TunaTalon on August 13, 2007 at 10:09 PM

Michael Yon can not see the forest for the trees.

He has tunnel vision.

He needs to read more of Robert Spencer and Hugh Fitzgerald.

TunaTalon on August 13, 2007 at 10:09 PM

Picky, picky, picky.

Does it really make any difference? Are you any more likely to believe it?

It was from AP (Associated Press) where a preponderance of articles come from.

Islam teaches them that we are their inferiors.

All that we do is ultimately no compensation for our insulting denial of Allah’s truth.

We are mistaken that they ultimately care about the contemptible material details of this world. (Electricity, security, health care, education, et al.)

They are more oriented to the next world. To eternal Paradise.

Their complaints about mundane “bad” conditions are merely tactical leverage points to play on our pragmatic naivete.

What we really need to do, in their eyes, is humbly submit to their higher religious authority.

Until we understand the supremacist mindset promulgated by the Koran (and Hadiths), we are operating in a parallel moral universe, thinking we are “helping” them while they see our rebuilding and policing of Iraq as justifiable reparations for our kaffir invasion of a sacred Muslim land.

We are playing simplistic “hearts and minds” hopscotch while they are whirling “Islam must dominate” dervishes.

What to do?

Kill jihadis, and defend our own principles.

The rest may be beyond our political and military scope.

And in the realm of philosophical and religious debate.

The ideological war which our side has not yet begun to openly fight.

“Relations between Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and US Gen. David Petraeus are so tense that aides to al-Maliki say he has considered asking Washington to pull the general out of Baghdad…”
MB4 on August 13, 2007 at 9:02 PM

I see your unattributed quote and raise with an attributed quote.
“U.S. and Iraqi officials acknowledged today that differences existed between Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and the top U.S. commander but denied that the Iraqi leader wanted Gen. David H. Petraeus removed. “
MOLLY HENNESSY-FISKE Los Angeles Times

But that dispute is based on the assumption that stability in Iraq will start at the top of the political process and trickle down to the people. The belief that political power flows from the top down is central tenet of liberal philosophy. That is not what Michael Yon had in mind when he wrote:
“To say there has been no political progress in Iraq in 2007 is patently absurd, completely wrong and dangerously dismissive of the significant changes and improvements happening all across Iraq.”

Read Michael’s posts and watch his videos. The political progress is real and at the grassroots level. The military success and political progress in Iraq are driven from the bottom-up. Expect all of the leftie Senators to reject the Petraeus report in September because they are true believers in top-down control.

“The six ministers from the National Accordance Front, the main Sunni political bloc, announced their withdrawal from Mr. Maliki’s coalition government at a Baghdad news conference yesterday.

“The National Accordance Front has promised the Iraqi people to withdraw from the current government that didn’t respond to our demands,” the bloc said in a statement carried on the Web site of President Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Party.”

“Five ministers loyal to former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, Iraq’s first leader after the fall of Saddam Hussein, today said they will boycott future cabinet meetings.”

“Relations between Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and US Gen. David Petraeus are so tense that aides to al-Maliki say he has considered asking Washington to pull the general out of Baghdad. The two major sources of tension appear to be al-Maliki’s continued lack of control over all Iraqi military units and operations, and Petraeus’s policy of arming Iraqi Sunni Arab tribesmen willing to fight the foreign Salafi Jihadis. Al-Maliki fears that once the Sunni tribesmen have dispatched “al-Qaeda,” they will turn on the largely Shiite government with their new American weapons.”

“President Bush also directly warned Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki about his close ties to Iran. Al-Maliki is currently on a three-day trip to Tehran where he has met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other top Iranian officials. According to Iran’s state-run news agency, Al-Maliki has thanked Iran for its “positive and constructive” work in “providing security and fighting terrorism in Iraq.” At Thursday’s news conference President Bush was asked about Al-Maliki’s ties to Iran.

President Bush: “Now, is he trying to get Iran to play a more constructive role? I presume he is. But that doesn’t — what my question is — well, what my message to him is, is that when we catch you playing a non-constructive role there will be a price to pay.”"

Not to take anything away from Gen. Patraeus and the excellent counterinsurgency he is running, but does anyone think AQ in Iraq might be building up for a big splash, ala Tet in 1968?
Leonidas Hoplite on August 13, 2007 at 10:32 AM

General Patraeus has mentioned this as “to be expected”.

General Jack Murtha floated a trial balloon that Patraeus was not credible. Unfortunately for Murtha pork is not a good material for balloons.

