12 April 2008: How do I feel about all of this?

I get asked all the time about my feelings regarding the war. Normally I just shrug my shoulders and smile. Most of the time I'm being asked loaded questions. I've also figured out that people who don't agree with the war don't want to know facts - especially when they show positive signs of progress. However, in the past year there was considerable progress made. The "surge" strategy worked. I don't answer the loaded questions because the people who ask still want to argue the mistakes made early on in Iraq. I want to talk about how we've turned things around, how the Iraqis are now winning. Yesterday an article appeared in the Wall Street Journal. It was written by Michael Yon, who has been reporting from Iraq (and Afghanistan) since 2004 as an embedded journalist. His article summarizes what I know - from direct experience of multiple deployments - to be true. Take the time to read what Michael has written. I couldn't have expressed this any better. Thank you Michael for telling the truth. Here is his article in its entirety.

Let's 'Surge' Some More
by Michael Yon
April 11, 2008

It is said that generals always fight the last war. But when David Petraeus came to town it was senators – on both sides of the aisle – who battled over the Iraq war of 2004-2006. That war has little in common with the war we are fighting today.

I may well have spent more time embedded with combat units in Iraq than any other journalist alive. I have seen this war – and our part in it – at its brutal worst. And I say the transformation over the last 14 months is little short of miraculous.

The change goes far beyond the statistical decline in casualties or incidents of violence. A young Iraqi translator, wounded in battle and fearing death, asked an American commander to bury his heart in America. Iraqi special forces units took to the streets to track down terrorists who killed American soldiers. The U.S. military is the most respected institution in Iraq, and many Iraqi boys dream of becoming American soldiers. Yes, young Iraqi boys know about "GoArmy.com."

As the outrages of Abu Ghraib faded in memory – and paled in comparison to al Qaeda's brutalities – and our soldiers under the Petraeus strategy got off their big bases and out of their tanks and deeper into the neighborhoods, American values began to win the war.

Iraqis came to respect American soldiers as warriors who would protect them from terror gangs. But Iraqis also discovered that these great warriors are even happier helping rebuild a clinic, school or a neighborhood. They learned that the American soldier is not only the most dangerous enemy in the world, but one of the best friends a neighborhood can have.

Some people charge that we have merely "rented" the Sunni tribesmen, the former insurgents who now fight by our side. This implies that because we pay these people, their loyalty must be for sale to the highest bidder. But as Gen. Petraeus demonstrated in Nineveh province in 2003 to 2004, many of the Iraqis who filled the ranks of the Sunni insurgency from 2003 into 2007 could have been working with us all along, had we treated them intelligently and respectfully. In Nineveh in 2003, under then Maj. Gen. Petraeus's leadership, these men – many of them veterans of the Iraqi army – played a crucial role in restoring civil order. Yet due to excessive de-Baathification and the administration's attempt to marginalize powerful tribal sheiks in Anbar and other provinces – including men even Saddam dared not ignore – we transformed potential partners into dreaded enemies in less than a year.

Then al Qaeda in Iraq, which helped fund and tried to control the Sunni insurgency for its own ends, raped too many women and boys, cut off too many heads, and brought drugs into too many neighborhoods. By outraging the tribes, it gave birth to the Sunni "awakening." We – and Iraq – got a second chance. Powerful tribes in Anbar province cooperate with us now because they came to see al Qaeda for what it is – and to see Americans for what we truly are.

Soldiers everywhere are paid, and good generals know it is dangerous to mess with a soldier's money. The shoeless heroes who froze at Valley Forge were paid, and when their pay did not come they threatened to leave – and some did. Soldiers have families and will not fight for a nation that allows their families to starve. But to say that the tribes who fight with us are "rented" is perhaps as vile a slander as to say that George Washington's men would have left him if the British offered a better deal.

Equally misguided were some senators' attempts to use Gen. Petraeus's statement, that there could be no purely military solution in Iraq, to dismiss our soldiers' achievements as "merely" military. In a successful counterinsurgency it is impossible to separate military and political success. The Sunni "awakening" was not primarily a military event any more than it was "bribery." It was a political event with enormous military benefits.

The huge drop in roadside bombings is also a political success – because the bombings were political events. It is not possible to bury a tank-busting 1,500-pound bomb in a neighborhood street without the neighbors noticing. Since the military cannot watch every road during every hour of the day (that would be a purely military solution), whether the bomb kills soldiers depends on whether the neighbors warn the soldiers or cover for the terrorists. Once they mostly stood silent; today they tend to pick up their cell phones and call the Americans. Even in big "kinetic" military operations like the taking of Baqubah in June 2007, politics was crucial. Casualties were a fraction of what we expected because, block-by-block, the citizens told our guys where to find the bad guys. I was there; I saw it.

