This is the truth that the politicians in Washington keep trying to avoid and generally the MSM has let them get away with it.
No more.
Brian Williams on Hardball with Chris Matthews:
MATTHEWS: Now I want to ask you the big question. How is the surge going in Baghdad?
WILLIAMS: Well, I`ll tell you. It`s in its early stages and with - if you mention the so-called surge, you have to talk about it in tandem with this new policy of these small outposts, these - what they are really is glorified police stations.
We saw it today in Ramadi. There is patently no way a few weeks ago we could have stood outside an armored vehicle and had a conversation as we did today in Ramadi.
They have changed policy there. The war has changed.
Is it better? That`ll be for other people to judge. But it is already being felt here, that is, the increase in troops. The first ones are already here.
There`s a huge field behind us they are clearing for the 3rd Infantry, for their next tour of duty here. And so, we`ll have to wait and see. It`s on a continuum.
But, again, the combination, with this change in policy - getting out, decentralizing, going into the neighborhoods, grabbing a toehold, telling the enemy we`re here, start talking to the locals - that is having an obvious and palpable effect.
MATTHEWS: Do they - have you been there long enough, Brian, this time over, to sense whether it`s different than the last time you were there?
WILLIAMS: Already there are some obvious differences in security in some spots. It doesn`t take that long on the ground to instantly compare it to previous visits. So, yes.
We covered a lot of ground in one day. And when you travel with a three star and a Black Hawk, you can do that. We had a lot of heavy armor on the ground to facilitate our travels.
Still a very dangerous place. There are pockets of peace and serenity where the soldiers can go to relax, the contractors can do their jobs.
But yes, Chris, all of them revolving around the issue of security. There are some very obvious differences, starting with the arrival at the airport.
MATTHEWS: Has there been any cost to morale? And again, it`s a hard one to get perhaps this quickly after a couple of days there, Brian.
But the British withdrawal of troops from Basra, are people feeling we`re out there on point all alone as a country now?
WILLIAMS: I heard no talk of that, and that`s all I can speak to.
Today, the message that we`re prepared to report tonight on "NBC Nightly News" is this kind of tale of two wars.
I`m fresh from, you know, weeks of putting together "NBC Nightly News" and televising this debate in Washington, a lot of members of Congress saying we should be out now.
And today, we literally airlift into a place like Ramadi, where they are so proud of the latest city block they say they have been able to "peacify." They have been able to forge an agreement with the local religious leaders and knock al Qaeda one city block further away from the center of town.
They are so involved in the battle. Many, many soldiers told me today the local people are so worried they`re going to leave cities like Ramadi and Hit. That`s the war they know.
And they say very politely, they can talk all they want in D.C.; we`ve got to enforce the policy, the job we`re here to do.
Even more interesting though is something I saw on NewsBusters, something we here at Wake up America have been saying since the start of this blog... the insurgents are counting on the "war opponents" here in the United States, the retreat in defeat crowd, to provide the insurgents with victory.
Visiting Iraq, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams learned from Army officers that Iraqis want U.S. forces to remain in their country, from NBC News Baghdad reporter Richard Engel that Al-Sadr's insurgents have stepped down and are counting on pressure from anti-war opponents to provide them with victory, and from retired General and NBC News military analyst Wayne Downey that U.S. troops are proud of their mission. Traveling with Lieutenant General Ray Odierno for stories on his Monday newscast, Williams ran a clip of Army Colonel John Charlton proclaiming that Iraqis “do not want us to leave” and a soundbite from Army Lt. Colonel Charles Ferry who asserted: "The people here are very glad to see us.” Williams marveled: "You just said, 'They don't want us to leave.' That's the tenth time today I've heard that. I've got to go back to the States and do a newscast that every night has another politician or 12 of them saying, 'We have got to get out of that godforsaken place.'
To explain the decrease violence in Baghdad, Engel noted how “the militia decided they fought the U.S. two-and-a-half years ago, didn't have a lot of success. They decided this time they're going to wait it out, see if political pressure in the U.S. can help them win this time.
