The War As They Saw It

This was in the New York Times Op-Ed this past Sunday and I failed to mention it earlier.
Written by seven members of the US Army 82nd Airborne Division in Baghdad, it does nothing but tell us the truth and shows us the reality on the ground in Iraq. Please do yourself a favor and read the whole piece (linked above).

Here's an excerpt:

A few nights ago, for example, we witnessed the death of one American soldier and the critical wounding of two others when a lethal armor-piercing explosive was detonated between an Iraqi Army checkpoint and a police one. Local Iraqis readily testified to American investigators that Iraqi police and Army officers escorted the triggermen and helped plant the bomb. These civilians highlighted their own predicament: had they informed the Americans of the bomb before the incident, the Iraqi Army, the police or the local Shiite militia would have killed their families.

As many grunts will tell you, this is a near-routine event. Reports that a majority of Iraqi Army commanders are now reliable partners can be considered only misleading rhetoric. The truth is that battalion commanders, even if well meaning, have little to no influence over the thousands of obstinate men under them, in an incoherent chain of command, who are really loyal only to their militias.

I wonder how soon it'll be before the warmongers start swiftboating these seven brave soldiers?

UPDATE: It didn't take long for me to find Tucker Carlson's take on this op-ed. The piece, by the way, was a response to assessments made in a previous op-ed by Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack; and when [Carlson] interviewed Pollack, he did not challenge Pollack's opinions on whether progress is being made in Iraq, but he readily distrusts what actual military on the ground have to say.

Who are you going to believe? O'Hanlon and Pollack, or your lying eyes?