

David H. Petraeus
General, United States Army
Commanding

There’s not a lot to say here, but plenty to see.

I read everything you post on Iraq and the internals going on there. I also subscribe to the MNF-I email news dispatches, and I highly recommend them to anyone interested in all news, good and bad, coming out of Iraq.

Just send an email to this address and request that you be put on the email list:
MNCI-PAO-VICTORYMAINJOC@IRAQ.CENTCOM.MIL

Great stuff. Thanks for posting it, and please continue.

This insurgency isn’t on the ropes. We don’t have enough troops to win “nicely”. We’re not going to be “nasty”. In short, if we only have six months, we are going to lose.

Turkey has threatened military action many times, should Iraqi Kurds make any moves to annex Kirkuk to Iraqi Kurdistan.

Why we let the Turks threaten the Kurds is baffling to me. The Turks screwed us in 2003, so we should back the Kurds and tell the Turks in no uncertain terms that Turkish military action in Iraq is unacceptable, so STFU.

If this does go as well as it has begun and Bush finally realizes the power of actually spreading good news, things could be very different in 6 months.

If the oil deal gets ironed out, relative stability comes to Baghdad and US casualites continue to go down… This ain’t Vietnam, not close.

AP, how do you just how many people read an article? By the number of comments? Or have you buried tiny little sitemeterettes in them?

You’ve seen the picture by now of the dry erase board in Iraq: “America is not at war. America is at the mall. The Marines are at war.”

The team comprises an unusual mix of combat experience and high academic achievement. It includes … Col H R McMaster, author of a well-known critique of Vietnam and a seasoned counter-insurgency operations chief

Glad to hear COL McMaster is part of the Brain Trust. These are the people who should have been the ISG, not the bunch of has-been diplomats we had.

I had the priviledge of having then CPT McMaster teach me the history lession of the battle he actually fought in. After the class, he showed a Discovery Channel program narrated by Tom Clancy. At one point in the show, Tom starts interviewing McMaster about the battle, meanwile we got the guy himself sitting in the corner of the classroom, slightly embarassesd.

An elite team of officers advising US commander General David Petraeus in Baghdad has concluded the US has six months to win the war in Iraq – or face a Vietnam-style collapse in political and public support that could force the military into a hasty retreat…

It’s good to hear that SOMEONE on the good guy’s side is thinking ahead of the curve. The one problem with thinking in the long term is not knowing if there IS a long term.

Unfortunately, the quick, which is where this seems to be headed, is usually the bloody as well.