Redstate

Merrilee for the scrafice you and your family have made.

I just posted this story on my blog and is seems to say it all about the mothers that have sacrificed their sons.

We are stronger as a nation for all the sons and daughters that have given their lives in defense of freedom.

Gordon Taylor

and bring them home ...

  V I C T O R I O U S

Not a minute prior.

forces in a matter of weeks. It performed brilliantly in what it was designed to do - smash enemy forces to bits.

We then gave the Iraqis time to write a Constitution, and have an election for a new government.

What we can't do, because it is beyond the military's capability, is force Iraqi politicians to actually work together, form a government, and govern.

The things we can do militarily, we have already done. That is called 'military victory.'

The things that are hanging everything up now are out of our hands. The Shia have to govern. If they don't, then who will? What are we to do? Topple them and start over?

I know all of you enjoy chest thumping about victory, but the Sunni insurgents can't take over the country. They are a minority within a minority and have no chance in a face-to-face engagement with the superior numbers of the Shia. Bin Ladin will not govern Iraq, the question is - who among the Shia will?

But the ultimate success of Iraq is for the Iraqis to build, not us. That's hard to swallow, but that is the case. We seem to pretend that all we have to do is beat the insurgents, but it isn't even necessary for us to do so. The insurgents are gnats biting the Shia horse.

It isn't the MSM's negative reporting that is causing a drop in the President's approval rating, though it certainly doesn't help. It is that plain old American attitude of, "What more do we have to do for you people!"

...for a year and came back alive (thank God).  I was honored by his service and by the service of those who gave that last full measure of devotion.

It's a damned shame what the media has done with this war and to the soldiers (and families) that are fighting it.

They are certainly in my thoughts and prayers.

But I thank him for the blood he shed in defense of Freedom and this Great Nation.

I have a cousin who got forced to come home this December when he tried to volunteer for a 4th year straight deployed in the War on Terror.  But he is Chem/EOD, so we already knew he was crazy...

Our son is a US Marine, recently retired.  Our hearts are with you.

Do you have some example of demonization of the soldiers (which is what you seem to be implying):

It's a damned shame what the media has done ... to the soldiers (and families) that are fighting it.

I haven't seen anything of the sort.  If anything the real shame should be on the government for the lack of support they've been giving vets and the troops recently.  Between the issues of body armor or failing to properly fund veterans benefits the government has been acting in the most shameful fashion.

Finally, while it's nice to blame the media for the problems, they're only reporting what is going on there on the ground anyway.  Even the Iraqi blogs linked from noendbutvictory.com sound strikingly like the MSM.  From The Messopotamian which you can find in noendbutvictory.com's list of iraqi blogs comes this latest update:

The situation in Baghdad is deteriorating from day to day. I have warned about this long ago. The "insurrection" is lead by the Baathists, without any doubt, and they are converging on Baghdad and seriously bent on taking over. They are creating havoc in in the capital. Very soon, if this situation continues like this the city is going to be brought to a complete standstill and paralysis. The confusion and conflict between the Americans, the army and the Ministry of interior is producing a situation where the citizens don't know anymore whether the security personel in the street are friends, enemies, terrorists or simply criminals and thieves. Everybody is wearing the same uniforms. Whole sections of the city have virtually fallen to gangs and terrorists, and this is sepecially true for the "Sunni" dominated neighborhoods. People and businesses are being robbed and the employees kidnapped en mass in broad daylight and with complete ease as though security forces are non-existent, although we see them everwhere.

And that's just the opener, read the rest, it doesn't get better.  While that's probably one of the worst updates among the Iraqi blogs listed there it's also one of the most recent.

The media hasn't done anything to this war, this war is what it is.  PR doesn't make a war 'better'   nor does 'negitive' embolden the enemy.

I have to agree with Jaszkowski.  Watching the Iraqi elected officials continue to fail to form a viable government so many months after the election is much of the problem.  That power vacuum is fueling the insurgency and at the same time contributing the attitude here in the states which boils down to "What more do we have to do for you people?!"

Some real progress needs to happen or in this election or the next the Dems will regain a majority and use it to end our involvement in Iraq.

was that you were peeing on MY carpet at NEBV, or that you were at least choosing poorly which thread to take issue with the Iraq war or further some of the talking points (tm) and known facts from the left vis a vis Iraq (and "kinda" peeing on our carpet here).  After a little reflection (and the 10 deep cleansing breaths) I chose to research your comment history here, and decided that constructive dialog should get the first shot at what I consider bad form on your part in this particular thread.

