The first part of Ralph Peters' piece reads:
DUDE, WHERE'S MY CIVIL WAR?
By RALPH PETERS - In Iraq
March 5, 2006 -- BAGHDAD
I'M trying. I've been trying all week. The other day, I drove another 30 miles or so on the streets and alleys of Baghdad. I'm looking for the civil war that The New York Times declared. And I just can't find it.
Maybe actually being on the ground in Iraq prevents me from seeing it. Perhaps the view's clearer from Manhattan. It could be that my background as an intelligence officer didn't give me the right skills.
And riding around with the U.S. Army, looking at things first-hand, is certainly a technique to which The New York Times wouldn't stoop in such an hour of crisis.
Let me tell you what I saw anyway. Rolling with the "instant Infantry" gunners of the 1st Platoon of Bravo Battery, 4-320 Field Artillery, I saw children and teenagers in a Shia slum jumping up and down and cheering our troops as they drove by. Cheering our troops.
All day - and it was a long day - we drove through Shia and Sunni neighborhoods. Everywhere, the reception was warm. No violence. None.
And no hostility toward our troops. Iraqis went out of their way to tell us we were welcome.
Instead of a civil war, something very different happened because of the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra. The fanatic attempt to stir up Sunni-vs.-Shia strife, and the subsequent spate of violent attacks, caused popular support for the U.S. presence to spike upward.
We were supposed to be facing imminent defeat. Hmm. Guess not.
Funny how good news has such a hard time making it through the MainStream Media. Another reason their integrity rating in the polls is so low.
Hat Tip: The City Troll
2 comments:
Glad to see this as well as the link you have to Operation Iraqi Freedom on your sidebar. Keep up the great work, Terrance! :)
Thanks, George! It's a privilege to be in the trenches with you.
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