Resistance is futile

Michael Yon is a freelance reporter who has spent the past several years travelling Iraq with various military units, photographing and writing of his experiences and publishing them on yon (ha) intertubes. His writing style isn't as agreeable to me as Michael Totten's, but it's better than most anything you'll run across. His latest post is querulous, as he takes the media (and to a lesser extent the U.S. population) to task for their misunderstanding and misrepresentation of current events within Iraq. Certainly the situation has been bad, and nearly everything imaginable was botched by those in charge for the first few years. Lately, however, things have changed, and for the better. Once upon a time, we were a destabilizing force in the country; no longer. I type this today because of something happening on campus: another demonstration against the war. While I sympathize with the objections to the foolish escapade for Bush et alii, I disagree that withdrawal is the proper course of action. Indeed, if one of the complaints is that we harm the Iraqis by our presence, the alternative (the lack of our presence) would be even more damaging, not just to the Iraqis but the region as a whole. They, and Americans in general, hear the voices of Iraqis lamenting, but do not listen. The Shi'a say, "You betrayed us, we trust you no more, but do not leave us yet." Sunnis say, "Once you were our enemies, now allies, but we want our country back, but do not leave us yet." The Kurds say, "You betrayed us time and again, but never leave us, for we will be more certain friends to you than even the Israelis. If you leave us we will fight, but we will lose and die. Do not forsake us." The history of Americans in Iraq is at once glorious and disgraceful: we went and conquered swiftly, but ignored our friends in need, so that they suffered for it. I am no expert on the Near East, Iraq, the military, or many other things; I am quite a dilettante in such regards. But I attempt to inform myself and remain grounded in reality. Totten and Yon are two of the tools by which I do so, reputable writers who happen to publish via the internet, not simply attention whores of mediocrity as so many other "bloggers" and even journalists. (I have little respect for journalism as it is now taught and employed.) I highly recommend reading both on a regular basis. At the end of my little rant, I now provide you with the promised link to Yon's latest publication. Spend five, ten minutes and read it. Though not the ideal introduction to his writings, his proposal is sound and meritorious. Had I money to spare I would contribute.

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/resistance-is-futile.htm

Excerpt:

"A gulf. A gap. A chasm. A parallel universe.

All describe the bizarro-world contrast between what most Americans seem to think is happening in Iraq versus what is really happening in Iraq. Knowing this disconnect exists and experiencing it directly are two separate matters. It’s like the difference between holding the remote control during the telecast of a volcanic eruption on some distant island (and then flipping the channel), versus running for survival from a wretch of molten lava that just engulfed your car.

I was at home in the United States just one day before the magnitude hit me like vertigo: America seems to be under a glass dome which allows few hard facts from the field to filter in unless they are attached to a string of false assumptions. Considering that my trip home coincided with General Petraeus’ testimony before the US Congress, when media interest in the war was (I’m told) unusually concentrated, it’s a wonder my eardrums didn’t burst on the trip back to Iraq. In places like Singapore, Indonesia, and Britain people hardly seemed to notice that success is being achieved in Iraq, while in the United States, Britney was competing for airtime with O.J. in one of the saddest sideshows on Earth..."