We are trying to get this family's message out in support of the troops and their mission.  I was asked by this family and their site to do my part to help...I did.  I extended the favor for them to RS because the editors here are also contributors of my little clubhouse at NEBV...and they returned the favor for us here.  The Carlson family and many others are sacrificing their own flesh and blood on yours and mine behalf, and they are watching this thread as well as you.  

That said, while I appreciate your review of NEBV's links, you failed to mention other Iraq blogs who have encouraging things to say...and words of hope and enthusiasm.  You failed to mention the links from the resources page which links to Soldier's blogs who would disagree with your assertions about equipment...a little tour around the web would indicate that Veterans' benefits, while fighting for increasing allocations, are not ruining the lives of, or in any way dishonoring the service of those brave men and women.  These are political debating points...not soldier's and veterans' debating points.

What got me most in your comment, however was this:

Finally, while it's nice to blame the media for the problems, they're only reporting what is going on there on the ground anyway.

This is patently false.  

Example (links if you MAKE me, but they are well known and easy enough to find)

Abu Ghraib: MSM made it sound like ALL soldiers were rampantly torturing the enemy

Samarra: MSM made it sound like ALL soldiers were driving around with enemy carcasses on their trucks like trophies after a big game hunt.

MSM has been recenly defending the FACT that they are doing a great deal of reporting from their hotels because they can't get security details to escort them.  Is their news then "from the ground" or what they are being TOLD rather than what they see with their own eyes?

Iraqi life: has MSM reported on the number of women in the new parliament?  

How about the national celebration of "Women's Day" last month?  No?  

Did they in the last year, do ANY segments or extended coverage on proven, documented, factual successes of a unit, a neighborhood, a school, a battalion, or any group of people that has risen from the ashes of the initial conflict to where they are today?  No?

The media HAS painted the bad things like Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, Samarra, and any other major headline as a failure of the MILITARY in total, and the Government in particular.  They have EXCLUDED any good that could at least compete with the bad and allow for stateside optimism or hope.

I watched a CNN reporter from Baghdad just this weekend complain that when there are 3 "death" stories and 1 "new school opens" story, it makes good business sense to go with the death stories...er, I mean, statistically that means there is more bad than good to report on...therefore it must be BAD there, not GOOD.

One of her colleagues added that death and mayhem make good press.

Does this business reality help the Carlsons?  Does it Give Shrek his dream of a parade and him and his fellow soldiers being immortalized in stone?

And you insist negative news here doesn't encourage the bad guys there?  Beyond the extensive news stories about Bin Laden's stated strategy of relying on the lack of a collective will of the American people, and monitoring the media to get the feel of where we are day to day on that, I offer a snippet from CentCom which regularly updates us on "what the extremists are saying"(as intercepted by all that nasty wiretapping and listening in stuff we do around the world)

 

"To put your mind at ease, it is not going to be one operation but two. One will be greater than the other, but they will both be big.  But we shall start with the large operation, and postpone the greater attack, to witness how the American people cling to life.  Thus, if you have a desire to live, meet the demands of the Muslims, and if you prefer death, we, with God's grace, are masters of this trade.  Do not hang on too much to [President George W.] Bush and his angels of hell, for, by God, they are too weak to come to your protection.  And, if they were right about their ability to protect you, let them reveal the threads of the two operations to you. Let them put a stop to them and hold the officials responsible for them.  And, if they could not, which is the case, how long will you allow yourselves to be led to the slaughterhouse, while atching?

[...]

"Shake off the dust of defeat, and move to save yourselves and your children from the disasters and the catastrophes. Remove the war makers and throw them in prisons and detention centers. Get rid of the Jewish insects, which have caused you great harm in yourselves and your wealth, and have deceived you all these years. Take your revenge from them and make them an example for those who have not yet learned their lessons.  Get rid of your media producers, for they are the ones who kept you in the dark all these years, and they are the ones who turned you into the laughingstock of the world.

"Boycott NBC station, and get rid of its Jewish director, Fred Silverman.  Fight INC station and its Jewish director, Leonard Goldstein.  Take revenge on the CBS station and its Jewish director, William Bailey.  Search for truthful media that brings to you the truth as it stands. Unfortunately, however, you will not find one and do you know why? It is because your apostate country fights honest media.  Even the smallest Internet site could not escape from its grip. Search the web for the publications of the mujahidin to learn about their pure truth, which was marred by your agent television stations.  If you could not do that, at least watch Al-Jazirah television to get 20 percent of the truth if not less.

