More Yon
Must read, as usual. Towering journalistic talent of our time turns out to be a former grunt with an Internet tip jar* who went off on his own to do what the professionals won’t, and will never get a Pulitzer for it. Back out of it again, Michael Yon is reflecting on what he’s just seen, and where it fits in everything he’s seen:
There may be little progress on political goals crafted in America, to meet American concerns, by politicians who have a cushion of 200 years of democracy. Washington might as well be on the moon. Iraqis don’t respond well to rules imposed from outside their acknowledged authorities, though I have many times seen Iraqi Police and Army of all ranks responding very well to American Marines and soldiers who they have come to respect, and in many cases actually admire and try to emulate. Our military has increasing moral authority in Iraq, but the same cannot be said for our government at home. In fact, it’s in moral deficit because many Iraqis are increasingly frightened we will abandon them to genocide. The Iraqis I speak with couldn’t care less what is said from Washington but large numbers of them pay close attention to what some Marine Gunny says, or what American battalion commanders all over Iraq say. Some of our commanders could probably run for local offices in Iraq, and win. To say there has been no political progress in Iraq in 2007 is patently absurd, completely wrong and dangerously dismissive of the significant changes and improvements happening all across Iraq. Whether or not Americans are seeing it on the nightly news or reading it in their local papers, Iraqis are actively writing their children’s history.
He almost appears to suggest a higher level of political competency in the United States with his remarks about our 200-year cushion of democracy than I’ve seen demonstrated lately, speaking of political progress or the lack thereof. Elected representatives who behave as ours do, despite the benefit of wealth, education, security and the moral examples of our forebears and today’s American soldiers, should be ashamed of themselves.
But that’s beside the point. Here’s the point:
Large numbers of Iraqis detested us after the prisoner abuse stories, and some over-the-top attacks on Fallujah, for example. But through time, somehow the American military has managed to establish a moral authority in Iraq. It’s not the only authority, but the military has serious and increasing moral clout. In the beginning, our influence flowed from guns, or dropped from the wings of jets. Later it was the money. Today, the clout still is partially from the gun, and definitely the money is key, but there is an intangible and growing moral clout and it flows from an increasing respect among Iraqis for our military. Washington has no moral clout in Iraq. Washington looks like a circus act. The authority is coming from our military. The importance of this fact would be difficult to overstate.
You’ll want to read the whole thing, about Iraq’s political and military realities and progress there. Then, you’ll have to ask yourself why the great media organizations, with all their resources, can’t manage this.
* Patronize quality embedded journalism here.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 12:10 am on Tuesday, August 14, 2007
4 Responses to “More Yon”
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August 14th, 2007 at 2:45 am
Yon really does deserve a medal. He never glosses over the truth, nor does he fail to tell us when he’s editorializing. He puts the pros to shame.
I agree that our own pols ought to be ashamed of themselves, as well.
We can be proud of our guys in uniform, though. It’s an outrage that some much time is spent on yahoos like Beauchamp when there are so many outstanding people doing a very difficult job well.
August 14th, 2007 at 3:03 am
Reminds me of the very last line spoken in “Control Room” by one of the al-Jazeera staffers. Something to the affect “Arabs respect a winner”.
August 14th, 2007 at 9:34 am
Washington looks like a circus act.
No, Washington is a circus act. One with a lot of clowns.
August 14th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
There will be a day of reckoning for those clowns (see above). One can only hope that it is sooner rather than later. The fact that the American people are so unhappy with Congress right now tells me that maybe my hope isn’t misplaced.