Guns in the Desert

[SkinsHokieFan]

Very cool blog by an independent journalist embedded with a marine unit in Anbar, Iraq

One of the interesting quotes from his blog

Every time I thought something vaguely exciting might happen, it didn't happen. There is no war in Western Iraq any more. This is a mop-up.

Some very cool pictures as well as a scary video of an IED explosion

Read it here

http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2008/02/guns-in-the-des.php

[SkinsHokieFan]

And one more excellent post by him

http://www.michaeltotten.com/

Some quotes

I’m less inclined than Abe to give the remaining Muslims — aside from secular terror-supporters — too hard a time. I work in the Middle East, and I used to live there. I meet moderate Muslims every day who detest al Qaeda and their non-violent Wahhabi counterparts. I know they’re the overwhelming majority, and a significant number are hardly inert in the face of fascists.

More than one fourth of the population of Lebanon demonstrated in Beirut’s Martyr’s Square on March 14, 2005, and stood fore square against the Syrian-Iranian-Hezbollah axis that has been sabotaging their country for decades. When I lived in a Sunni Muslim neighborhood of Beirut, the overwhelming majority of my neighbors belonged to that movement. The international media gave them lots of exposure, but moderate, liberal, secular, and mainstream conservative Muslims elsewhere rarely get any coverage. They are almost invisible from a distance, but it isn’t their fault.

Journalists tend to ignore moderate Muslims, not because of liberal bias or racism, but because sensationalism sells. At least they think that’s what sells.

And reporters often assume extremists are mainstream and “authentic” when they are not. Somehow, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has been designated the voice of American Muslims. But CAIR is, frankly, an Islamic wingnut organization with a minuscule membership that has declined 90 percent since September 11, 2001. (More people read my medium-sized blog every day than are members of CAIR.)

[zoony]

great blog shf, thanks for posting that

[skinfan133]

great stuff, nice post.

[chiefhogskin48]

Informative material, as always. It's always best to hear from the proverbial horse's mouth rather than what the MSM says. I always trust what I hear from people I meet who have actually been to Iraq. The libs tend to show a doom and gloom picture, while the right wing pastes an overly rosey picture. The truth (as is almost always the case) is somewhere in between.

[DjTj]

I like this quote:

We're not in charge anymore. We're just here to help them become police officers instead of paramilitaries.”

I kept hearing this sort of thing, and it always slightly surprised me. It may seem like Americans are in charge in Iraq, but that is really only true to an extent.

“We make sure they follow the rule of law,” Sergeant Guerrero continued, “that they don't abuse prisoners. We're trying to get them self-sustaining so we can pull out and go someplace where there's some actual fighting.”

Obviously, we're not there yet, since these troops are still there, but it sounds like we're getting close at least in this area. If we can truly pull out of some areas and perhaps bring some troops home, it would make the American people feel a lot better about what we're doing over there.

[SkinsHokieFan]

I like this quote:

We're not in charge anymore. We're just here to help them become police officers instead of paramilitaries.”

I kept hearing this sort of thing, and it always slightly surprised me. It may seem like Americans are in charge in Iraq, but that is really only true to an extent.

“We make sure they follow the rule of law,” Sergeant Guerrero continued, “that they don't abuse prisoners. We're trying to get them self-sustaining so we can pull out and go someplace where there's some actual fighting.”

Obviously, we're not there yet, since these troops are still there, but it sounds like we're getting close at least in this area. If we can truly pull out of some areas and perhaps bring some troops home, it would make the American people feel a lot better about what we're doing over there.

Agreed. I just wish the President would make it clear that in some parts of Iraq, well, the war is actually over and we are very close to having the area secured, without the help of American forces

Obviously it is a very tenuous situation, but Anbar today is far from the Anbar of late 2005, early 2006 when it looked like Al Qaeda had taken over it

[helptheSKINS]

very cool blog. thanks for posting