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"This Was the Surge".

Stunning.

Reflections on the outcome, not the beginning

"In the end, how we leave and what we leave behind will be more important than how we came." - Ryan Crocker, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq

Fouad Ajami in today's WSJ:

It is in categories of good and evil that men and women in those lands [the Middle East] describe their world. The unyielding campaign waged by this president made a deep impression on them. ...

To a man, they [the terror "theorists"] have told us that they have been bloodied in Iraq, that they have been surprised by the stoicism of the Americans, by the staying power of the Bush administration. ...

A word about that "staying power". It's called "street credibility", and has been earned in very large part by our Soldiers and Marines on the ground, something Mr. Ajami doesn't directly mention, but Michael Yon has often observed:

Before the war, our people had no street credibility in Iraq. Iraqis thought American Soldiers were soft, and that the body armor was a type of personal air conditioner. But if the Iraqis knew back then what they know now about American willingness to suffer and fight, it’s doubtful that Saddam would have taunted an angry America.

Yet today, knowing our Soldiers to be actually aggressive and able killers when the switch gets flipped to ON, they also see how our people are more competent street fighters than the Iraqi Army, even without the high-tech tools. ... Day after day, Iraqis come to Americans asking for justice, because they see countless thousands of daily actions... The man-to-man respect is there.

Mr. Ajami continues on the macro level, which, to be fair, is the focus of his Editorial:

It is not easy to tell people of threats and dangers they have been spared. The war put on notice regimes and conspirators who had harbored dark thoughts about America and who, in the course of the 1990s, were led to believe that terrible deeds against America would go unpunished. A different lesson was taught in Iraq.

To quote Michael Yon again, "Our military is a powerful tribe." Or as many have said, the American Soldier is our best ambassador. I don't think Mr. Crocker would have a problem with that description.

That's Bob in the middle... but who the heck are those other two guys?

Army Chief of Staff GEN Casey, Bob, and ISAF Commander GEN Dan McNeill.

My friend Bob Connolly got set up recently. He was told some "senior Army folks" were coming by the Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill where he's a Professor to discuss some programs on organizational change and related topics for the armed services.

Turns out Generals Casey and McNeill were there to honor him for his "outstanding support of Soldiers in Afghanistan."

The letter from GEN Casey continues (emphasis mine):

You sent out a call for support and were able to organize, receive and package, and mail over 4000 pounds of care packages containing snacks, coffee, sundry items, movies, and magazines to our Soldiers in combat.

I know that the Soldiers appreciate your support and commitment to their comfort and well being. It is private citizens, such as yourself, who remind our Soldiers every day of the honor and respect that our Nation has for their sacrifices.

You can see some of what I call "Soldier loot" here - back when Bob was up to about 2400 pounds.

In typical fashion, Bob calls himself nothing but a "conduit" and gives all the credit to others. Not just to the generous donors in and around the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, but also to his contacts downrange.

The truth is that without the help of the 1-503 IN chaplain, CPT Kevin Guthrie, this would not have been nearly as successful. He pointed me to the leadership of the line companies doing the heavy lifting, he counseled on what items really made a difference, and he kept me in the loop enough to know who needed what and when.... all the while, I had no real idea where his paratroopers [of the 173rd ABCT] were really operating so OPSEC wasn’t an issue.

The leadership of the 1SGs, platoon leaders, and company commanders helped, too. Their emails back (and occasional photos) converted the concept of paratroopers working in a tough place into a reality that folks back home could understand. Their thank you’s, descriptions of daily life, stories, vignettes, and occasional photos were more compelling than anything I could ever dream up.

In the end, I functioned as the conduit, connecting generous people back home with some of America’s finest in the field. The recognition rightfully belongs to everyone who participated, and continues to do so.

I had the pleasure of seeing Bob again recently - this time during a trip to Germany with some of his students. He made a point of adding Landstuhl to the group's agenda giving me and Chris, a fellow Soldiers' Angel and nurse at Landstuhl, the opportunity to tell his students about our Heroes and their caregivers.

What a role model. Don't you wish America had more professors like Bob?

A big BZ and many thanks to Bob, his wife Cindy, the good folks at Kenan-Flagler Business School, UNC - Chapel Hill, CPT Guthrie, and everyone else who supported this effort to show the Soldiers of the 173rd how much we care for them. Airborne! Sky Soldiers!

