It never gets old, I promise you. Thank you. It gives me courage, come what may, knowing we will never submit.

DrMagnolias on September 8, 2007 at 7:03 PM

Well in that case please allow me to reiterate what Limerick said…

Thank you. Thank him. Thank them all. Gods speed to them and bring em home safe.

Heh Heh WTF?

Among Top Officials, ‘Surge’ Has Sparked Dissent, Infighting.

“Lawmakers were not alone. Fallon, who took command of Centcom in March, worried that Iraq was undermining the military’s ability to confront other threats, such as Iran. “When he took over, the reality hit him that he had to deal with Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and a whole bunch of other stuff besides Iraq,” said a top military officer.

Fallon was also derisive of Iraqi leaders’ intentions and competence, and dubious about the surge. “He’s been saying from Day One, ‘This isn’t working,’ ” said a senior administration official. And Fallon signaled his departure from Bush by ordering subordinates to avoid the term “long war” — a phrase the president used to describe the fight against terrorism.

To Bush aides, Gates did not seem fully on board with the president’s strategy, either. As a member of the congressionally chartered Iraq Study Group before his selection to head the Pentagon, Gates embraced proposals to scale back the U.S. presence in Iraq. Now that he was in the Cabinet, he kept his own counsel.

But he consulted regularly with former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, a noted critic of the Iraq war; told Army audiences privately that a troop decrease was inevitable; and tried to avoid Sunday talk shows during the fight over the war spending bill to preserve relations with lawmakers, according to administration sources. “With Fallon, it’s pretty much in your face,” said a senior official. “Gates is quieter.”

A Pentagon official said Gates is “very concerned about all of our energy” being devoted to Iraq, an “overcommitment that is consuming and distracting us from everything else. On the other hand, he knows there can’t be another Saigon. There’s this balance.”

He was not the only skeptic. More than half a dozen retired four-star generals turned down Hadley in his search for a “war czar” who could knock heads and make sure requests from the field survived the Washington bureaucracy.”

forged rite on September 8, 2007 at 6:26 PM

And then there is another group that says that it doesn’t make much difference if the “surge” is working or not as it is but a tree in the forest.

Asher on September 8, 2007 at 6:03 PM

Mohammad broke Islam. Let him fix it.

There are not enough AlQ in Iraq to take over the country. Even most minority Sunnis do not like AlQ in Iraq much and the majority Shiites do not like them at all. The Kurds don’t like em either.

Nethicus on September 8, 2007 at 5:03 PM

The “surge” was a “rolling surge” and started last February/March.

Yes, the troops are like a doctor who has succeded in getting the patients blood sugar down, but can not do a whole lot more for the patient if he insists on drinking himself to death.

The boldface part sums up the dilemma: if they’re not making things better but they are keeping things from getting worse, is that in itself enough of a justification to keep troops there long term?

I guess it all depends on what value you put on the troops.

Half a year ago Anbar was written off by people on the ground with experience and intelligence. Their projections did not bear out. Same is true of the Baghdad political situation. A unity gov’t may be impossible after the Samarra bombing and its aftermath, but that does not mean Sadr has a lock on anything or that we inevitably will witness a Rwanda redux.

Former IRA Commander helps hammer out Iraq “road map” to peace

Huge strides towards peace in Iraq were made during discussions between Middle Eastern power-brokers over the weekend, Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister said today.

(snip)

Organisers said the representatives from Sunni and Shiite groups in Iraq agreed on a road map to peace during the secret talks in Finland.

The four-day meeting brought together 16 delegates from the feuding groups to study lessons learned from successful peacemaking efforts in South Africa and Northern Ireland.

Hopefully, from this seed…

Phil Byler on September 8, 2007 at 6:19 PM

Thanks. I hate them too. If my son was there, I’d be enraged. So many people are with you and with your son. I hope you know that we are grateful.

“They can’t break up our organization,” he said. “If you count all the Americans in Iraq, they are really just prisoners.”

It’s the “Black Knight” scenario from Monty Python’s Holy Grail all over again.

America: “We have killed tens of thousands of your bad guys and put thousands more in prisons all over the world.”

Abu Sajat: “No you didn’t”

America: Yes we did. Look at the crowded prisons full of your lunatic brothers.

Abu Sajat: Liar!

Limerick on September 8, 2007 at 6:56 PM

It never gets old, I promise you. Thank you. It gives me courage, come what may, knowing we will never submit.

You mean with 7th century schism between the Sunnis and Shi’ites that has been a source of internecine warfare for 1400 years because each side claims to be heir to the mantle of Mohammad?
…..
profitsbeard on September 8, 2007 at 6:38 PM

That is the nub of the problem, isn’t it?? I understand that fundamental Sunni and Shia think of each other as no better than the “pigs and monkeys.”

It is ironic that 2 or 3 years ago, most Americans thought that the nasty Sunni would be the problem, and the down-trodden Shia would love us. Then came Sadr and friends – we should have let the Marines finish the job in Najef(?) when they had a chance (darn those ‘truces’). Sunnis don’t have a Sadr, so we can take them on city by city and square them away, as in Fallujah (great to read this dispatch!).

Unfortunately, 70% are Shia. Do we need to get rid of Sadr before any substantive progress in Shia areas??

DrMagnolias on September 8, 2007 at 5:27 PM

Many in America and many here in your shoes. While it may get old to hear here it is……..Thank you. Thank him. Thank them all. Gods speed to them and bring em home safe.
They are the part of America our enemies fear most. Not because of their guns as much as their unwillingness to bow to any king or prince, man made godhead or not.

“If you count all the Americans in Iraq, they are really just prisoners.”

Penitentiary inmates say the same crap about Corrections Officers.
And I remember Black Panthers who used the same rhetoric.
In the NYTimes.