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| Iraq |
| Michael Yon reports from Mosul |
| 2007-08-13 |
| Long article with lots and lots of photos, which you should go read in full at the link. Here's one anecdote, and a key point (emphasis added): With the Police and Army improving in Mosul, we have very little presence there. This is not to suggest our soldiers are sitting back on base. I spent a month with them and they are more than holding their own. . . . They lost six soldiers the first week I was with them, but their resolve only increased. Excellent battalion. Their Command Sergeant Major, James Pippin, was shot just before Memorial Day. He and his soldiers were in a large ambush near Yarmook Traffic Circle. When the ambush kicked off, Pippin ordered his driver to head straight into the heart of the attack where there were enemy machine guns, rockets and so forth. Pippin ran out and shot one enemy. The guy had an RPG aimed at the Humvee, but the Humvee came right at him, Pippin jumped out. Pippin told me it was a lucky shot, but he hit the man in the face. A big firefight ensued, and Pippin got some bullet holes, but made his people keep fighting that day until they broke the ambush. This kind of stuff freaks out the enemy: our guys didnÂ’t get them with jets or fancy machines from a distance, but just rushed into them and outfought them. Despite an enemy with perfect surprise, our guys still killed four of them and CSM Pippin was the only American casualty. Countless acts like these around Iraq are a large part of what has given our guys moral authority with Iraqi Police and Army. Before the war, the Iraqis clearly questioned the courage of our fighters. They no longer question the courage of our fighters, or the abilities of our military leaders. Large numbers of Iraqis detested us after the prisoner abuse stories, and some over-the-top attacks on Fallujah, for example. But through time, somehow the American military has managed to establish a moral authority in Iraq. ItÂ’s not the only authority, but the military has serious and increasing moral clout. In the beginning, our influence flowed from guns, or dropped from the wings of jets. Later it was the money. Today, the clout still is partially from the gun, and definitely the money is key, but there is an intangible and growing moral clout and it flows from an increasing respect among Iraqis for our military. Washington has no moral clout in Iraq. Washington looks like a circus act. The authority is coming from our military. The importance of this fact would be difficult to understate. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #1 Our military has increasing moral authority in Iraq, but the same cannot be said for our government at home. In fact, itÂ’s in moral deficit because many Iraqis are increasingly frightened we will abandon them to genocide. Some things are the same everywhere. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-08-13 13:15 |