Pelosi, Murtha and company need to understand that they are the insurgents and al-Qaeda's best shot at winning and they need to stop doing their job for them.
This is what is meant when we say "embolden the enemy".
Congress was warned by General Petraeus and Gates, and they ignored them, went ahead and made a big show of a symbolic, non binding resolution and did, indeed, embolden the enemy, to the point where the enemy believes they do not have to win, they can wait for our politicians to force defeat.
SEN. LIEBERMAN: And a resolution -- a Senate-passed resolution of disapproval for this new strategy in Iraq would give the enemy some encouragement, some feeling that -- well, some clear expression that the American people were divided.Gates remarks:
GEN. PETRAEUS: That's correct, sir.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that a congressional resolution opposing President Bush's troop buildup in Iraq undercuts U.S. commanders and "emboldens the enemy."
He also said the Pentagon was now studying whether it could accelerate the deployment of the five additional Army brigades that it has announced will be sent to Baghdad between now and May to bolster security in the capital.
At his first Pentagon news conference since taking office Dec. 18, Gates was asked his reaction to the debate in Congress over the effect of such a nonbinding resolution. "It's pretty clear that a resolution that in effect says that the general going out to take command of the arena shouldn't have the resources he thinks he needs to be successful certainly emboldens the enemy and our adversaries," he said
Disgusting.
Meanwhile please make sure to go read Michael Yon's latest news from Iraq, but I will high light this one, awesomely telling quote ""If their morale could be bottled, it would probably sell like crack, then be outlawed."
While our soldiers are in good spirits, seeing progress and kicking some serious ass, our congress is playing games with the funding to keep them armed and protected in Iraq.
Lawmakers are pushing to add billions of dollars to the administration's war-funding request to meet a host of unrelated demands, including those from California fruit farmers hit by freezing temperatures, ranchers whose livestock were killed in Colorado blizzards and children poised to lose their health insurance.
Now I am not saying that the California fruit farmers or the Colorado ranchers or the children losing healthcare are not important, but they ARE unrelated to the war on terror and this is simply the latest stunt by our politicians to "play" with our troops funding for their own political gains.
Again......DISGUSTING.
Senator Judd Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican, said the extra spending is ``fiscally irresponsible and it's blatantly unseemly.''
``We're supposed to be fighting this war and paying for the troops -- making sure they have what they need,'' he said. ``We're not supposed to be paying for avocado growers.''
Democrats voted last month to drop thousands of pet projects, called ``earmarks'' or ``pork,'' from a $463 billion annual spending measure. Gregg said the calls for adding to the Iraq measure, which have come from Republicans and Democrats alike, looked like pork to him.
OINK OINK
Read the rest from Bloomberg.com.
From the Confederate Yankee:
Iraqi civilians are telling our soldiers that they are happy they are there (something I've noticed not just in Ramadi, but in Baghdad and elsewhere). Obviously, not everyone is delighted with our presence—the militias, insurgents, terrorists, and criminal gangs in Iraq, and politicians, anti-war activists and many journalists worldwide come to mind—but the average Iraqi knows that the best chance they have of securing peace in their nation must rely on American forces backing Iraqi forces until the Iraqis alone are capable of providing their own security.
We see the "group" that our liberal politicians and the majority of the mainstream media, fall in with, huh?
No matter, when they next elections come around, this is what they will be remembered for and betting on defeat, gambling with our soldiers lives and doing everything in their power to hand victory to our enemies will come back to bite them right on the ass.
Mark my words.
Visit Mudville Gazette daily for more good news coming out of Iraq.
[UPDATE] Seems ABC is also joining in on telling the American people the good news from Iraq.
Well well... question of the day is: Why is the MSM finally showing us the good news along with the bad news?
Is it because others are reporting it and they wish to save face or could it be they finally understand that there is progress being made and do not want to stay on the retreat and defeat team?
Other questions: Will they continue to show us the good news with the bad or is this some sort of abberation?
Talk amongst yourselves.
[End Update]
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