Me thinks they pay VERY close attention to our media.  I hope you understand at least, even if you still choose to disagree, that THEY are paying a WHOLE lot more attention to what WE say and do, than our opportunistic media and Political heros seem to be paying to what THEY say and do.

Abu Ghraib: MSM made it sound like ALL soldiers were rampantly torturing the enemy

Samarra: MSM made it sound like ALL soldiers were driving around with enemy carcasses on their trucks like trophies after a big game hunt.

No and No.

That may be your impression of it, but it certainly wasn't mine from the reporting of both cases I heard.  Though from reading the rest of your post I'm fairly certain that whatever reporting you did read you went into it searching for fault.

And I'm a bit lost on the why you choose to include to extremists diatribe.  Since it also attacks the media as evil, and claims it's controlled by the evil Jews.  Which seems odd of a thing to include when your complaining about the very same media. I think you put far too much weight and value in what gets reported or doesn't get reported in the media.  They're not blame for the way things are and when you start digging around reading the things that people who actually live there are saying the negitive outweighs the positive there as well.

Finally, since you accused me of failing to mention other Iraq blogs who have encouraging things to say, and words of hope and enthusiasm I've gone and read the front page on every single one listed on the sidebar of NEBV, here's what they have to say from on the ground in Iraq.  I'm skipping the blogs of those listed as Iraqi's on the sidebar who are not living in Iraq.  I'm most interested in the impressions of those people who are living day to day in Iraq.  This excludes I believe 3 blogs on your list, one of which was talking about Hurricane Katrina and one which just had news stories posted by a nameless 'admin'.

as the Admin at the site, and read them every day...oh, and I am in contact with many of them on a regular basis(fwiw).

You are correct about the paragraphs you cite, but you continue to extract those that maintain your point.  

For example, while citing FreeIraqi's post about Rumsfeld & Sadr, you didn't see or didn't mention his moniker:

I was not living before the 9th of April and now I am, so let me speak!

And while quoting Iraq the Model's lead post, farther down you'd get his Monday post from which I offer this:

I have learned that politics is 'the art of the possible' and the 'art of finding solutions'

Now in fairness, this post also has negative statements, and that's the rub of our little exchange here...there is fear and anxiety, and an unsure feeling about the future to be sure.  When you offer encouragement, and support, and say "ok, pick yourself up, learn from it and move on" while also saying "it will be ok, it will work out"...etc;. these are the nuances of PR and the US Govt versus the US MSM in play.

When you keep saying "oh my God, you're all going to die, you are going to be in a civil war, everything is bad, nothing is good, etc", what do you get?  A citizenry living in fear and self-doubt...breeding those with courage and AK47's to jump in and promise to protect them.  This feeds the insurgency.  

When people see a government with laws and processes and the protections of the individual citizens' security and prosperity and a show of Democracy in action where politicians are held to account and elected OUT of power if they don't serve the people according to the WILL of the people, you have what?  You have what our soldiers are fighting and dying to bring to a nation.

I will accept that charge levied against me, with the defense that there is good news in there if you choose to see it and take it at face value.  You have leveraged the statistical weight of it in the negative direction, I have chosen to do so in the positive direction.

You miss the point about the extremists and the media.  Our discussion is not whether they LIKE the American media, but whether they watch it, learn it, and use it to their advantage in their strategy.

And it's NEBV, not NEVB, for the record.

I missed this in the re-read.

Please change this:

"I built them and sustain them"

to

"I helped build and continue to sustain them"

much obliged...that was a team effort not mine alone...for the record.

As a fellow St. Paulite, I can only tell you that I wish our state had more like you, and especially, more like your son.

God bless you and your family.

We have so much to be thankful and this story is a grim reminder that we also are taking it for granted.  We live in freedom because of the sacrifices our troops make EVERY day.  God bless every single one of them and I truly hope they know that MSM is not giving the real story - Americans DO support them!

Blogs by people living in Iraq. Doesn't the mere existence of these blogs indicate anything to you? It sure doesn't seem to mean anything to the MSM. The fact is that these people (and likely their families as well) would have been slaughtered by Saddam's thugs for daring to speak out like they have on their blogs.

If you want to read some actual, high quality photojournalism from Iraq, rather than the hearsay published from the Green Zone by the MSM, I highly recommend Michael Yon's dispatches.