The Iraqi central government is unsatisfactory at best. But the grass-roots political progress of the past year has been extraordinary – and is directly measurable in the drop in casualties.

This leads us to the most out-of-date aspect of the Senate debate: the argument about the pace of troop withdrawals. Precisely because we have made so much political progress in the past year, rather than talking about force reduction, Congress should be figuring ways and means to increase troop levels. For all our successes, we still do not have enough troops. This makes the fight longer and more lethal for the troops who are fighting. To give one example, I just returned this week from Nineveh province, where I have spent probably eight months between 2005 to 2008, and it is clear that we remain stretched very thin from the Syrian border and through Mosul. Vast swaths of Nineveh are patrolled mostly by occasional overflights.

We know now that we can pull off a successful counterinsurgency in Iraq. We know that we are working with an increasingly willing citizenry. But counterinsurgency, like community policing, requires lots of boots on the ground. You can't do it from inside a jet or a tank.

Over the past 15 months, we have proved that we can win this war. We stand now at the moment of truth. Victory – and a democracy in the Arab world – is within our grasp. But it could yet slip away if our leaders remain transfixed by the war we almost lost, rather than focusing on the war we are winning today.

Mr. Yon is author of the just-published "Moment of Truth in Iraq" (Richard Vigilante Books). He has been reporting from Iraq and Afghanistan since December 2004.

Thanks again Michael. You nailed it.

05 April 2008: Supporting your deployed loved one

A month ago I flew out of Iraq to Kuwait to begin the redeployment process. It's amazing how time moves on. My memories, and dreams, are still very vivid. Often I find myself dreaming I'm on a Blackhawk or briefing my team on some upcoming mission. Don't worry though - my dreams aren't of bad experiences. I will always feel an emotional attachment to the mission in Iraq. I continue to feel the bond of kinship and camaraderie. Although I'm not deployed anymore, I never lose sight of the fact that thousands of my comrades are still there. It was with great relief that I learned the 15-month rotations would be changed back to 12. Even 12 months is a long time - especially for those who are just now deploying. I know that many of you who've read my blog over the past year also have loved ones deployed (or deploying). How can you shower your love on them while they are away? I'll provide some ideas.

1. Be Patient! Anxiety will be present. It's natural. Just don't let it become your overriding emotional guide. If you don't hear from your loved one for a few days don't assume the worst. It probably just means that he/she is unable to contact you due to mission requirements. They will call or e-mail when they can. When they do they want to hear good news from home, love in your voice, praise in your heart and an absence of worry. It may seem hard to believe, but, your loved one will worry about you probably more than you worry about him. Be strong!

2. Send cards and letters. In this age of e-mail we almost forget how to use the old mail system. Remember when you always had postage stamps handy? Well go buy some more and stay in stock. Mail call in Iraq or Afghanistan still has the same importance it did in Vietnam or World War II. Joes want to receive letters in the mail. It's a little something extra that puts extra enthusiasm in each day. Send pictures of family events and get-togethers. Make certain to remember holidays, birthdays, and other events you know your soldier holds special. Tell all of your friends and relatives where to send mail and frequently remind them to get involved in sending love.

3. Send care packages. Plan your care packages around what your soldier tells you he needs. Keep in mind that there are well-stocked PX's on almost every FOB. Don't send things like baby wipes and toiletries. Joe can readily get those items cheap at the PX. Instead, send things like phone cards, home-baked cookies, and food items that Joe can share with his buddies. Find out from your soldier what the local Iraqis need. Joes frequently hand out toys, soccer balls, candy, and other items to the locals while out on mission. Get involved in this and know that you played a small part in building trust in the local communities your soldier assists.

4. Avoid news about the war! News media thrives on bad stories. You are more likely to hear about a car bombing than the fifty hospitals that opened in the past two months. The reality on the ground and what you hear on TV are vastly different. I won't get political here, that's not my purpose. Your soldier wants to tell you about the good things he is doing. Let him be your source of news about the war and tune out the bad stuff that will cause anxiety (see number one above).

5. Don't ever debate your loved one on the merits of his mission. Now IS NOT the time to get political or idealogical with your soldier. It's fine if you don't agree with the war. Just don't debate your loved one on this issue. Right now it is his mission. A soldier always believes in his mission because to do otherwise would put his fellow soldiers' lives in danger. The Warrior Ethos states, "I will always place the mission first." Your soldier wears the uniform to defend your right to have a differing opinion. Nothing will sap the morale of your loved one more than an angry diatribe of fuming disagreement regarding the war.

Regardless of the FOB, my pointers should help you form a foundation of how to support your soldier while he's deployed. Stay in tune with his needs, requests, and concerns. Always be responsive. Love from home always gives cause for a swell of pride. Do your part. Love your Joe.