Tuesday, November 22, 2005
A Marine Reports From Iraq, A Must-Read!!
A Marine reports from Iraq�-�Editorials/Op-Ed�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper: " The Iraqis are a mixed bag. Some fight well, others aren't worth a s***.
Most do okay with American support. Finding leaders is hard, but they are getting better. It is widely viewed that Zarqawi's use of suicide bombers, en masse, against the civilian population was a serious tactical mistake.
Many Iraqis were galvanized and the caliber of recruits in the Army and the police forces went up, along with their motivation. It also led to an exponential increase in good intelligence because the Iraqis are sick of the insurgent attacks against civilians. The Kurds are solidly pro-American and fearless fighters.
According to [name redacted], morale among our guys is very high. They not only believe they are winning, but that they are winning decisively. They are stunned and dismayed by what they see in the American press, whom they almost universally view as against them. The embedded reporters are despised and distrusted. They are inflicting casualties at a rate of 20-1 and then see s*** like 'Are we losing in Iraq?' on television and the print media.
For the most part, they are satisfied with their equipment, food and leadership. Bottom line, though, and they all say this: There are not enough guys there to drive the final stake through the heart of the insurgency, primarily because there aren't enough troops in-theater to shut down the borders with Iran and Syria. The Iranians and the Syrians just cannot stand the thought of Iraq being an American ally -- with, of course, permanent U.S. bases there."
This letter confirms much of what many of us suspected. Things are not perfect, but they are not as bad as many of the anti-war folks would like us to believe. This Marine says we need more people and the right equipment. I hope the big-wigs at the Pentagon see this letter for that point. This Marine also says that the Iraqi's are siding with the Americans, if only because our enemy is in common. They don't like the civillian targeting, so they want us to win. Go figure. It only made sense, and it is good to see someone who is over there confirm this. Another amazing point is that our service men and women believe they are winning. Let me repeat. Our service men and women on the ground believe we are winning. I think this is one of those columns that all Americans need to read. It may just focus the criticism to the things that matter, weapons and on-the-ground military head-count. I also hope it helps put focus on winning, and not getting these heroes home before they finish a job they clearly feel like they are successful doing.
Most do okay with American support. Finding leaders is hard, but they are getting better. It is widely viewed that Zarqawi's use of suicide bombers, en masse, against the civilian population was a serious tactical mistake.
Many Iraqis were galvanized and the caliber of recruits in the Army and the police forces went up, along with their motivation. It also led to an exponential increase in good intelligence because the Iraqis are sick of the insurgent attacks against civilians. The Kurds are solidly pro-American and fearless fighters.
According to [name redacted], morale among our guys is very high. They not only believe they are winning, but that they are winning decisively. They are stunned and dismayed by what they see in the American press, whom they almost universally view as against them. The embedded reporters are despised and distrusted. They are inflicting casualties at a rate of 20-1 and then see s*** like 'Are we losing in Iraq?' on television and the print media.
For the most part, they are satisfied with their equipment, food and leadership. Bottom line, though, and they all say this: There are not enough guys there to drive the final stake through the heart of the insurgency, primarily because there aren't enough troops in-theater to shut down the borders with Iran and Syria. The Iranians and the Syrians just cannot stand the thought of Iraq being an American ally -- with, of course, permanent U.S. bases there."
This letter confirms much of what many of us suspected. Things are not perfect, but they are not as bad as many of the anti-war folks would like us to believe. This Marine says we need more people and the right equipment. I hope the big-wigs at the Pentagon see this letter for that point. This Marine also says that the Iraqi's are siding with the Americans, if only because our enemy is in common. They don't like the civillian targeting, so they want us to win. Go figure. It only made sense, and it is good to see someone who is over there confirm this. Another amazing point is that our service men and women believe they are winning. Let me repeat. Our service men and women on the ground believe we are winning. I think this is one of those columns that all Americans need to read. It may just focus the criticism to the things that matter, weapons and on-the-ground military head-count. I also hope it helps put focus on winning, and not getting these heroes home before they finish a job they clearly feel like they are successful doing.
