As promised, Michael Yon has published an article on the recent Iraqi elections: Three Times the Charm. Excerpt:
Three times now—three times this year—millions of Iraqis have come out swinging and voting. Hearing the news about the high turnout (as high as 75% in some regions) and low incidence of violence during the elections in Iraq yesterday, I have to wonder how many times Iraqis have to demonstrate their commitment to freedom and democracy before the world starts to believe it.
From Gray Eagle at A Female Soldier 2:
Photo: Statue Outside Iraq Former Palace
Something Every American Should See
This statue currently stands outside the Iraqi palace, now home to the 4th Infantry division. It will eventually be shipped home and put in the memorial museum in Fort Hood, Texas.
The statue was created by an Iraqi artist named Kalat, who for years was forced by Saddam Hussein to make the many hundreds of bronze busts of Saddam that dotted Baghdad.
Kalat was so grateful for the Americans liberation of his country; he melted 3 of the heads of the fallen Saddam and made the statue as a memorial to the American soldiers
and their fallen warriors. Kalat worked on this memorial night and day for several months.To the left of the kneeling soldier is a small Iraqi girl giving the soldier comfort as he mourns the loss of his comrade in arms.
Do you know why we don’t hear about this in the news? Because it is heart warming and praise worthy. The media avoids it because it does not have the shock effect that a flashed breast or controversy of politics does.
Michael Yon has a new article entitled “The Birds of Baghdad” at Michael Yon : Online Magazine. The article starts out:
I love birds. Everywhere, I notice the birds; often I hear their voices before seeing them. To my ears, the most beautiful singers are the mockingbirds. I can listen to their songs for hours and hours, especially in the springtime, when the bachelors are courting and they sing all night during the full moons. In cities, lovesick bachelors often mistake a streetlight for the full moon, and perch in a nearby tree, singing their hearts out.
Some people cannot sleep to the mockingbird, but to me there is no sweeter song. When I hear a mockingbird in the spring, I’m reminded of Louis Armstrong’s famous song, “What a Wonderful World.†On those full moon nights, I think to myself that the mockingbird is singing, I love you. Eventually, a female hears the song, and one by one, pairs form, nests are built from twigs and bits, and the circle of sweet songs continues.
Louis Armstrong’s “Wonderful World” is a favorite of Damsel’s and mine.
Most U.S. troops will leave Iraq within a year because the Army is “broken, worn out” and “living hand to mouth,” – Rep. John Murtha (D – PA)
After reading some MILBLOGs over the past week, one could conclude that the target of Rep. Murtha‘s remarks, the Army in Iraq, is alive and well, motivated, and defiant of ex-Marine Murtha’s remarks (although rare, there are a few actual ex-Marines).
My conclusion is that the only thing “broken” and “worn out” is the Democratic party who are “living hand to mouth” by spreading disinformation and smearing our men and women in uniform.
This Marine is in Iraq. Somewhere close to Fallujah. These are his takes on American Media and CNN in particular. If you think the media are fair and ethical about what they report in Iraq and elsewhere, think again . . .
America if you didn’t believe us in the past, this should do nothing but reinforce how we are saying that the enemy is trying to get to you all at home to go south and demand us to come home before the job is done and that the media is soooo off mark. This just proves we are making huge gains here. Why? Because the real blind sheep, the big time news agencies, bought the trick, line and sinker from the terrorists. They fell for the oldest trick in the book, taking news tips from the enemy and paying them big cash to allow camera men to tag along with them. Yea great idea because a camera might look like an RPG to a Marine far enough away. It’s a clever technique that the US invented. Counter psyops is one way to buy out ‘reliable’ sources to submit stories to the press. This is now proof of how desperate the big time news agencies are for bad gauge on the US campaign in Iraq. They have no news so they pay for whatever may come down the line. Lowering their contacts and standards they knowingly purchase news reports and film events from the enemy.
Be sure to visit One Marine’s View for the complete article.
Mona Charen has a great syndicated article today: Media don’t share Marines’ view of Iraq
Here’s a few of the high points:
One does not sense that members of the military share the belief so widespread in the press and Congress that the Iraq war is going very badly.
Certainly an understatement for those of us who bother to learn what’s going on for real.
I do know that since Vietnam, liberals have viewed every exercise of American military power (with the exception of those undertaken by Bill Clinton) as preludes to disaster. The very first question Ronald Reagan was asked at his first presidential press conference concerned El Salvador. The question: Did he think it was going to turn into another Vietnam? Democrats invoked Vietnam with every other sentence during the controversy about aiding the resistance in Nicaragua. More recently, just days into the Afghanistan war, The New York Times ran a front-page lament calling that conflict a new “quagmire.”
Liberals seem always to believe that America will lose its wars, and when it doesn’t, that it should.
Did ya notice the “Democratic exemption” afforded to Clinton? And that even success is a “quagmire” when Republicans are involved. And everything is Vietnam?
And, finally, Damsel related this incident she saw in another post to me over our chatroom session. Ms. Charon included it in her article. Let it just sink in . . .
A small group of Iraqis were turned away from [a] food distribution point, though they had been waiting in line for hours. They were given vouchers and told they could come to the front of the line the next morning when supplies would be replenished. These few unhappy souls were then besieged by press types eager to tell their story.
At the same site, the Marines had repaired an old Ferris wheel. The motor was dead, but when two Marines pushed and pulled by hand they could get the thing turning to give rides to the children of the Iraqi employees. A U.S. photographer watched impassively. “Why don’t you take a picture of this?” demanded one Marine. The photographer snorted, “That’s not my job.”
Asshole photographer. Asshole media.. Think about this before you buy the Times or tune in the “alphabet outlets” – ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS (need I go on?)
Update: Wizbang has a nice article about Joseph Lieberman’s (D – sometimes, DINO – otherwise) article encouraging President Bush to tout our successes in Iraq.
Bruce Willis was presented with a framed copy of a Michael Yon photo from Iraq of a soldier carrying an injured Iraqi child. This photo is now available from Michael Yon: Online Magazine.
Many people say this is the most important photograph of the Iraq war. Some have called it “a national treasure.” The image most completely embodies my experience throughout Iraq.