He used to be Steven Soderbergh’s agent. Then he went off to the sandbox with his camera and embedded with the Marines in Ramadi, home base for Al Qaeda in Iraq. He shot a pro-war documentary there called “Young Americans” and along the way got blown out of a humvee when it was hit by a roadside bomb. There’s a photo of the wreckage at his website.

Pat Dollard, interesting guy.

The left naturally hasn’t forgiven him his career change. The latest example is Vanity Fair dropping a 10,000-word hit piece on him, which occasioned his appearance last night on “Red Eye.” Kudos to Gut and Levy for having him on. Here he explains why a Hollywood millionaire would want to get in the ring with terrorists and just how big of a jackass George Clooney really is.

He also has kind words for star embed bloggers Bill Roggio, Michael Fumento, and Michael Yon, the last of whom was at the ceremony earlier today in which Gen. Casey surrendered command to Gen. Petraeus. The first results from the surge are not encouraging, but Yon writes in his e-mail:

Anyone who knows much about General Petraeus might agree that David Petraeus seems to have been born and raised to win this particular war. Frankly, the odds seem nearly impossible. Iraq is broiling and it’s getting worse. But there are glimmers of hope, and I see those glimmers with my own eyes here in Iraq. Troop moral is still good to high, and Iraqi Security Forces are improving, for instance. But make no mistake: America has asked David Petraeus to walk into a burning barn and perform brain surgery on a dying patient. If it can be done, David Petraeus is our man. The odds are against him. Personally, I am betting on General Petraeus, his staff, and the great number of hard-minded people who believe Iraq can stand again. This means I am betting for the good guys, and against the terrorists.

Iraqslogger has the transcript of Petraeus’s remarks. Money quote: “A decisive moment approaches.”