Back to Mesopotamia and Reconstruction

Okay, politics at home can fuck off for a while. Back to our band of brothers and sisters on the front. The link above directs you to an Atlantic piece about how Iraqis turned on al Qaeda, and how local, grass-roots politics is necessary for Iraq to hoist itself and stand on its own two feet. That is happening. See this singular excerpt that serves to symbolize a growing trend:

"We Sunnis had what we call sahwa, an awakening," Dr. Mouyad [an Iraqi] said. "An American soldier was blown up outside my windows. My children were screaming. I said, ‘Enough!’ You Americans had your own awakening. No more rough stuff. It’s good here now. We’re together—American soldiers and my neighbors. It’s the [Iraqi] government that needs an awakening."

And another excerpt:

"With Americans, things improved," he [former local insurgent leader, Abu Abid] said. "We are a victory for the Iraqi government, but they won’t support us. We don’t want to be left out. If the Americans leave us, it will be a disaster."

In the more personal sense, my bro-in-law arrived in Kuwait with the rest of his MP company not long ago, another small outfit to help expedite this broader procedure. The most recent newsletter told of how before arriving in Kuwait, they spent the last 70 days training 16 hours/day at Ft. Dix in New Jersey. Now they are training in Kuwait, and will get just a bit of R&R before heading to kick some ass and help the locals in Iraq.

Professor-General Petraeus continues to do a stand-up job. Maybe when he's done cleaning up Iraq, he'll consider being our 21st Century "Ike," much to Planet Pepe's shagrin. Hats off to our soldiers, once again.