Iraq: “”THE WAR IS OVER AND WE WON”

From Instapundit (the entire post):

“THE WAR IS OVER AND WE WON:” Michael Yon just phoned from Baghdad, and reports that things are much better than he had expected, and he had expected things to be good. “There’s nothing going on. I’m with the 10th Mountain Division, and about half of the guys I’m with haven’t fired their weapons on this tour and they’ve been here eight months. And the place we’re at, South Baghdad, used to be one of the worst places in Iraq. And now there’s nothing going on. I’ve been walking my feet off and haven’t seen anything. I’ve been asking Iraqis, ‘do you think the violence will kick up again,’ but even the Iraqi journalists are sounding optimistic now and they’re usually dour.” There’s a little bit of violence here and there, but nothing that’s a threat to the general situation. Plus, not only the Iraqi Army, but even the National Police are well thought of by the populace. Training from U.S. toops has paid off, he says, in building a rapport.

He says the big problem everybody is talking about now is corruption. But hey, we have that here, too. He’ll be heading to Afghanistan next week. “Afghanistan is a bad situation, but on Iraq I can’t believe things have turned out so well.”

He thinks that Obama will be able to pull troops out, and send some to Afghanistan, without creating problems in Iraq. Michael will be reporting from Afghanistan soon, and sending back video, so stay tuned. Things aren’t going swimmingly there.

Influence Warfare (not) “It appears that American troops found the 550 metric tons of uranium in 2003 after invading Iraq”

At Destinys Choice:

Secret U.S. Mission Hauls Uranium From Iraq On July 5, 2008, the Associated Press (AP) released a story titled: Secret U.S. mission hauls uranium from Iraq .

The opening paragraph is as follows: The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein’s nuclear program – a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium – reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.
[…]
We have been hearing from the far-left for more than five years how, “Bush lied.” Somehow, that slogan loses its credibility now that 550 metric tons of Saddam’s yellowcake, used for nuclear weapon enrichment, has been discovered and shipped to Canada for its new use as nuclear energy. It appears that American troops found the 550 metric tons of uranium in 2003 after invading Iraq .

They had to sit on this information and the uranium itself, for fear of terrorists attempting to steal it. It was guarded and kept safe by our military in a 23,000-acre site with large sand beams surrounding the site
[…]
Once the AP released the story, the mainstream media should have picked it up and broadcast it worldwide. This never happened, due in large part I believe, to the fact that the mainstream media would have to admit they were wrong about Bush’s war motives all along. Thankfully, the AP got it right when it said, “The removal of 550 metric tons of ‘yellowcake'” – the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment – was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam’s nuclear legacy.” Closing the book on Saddam’s nuclear legacy? Did Saddam have a nuclear legacy after all? I thought Bush lied?
[…]
This story was verified, if you want to check it for yourself, click on the link below. Read this link, the article and its substance: http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/u/uraniumyellowcake.htm http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25546334

I too missed this story when it came out.

I understand the MSM keeping it on the down low, they have invested too much into the ChimpyBusHitlerLiedPeopleDied meme, to go “Oops sorry, got that one wrong” at this point. The MSM is corrupt and acting against US interest. This does not surprise me.

I still consider this to be an example of  great failure for the Bush War Presidency.

USAGOV in general, and the Bush presidency specifically, have been hit since the run-up to the Iraq war that the WMD was false, was a lie, was a made-up excuse to snooker the US Citizen, the West and the UN so USGOV could do/be evil.

But now it turns out that at the close of the big fighting in 2003, the facts proved otherwise…and that the Bush administration was quiet. They let the enemies of the USGOV (external and the 5GW Fifth Column among us) gain traction, win over the fence sitters and give weight to the anti-USA movement.

This loss of Influence has greatly reduced USGOV freedom of action in the conduct of global affairs especially National Security related activities.

The Bush administration should have brought in the press (to write, videotape and photograph), and friendly nuclear weapons experts testify as experts, an put the whole damn thing on YouTube.

If security was a concern they could have activated another division of reserves or National Guard and plunk them down at the site or do something else given the overwhelming military force advantage of the US and NATO.

This was a massive wasted opportunity in Influence Warfare.

The loss in freedom of action and trust among partners and potential partners will take years to regain.

The best kind of YellowCake

Sadr Lost – Who Knew?

Via the LongWarJournal:

Six days after the Iraqi government launched Operation Knights’ Charge in Basrah against the Mahdi Army and other Iranian-backed Shia terror groups, Muqtada al Sadr, the Leader of the Mahdi Army, has called for his fighters to lay down their weapons and cooperate with Iraqi security forces. Sadr’s call for an end to the fighting comes as his Mahdi Army has taken serious losses since the operation began.
[…]
From March 25-29 the Mahdi Army had an average of 71 of its fighters killed per day. Sixty-nine fighters have been captured per day, and another 160 have been reported wounded per day during the fighting. The US and Iraqi military never came close to inflicting casualties at such a high rate during the height of major combat operations against al Qaeda in Iraq during the summer and fall of 2007.

If I had only my local newspaper and broadcast news, I would have been under the impression that Sadr was kicking ass and decisively winning.

Except, now he has announced that his side has lost. Thanks American Media once again for nothing.  Hey – cheer up American Media…you might still be able to create a Tet Offensive of your own yet!

Assholes.

Exposing Useful Idiots: “Saddam paid for lawmakers’ Iraq trip”

Instapundit has the roundup.

“We have brought to Iraq the worst of America – our bureaucrats…”

PoliticalWarfare.org links to and excerpts a scathing insider criticism of the Foreign Service in Iraq.

The U.S. Foreign Service (Btw, why isn’t this called the US Diplomatic Service) is not the US SysAdmin, that is for sure.

Link to Bill Whittle Essay on Boyd and the OODA Loop – and a little (maybe) 5GW thinking at the End of Part 2

Here is part 1 and part 2.

I will be blogging on these later.