The Absurd Report

[Editor’s note: our contributor LTC Joseph Myers forwards this report from Iraq with the following introduction:

I received this ‘update’ from a friend, written by a great American and Infantry officer, it represents his view of things in Iraq…a personal foxhole snapshot from someone “over there” for ten months. This is not an official report of the Army or the MNF-I, but I thought you might want to post it; it’s a very telling and inspiring story. But just between you and me and the reading audience, the American media is failing the American people—and terribly so. Is it just an accident or partisanship? I suspect books will be written on the coverage of this war as much as its conduct.

Meanwhile the American Army and the rest of our armed forces in this fight is the only thing standing between us and tyranny. One day the American people might understand this, no thanks to the American media of course.]

Hello All,
Sorry it has been five months since my last update, but then, we have been busy. Let me give you the bottomline up front (BLUF), and then catch you up on things. Feel free to forward this to whomever, since we still can’t seem to get the press to tell folks what is going on. This is how the fight is going from my foxhole, and it is much more than the bombings, US casualties, and rumors of civil war the press seems to be focused on.

BLUF: We are not, and have not been, on the verge of civil war. We have had an increase in killings by militia groups in the past five weeks, and that is not helping get the new government seated, but we (the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and Coalition Forces) are far from losing control.

As you probably noted, Al Qaida and the other insurgent groups were not able to mount a Tet like offensive this past fall. Iraqi and US operations prevented them from organizing major attacks, and the ISF did a superb job of securing the polling sites. Iraq ratified a constitution and conducted a credible election. Although the Iraqis face some significant challenges forming the new government, the basics of democracy are present and taking root.

To read more…