Need a Progress Report on that Surge?
Totten’s got one. He’s with an 82nd unit in Baghdad that got there in January and hasn’t had even one WIA. They’re drinking juice with the locals:
“What are you guys doing out after curfew?” said Sergeant Lizanne.
“I’m sorry, sorry,” said a young Iraqi man in a striped blue and tan t-shirt.
“There is no sorry,” said Sergeant Lizanne. “I don’t give a shit. The curfew is at the same time every night. I don’t want to have to start arresting you.”
“Why are you stopping these guys,” I said to Lieutenant Wolf, “when there are so many other people milling around on the streets?”
“Because they’re MAMs (military-aged males) who are driving,” he said. “We’re going easy on everyone else. We’ve already oppressed these people enough. They have a night culture in the summer, so if they aren’t military aged males driving cars we leave them alone. We were very heavy-handed in 2003. Now we’re trying to move forward together. At least 90 percent of them are normal fun-loving people.”
“Do they ever get pissed off when you search them?” I said.
“Not very often,” he said. “They understand we’re trying to protect them.”
“This is not what I expected in Baghdad,” I said.
“Most of what we’re doing doesn’t get reported in the media,” he said. “We’re not fighting a war here anymore, not in this area. We’ve moved way beyond that stage. We built a soccer field for the kids, bought all kinds of equipment, bought them school books and even chalk. Soon we’re installing 1,500 solar street lamps so they have light at night and can take some of the load off the power grid. The media only covers the gruesome stuff. We go to the sheiks and say hey man, what kind of projects do you want in this area? They give us a list and we submit the paperwork. When the projects get approved, we give them the money and help them buy stuff.”
But you’ll want to read the whole thing, and hit the tip jar at the bottom. Michael needs to pay the bills.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:42 pm on Tuesday, July 24, 2007
6 Responses to “Need a Progress Report on that Surge?”
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July 25th, 2007 at 1:04 am
After this, I’m guessing Harry Reid will soon be insisting the 82′d be redeployed to Shemya to guard against the burgeoning polar bear threat.
July 25th, 2007 at 1:51 am
Yeah, looks great, PA.
Random gunfire and AK toting grandpas.
July 25th, 2007 at 4:15 am
Excellent report; mostly good news.
I read the comments as well. One guy wrote out the entire NYTs anti- script for us, displaying the power of his memory for all to see. Reading it made me thankful that our own pet troll is incapable of stringing more than a few sentences together at a time. God forbid we should get the entire script every time! What a bore that would be.
July 25th, 2007 at 5:36 am
salty,
What do you think Totten offered up that was new?
The “revelation” that Iraqis have lives beyond being victims?
July 25th, 2007 at 10:06 am
Random gunfire and AK toting grandpas.
Doesn’t sound much different than a Saturday night in Washington D.C. or L.A.
July 25th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Maybe, PA,
But an Iraqi general was killed in the neighborhood Totten was reporting from that day.
So, not just “random” gunfire.
Not quite the same as D.C. or L.A.
When was the last time a U.S. general was killed in combat?