Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles is what MRAP's stands for and it is being reported that the Marine Corps is making a huge cut in the number of bombproof vehicles it will need, a surprise move that underscores how much safer Iraq has become in recent months and the Corps' own changing assessment of the vehicles' limitations.
Armchair generals and commanders that used to be on the ground, or soldiers that used to be in Iraq cannot and never will be able to convey what those that are on the ground now and since the new counterinsurgency tactics began, can.
That is a simple fact.
Firsthand accounts, those in the midst of the change that has occurred, in Iraq, over the last few months as well as politicians that have been there before and have just returned again, speak to the overwhelming success and progress that is being seen in Iraq.
So when the commanders on the ground make statements and more importantly adjust the protective equipment needed, it says quite a bit about the situation in Iraq at the moment.
On Thursday, Commandant Gen. James Conway, the Corps' top officer, submitted to a Pentagon procurement body his recommendation to cut by almost 40 percent the number of Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected vehicles he will buy, from 3,700 MRAPs to about 2,225.
General Conway's reasons are twofold, first the level of violence and the amount of MRAP's being damaged are less because of a substantial lowering of attacks and secondly the MRAP's are too massive to be carried aboard the Navy ships on which the Corps traditionally rides and too cumbersome for all but the flattest terrain.
The battle is not over by a long shot. There will be "spectacular" attacks meant to help fight the media war, the enemy understanding our mainstream media more than the MSM would understand or appreciate, but certain statements give hint to how our troops, specifically our Marines, are adjusting their thinking, in light of the accomplishments that have come at a surprising pace, even for those on the ground.
Conway's recommendation should not signal anything more than the new reality the Corps faces in Iraq, says a Marine official.
"We're not saying that the Army doesn't need it," says the official, who spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the recommendation. "But if things continue on current trend lines in Iraq, we could be walking around in soft covers and no body armor in 2008."
A year ago, statements like that would not have even been entertained in thought, and especially never would have been stated for publication.
Marines, as I know because my brother was one, are a logical bunch, prepared to die for their country, not given to flights of fancy or overstatements of good news, they are based in the reality of death can come at any minute but are prepared to go down fighting, so when I see Marines full of hope and this optimism, it fills me with a feeling of "the worst is behind us", although I do not doubt there will be very harsh times ahead, a Marine showing this kind of confidence in an outcome, always brings me a sense of confidence in the outcome.
There is no question that a good outcome for Iraq, a country that will be able to sustain its own security and become an ally in the war on terror, is good for America and the international community in general.
Bless our troops, the Coalition forces, the Iraqi Army and Security Forces and the Iraqi people themselves.
They have all fought hard, suffered massively and deserve to be able to see a free and liberated Iraq.
[Update] Michael Totten also has some observations from on the ground in Iraq.
But attacks against coalition forces in Fallujah are down by more than 90% since March of this year. Almost all attacks these days are single, ineffective pot shots rather than the lethal IEDs of last year.
There hasn't been a single firefight in this city for months. The Marines at Camp Fallujah haven't been shot at with a rocket or mortar since April. Not one Marine from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment has even been wounded since they rotated into the city two months ago. The only shots the Marines have fired have been practice rounds on the range.
There's a gigantic perception lag in America these days. The Iraq of the popular imagination and the Iraq of the real world are not the same country. It wouldn't be quite right to say Fallujah is safe. You do not want to come here on holiday. But I'm a lot safer here as an American than any terrorist or insurgent would be.
Nothing can ever replace firsthand, eyewitness of accounts of the "now" in Iraq.
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