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April 19, 2006
Michael Yon Reports
Michael Yon has a new and extensive post up (hat tip Mark at Decision '08), in which he analyzes the current situation in Iraq and explains his view that Iraq has been in a "civil war" for quite some time now. Yon is clear-eyed about the massive problems that still confront both Americans and Iraqis:
The biggest threat to this mission, and by extension to the future stability of this region and the long term security of the United States and our allies, is and always has been the inability to see, hear and communicate the truth to the American people and our allies. In the final analysis, it is not going to matter if the French support our mission in Iraq, but once Americans turn away from their soldiers in the field, we’ve lost.[...]
But he does hold out for the possibility of success:
We are not getting the truth through our media, or our civilian leadership. Yes, Iraq is in civil war, but there is no doubt in my mind, not the slightest doubt, that the new Iraqi security forces are becoming stronger all the time. It’s not certain if they are strong enough to hold back the enemy on their own or if we need to increase the efforts of our military in a coordinated measure. But the fact that an American general recently invited me to see that progress is an indicator that our top military leaders are confident. An Army general would not have invited me back to Iraq to see a fiasco, and the mere fact of his invitation is a ray of hope.
Mike's post is a must read, as usual. And the photos he includes are perhaps even more powerful--the caption to one showing US troops with smiling Iraqi children: "Our soldiers shouldn’t have to wait til these Iraqi kids get old enough to tell the world about the difference they’ve made."
No kidding.
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