Three Marks on the Horizon
- Michael Yon

Not to take anything away from Gen. Patraeus and the excellent counterinsurgency he is running, but does anyone think AQ in Iraq might be building up for a big splash, ala Tet in 1968? Especially with what seems to be going on the AQ camps in Pakistan emptying out…

Not to be negative, but the thought also occurs to me.

However, don’t tell the cut and run crowd. They don’t like news like this….. but don’t question their patriotism.

…we have counted about 70 rules about how to urinate and deficate…

Talk about anal retentive! Me thinks their whities are too tighties.

Just doing a small part to bring peace in Doura.

Bring all our men and women home now!

SilverStar830 on August 13, 2007 at 10:30 AM

Wow, SilverStar. I never thought I’d hear you say that. You want us to give up and lose just when it looks like we just might win?

SilverStar830 on August 13, 2007 at 10:30 AM

An attitude like that is precisely the type that will lose every time.

The Tet Offensive was in reality a huge failure for North Vietnam. The MSM spun it in to a huge victory for them. Same way they are trying to do it with Iraq now. The only difference is we now have the embedded bloggers like Yon to bring us the truth.

There may be little progress on political goals crafted in America, to meet American concerns, by politicians who have a cushion of 200 years of democracy.

It would be an interesting exercise, and possibly an excellent talking point come September to compare the volume of legislative achievement by Iraq’s government versus our own.

Go Troops! Kick ass!

Peace and prosperity flows from the bottom up – from the people up. Liberals still haven’t learned that important lesson. The are always looking to big central government as the answer.

Which is the beauty of Parliamentary style government. When it’s failing to do what the people put it in place to do, it’s much easier to replace.

In Iraq, it needs to do just one thing, and it needs to do it soon. It needs to reach a political agreement between the various factions that will allow the country as a whole to move forward. It needs to create the political framework that will enable the security and economic stability that will allow the market to do what it does and encourage the people to act in their own interests. It needs to remove chaos from Iraqi society.

If this one can’t do it, then it’s time for another one.

Yes, amazing isn’t it? You take risks increase your exposure show the civilians you are willing to protect them and you hunt and kill the bad guys for them and all of a sudden the people start to respect you and your sacrifice. Our Army is the greatest its our political leaders in congress/white house that have failed us for the last 60 years. I can count the great leaders of our country over the last 60 years on one finger. It is shameful.

It’s kind of scary to think that dropping a few nukes is probably the best way to fight the next war. You don’t have to deploy thousands of troops. There’s no billions invested in reconstruction for people whose religion pretty much says we’re infidels and should be killed anyway. You drop the nukes and there is no further fighting and the liberals can only b!tch about nuclear fallout. We say we’re sorry and say that they started it. The enemy knows we mean business.

I think the West is amazing in trying to bring civilization to Afghanistan and Iraq. The cost in lives, and billions of dollars is staggering. Especially when WE WERE THE ONES ATTACKED!!

Considering the anti-war group in the west, in the future, dropping nukes is probably the best way to go. You’ve destroyed the enemy and just have to say sorry. The war is over, you don’t have to go through all of the current crap we’re seeing as the left tries to sabotage the war effort. You just tell the liberals we understand that they are uncomfortable with long wars. Billions of dollars are saved. Not very unattractive.

We live in interesting times.

There may be little progress on political goals crafted in America, to meet American concerns, by politicians who have a cushion of 200 years of democracy.
Michael Yon

Milestones crafted by Americans will be used next month to measure the political progress of a nation with no history of the rule of law. In the U.S.A. whoever wins the election next year will be POTUS, even Hillary. There will be no bombs in malls or beheadings of political enemies. Iraq has no such history of just going along with the voting majority.

To meet a deadline imposed by the U.S. the majority could just vote in a law, any law the majority wants. That will not bring peace and reconciliation. Reconciliation in Iraq requires more than a 51% vote.

The top-down milestones for Iraqi political progress were developed to measure progress on the Bremer, Rumsfeld plan. We are about to use those top-down milestones to measure the botton-up plan of General Petraeus. Bad idea.

I see political progress in every Michael Yon post. But it’s all at the grassroots level. I know its way late in the process, but the new plan needs new measurement.

Pull out now, before we win!

-This message brought to you by the Democratic National Committee

TheBigOldDog on August 13, 2007 at 10:18 AM

Ha, that’s great.

I am the DNC and I approve of this message.

But through time, somehow the American military has managed to establish a moral authority in Iraq.

We can has hearts and minds?

#2 – Religion is private and should not be part of law (therefore all religions – especially minorities – are protected under the law).

This might seem contradictory, but the implication is that you can’t make a law that punishes people if they choose to change their religion as sharia law does.