I was talking with a long time internet friend of mine this morning who is a political scientist, and the subject was today’s report that the military may arm Pakistani tribes. I commented that according to Michael Yon it was working in Iraq. He commented back that he would like to nominate Michael Yon for the Pulitzer Prize. That, “He has been one of the best primary sources to what is really happening in the war against jihadistan.”
I agreed with him about Michael Yon and went on to give an example of what is wrong with so much journalism:
“With the increased security situation we have finally been able to provide essential services to the community. For the first time since 1-5 CAV deployed to Iraq last November, the beladiyah is routinely providing trash clean up. We have fixed numerous water pipes, pulled out destroyed car hulks and are working to clean out the sewer system. Likewise the local economy is gaining steam with over one hundred stores opening up the last two months.”
Contrast what Lt. Col. Dale Kuehl writes above, and the author of the quotes below about the same situation and person, Abu Abed. Ghaith Abdul-Ahad in the Guardian writes:
“Our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a big man named Bakr with a bandolier of bullets over his chest. He squatted next to Abu Abed, laid his big BKC machine gun down and spoke to him conspiratorially, covering his mouth with his hand like a schoolgirl.
Bakr was Abu Abed’s head of intelligence. “I was told that someone from al-Qaida is in the area,” Bakr said. “We will go out, develop some intelligence and then raid the house.”
The only vehicles in the streets belonged to our screeching convoy. A few shops were open and people walked past carrying plastic shopping bags. All around us were the traces of battle: craters in the road from improvised bombs, facades pockmarked with bullet holes, a pile of rubble that had once been a building.
“Ameriya is a closed zone, surrounded by high concrete walls. Only pedestrians are allowed through the two Iraqi army checkpoints out of the suburb. The “knights” are the only authority inside.”
What he writes not only sounds like something out of a fiction fantasy novel; at least in one place, by Lt. Col. Dale Kuehl account, he writes an out and out lie:
Please, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, I don’t know how you missed the fact that Lt. Col. Dale Kuehl was there, because I don’t believe you did. What I believe is that you purposely kept the truth from the public…shame on you.
