The reporter who was one of the first to acknowledge that Iraq was in a state of civil war, Michael Yon, has some very interesting things to say in his recent email:

Iraq is on the mend, al Qaeda is on the run, and the civil war has abated to a point where the term “civil war” no longer applies.

Accurate war coverage is increasingly important. Even prominent seemingly well-informed persons can get it wrong, such as retired Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez who previously commanded the war in Iraq . His recent public statements –selectively excerpted and then widely dispersed by the hot winds of media – made it clear that this former senior commander is far out of touch with the current situation.

But there are commanders with a finger on the pulse.

When earlier this year I wrote about the 1-4 CAV transforming an abandoned seminary in a Baghdad neighborhood that had been decimated by civil war, the “surge” had not even begun; but already pundits, politicians and editors had declared it a failure. Though I’d spent only a few days with LTC Crider and his 1-4 CAV soldiers at the new COP Amanche, I ended the dispatch on a note of hope based on observation. I recently received an email from LTC Crider with an update on that Baghdad neighborhood. Please read “Achievements of the Human Heart” and see for yourself.

See also, Mike Yon on video from CNN’s “This Week at War”

Read the rest of this entry »

Updated and Bumped
Momentum is building. Google hits 1,680,000 entries for the phrase “the greatest campaign finance scandal in American history.” Hillary Rodham Clinton is now at the top of the heap. Keep it going folks!
++++++

“the+greatest+campaign+finance+scandal+in+American+history”

“the greatest campaign finance scandal in American history”

Now that this phrase has been published by a respected member of the MSM, and, as such, is now in the LexusNexis search database, it seems appropriate to associate that phrase with the person to whom it refers: Hillary Rodham Clinton.

I received a ping from FReeper “Spirit of Allegiance” this morning which pointed to an article which featured our pal, “Dougfromupland.”

The article was in the San Francisco Chronicle’s on line edition. Here is the introductory paragraph of the article about “the greatest campaign finance scandal in American history.”

In his other life, Douglas Cogan, 59, is a San Bernardino County commercial real estate broker. But for years, the conservative Republican has spent thousands of hours painstakingly researching what he calls “the greatest campaign finance scandal in American history” by a woman he calls one of the most dangerous political figures the country has ever seen - Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Since it appears that Google has enabled “google-bombing” again, I thought it might be interesting to get the phrase, “the greatest campaign finance scandal in American history,” permanently associated with Hillary Rodham Clinton. That is the purpose of this post. And, if any of you bloggers out there want to join in, just copy+paste this post at your blog, or pass it along in the comments section of your favorite blogs. The more the merrier. I’m going to track-post it to Linkfests, and post it at FR and Hannity. I’ll also activate every tag I have ever used to associate it with this post. Heh.
+++++++

Read the rest of this entry »

Of all of the reporting that has come from the Iraq war, Mike Yon is in a class all by himself. His E-magazine represents some of the finest writing and most concise reporting that I’ve had the pleasure to read.

Today’s email inbox flashed a familiar message that appears when Mike has a new post ready. The email message included an interesting, and blogworthy prediction:

Readers of my dispatches have gotten first hand reports of the kinds of positive indicators that General David Petraeus described in his progress report.

The atmosphere is changing in Iraq and I’ve been posting dispatches and videos that illustrate just how profound this change is in some cases.

I was the first to say Iraq was in civil war, and many readers were angry to hear me say it. Well, I’ll be the first to say that I predict some sort of milestone for the war in Iraq will occur early in the next year. It’s dangerous to predict like this, but something fundamental has changed in Iraq.

There is one important qualifier: this will only happen if General David Petraeus is supported by our elected officials to implement his proposed plan, without meddling from those same elected officials. Oversight and accountability are not the same thing as backseat driving after siphoning out half of the gas tank.

Please read Michael Yon’s latest dispatch, “Hunting Al Qaeda (Part I of III)”

Comment posted by SwampWoman
at 8/7/2007 8:49:11 AM

Heh. SwampMan is very fond of that napalm–victory thing.

Comment posted by no2liberals
at 8/7/2007 6:27:10 AM

You’re right, tt.
/bastids

Comment posted by totaltransformation
at 8/7/2007 6:21:23 AM

Never fear…Ironically, the defeatists won’t surrender their cries of “defeat”!

Comment posted by no2liberals
at 8/7/2007 5:32:02 AM

Yep, someday this war is gonna end.

Comment posted by no2liberals
at 8/6/2007 9:29:32 PM

Oh goody, his R&R is over, and part II is up.

Comment posted by nuke
at 8/6/2007 9:16:05 PM

Me too swamps. Me too.

Comment posted by SwampWoman
at 8/6/2007 9:12:41 PM

DAMN, that’s good. Wish I could write like that.