COIN in Sadr City: Iron Brigade Soldiers talk to Jamilla Market owners about microgrants

Lt. Col. Brian Eifler (r), who hails from Farmington Hills, Mich., and Capt. Nicholas Cantrell (l), who hails from Topeka, Kan., help an Iraqi shop owner in Jamilla Market in the Sadr City district of Baghdad fill out a micro-grant application May 29. Business owners trying to get their businesses started again after nearly two months of intense fighting in Sadr City are eligible for grants up to $2,500 from coalition forces.

Eifler is the commander of Task Force 1-6, 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armor Division, assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad, and Cantrell serves as a fire support officer with the unit. Photo: Maj. Michael Humphreys.

BAGHDAD – “We have specifically been looking for lost revenues and minor damages or losses, like a small generator or a refrigerator,” Cantrell said, of his door-to-door approach at educating business owners to the possibilities.

“The word is starting to get out … we are experiencing people starting to ask us about the micro-grants now instead of us telling them,” Cantrell said.

In four days, TF 1-6 handed out $85,000 in micro-grants, and though the money is a lifeboat to the individual business owner, Cantrell said TF 1-6 is leading the charge in concert with the Iraqi security forces, the government of Iraq, and civil affairs operations, to fix Jamilla Market on a grand scale.

“It was operating at zero percent,” said Lt. Col. Brian Eifler, a native of Farmington Hills, Mich., and commander of TF 1-6. “Now it’s about 30 or 40 percent of what it used to be, and every day we see a marked improvement in there.”

While micro-grants are being handed out to business owners pedaling everything from fruits and vegetables to hammers and nails, the work going on around them reads like an expensive shopping list as well. Cantrell said numerous small projects are underway to remove rubble, fix open sewers, improve power and install street lights and many other critical infrastructure improvements.

“We’ve cleaned up many of the areas affected by the fighting and fires, and all of this has resulted in stores and businesses reopening and with the residents feeling a new sense of security,” Cantrell said.

With a shout out and big hug to Amy Cantrell, a volunteer with the Soldiers' Angel's Blankets of Hope team and who sends us blankets for the patients at Landstuhl. CPT Cantrell is her son, from the Baumholder, Germany-based Iron Brigade which recently deployed to Iraq.

It's the unit's 3rd deployment in the last five years, and they're seeing a lot of positive changes. Now, the local merchants understand who is responsible for the losses they've edured and feel secure enough to talk about it.

“The terrorists – they destroy everything. They take everything,” one of them said. He's vowed to use the coalition-sponsored microgrant and other help from the GoI to rebuild his business.

“We are with the right,” he exclaimed. “We are with the people. We are with the new world.”

Today's favorite news headline

Taliban flee U.S. Marines onslaught in Afghanistan

Found at The Long War Journal, which incidentally featured this headline yesterday: Iraqi Army interdicting Iranian operations in the South. Interesting, the Iranians having been so helpful and all.

Like when they manufactured the weapon that did this, something I've been unable to get out of my mind's eye since hearing about their supposed "goodwill" the other day.

PFC Ross Andrew McGinnis Awarded Medal of Honor

US Army photo.
President Bush:

When Ross McGinnis was in kindergarten, the teacher asked him to draw a picture of what he wanted to be when he grew up. He drew a soldier. Today our nation recognizing -- recognizes him as a soldier, and more than that -- because he did far more than his duty. In the words of one of our commanding generals, "Four men are alive because this soldier embodied our Army values and gave his life."

The day will come when the mission he served has been completed and the fighting is over, and freedom and security have prevailed. America will never forget those who came forward to bear the battle. America will always honor the name of this brave soldier who gave all for his country, and was taken to rest at age 19.

No one outside this man's family can know the true weight of their loss. But in words spoken long ago, we are told how to measure the kind of devotion that Ross McGinnis showed on his last day: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

PFC McGinnis in Iraq. Photo: S&S.

The members of PFC McGinnis's vehicle crew - whose lives he saved on December 4, 2006 in Adhamiyah, Iraq - were present at the ceremony: SFC Cedric Thomas, SSG Ian Newland, SGT Lyle Buehler, and SPC Sean Lawson. Ross was in 1st Platoon, C Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division (attached to 2nd BCT, 2ID).

Ross' Medal of Homor page can be found here, which includes the Citation, the President's full remarks, a video of the ceremony, and other video interviews.

Operation Rock Penetrator in Kunar Province

KUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan (May 30, 2008) – Afghan National Army soldiers and paratroopers from Able Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment air assaulted into the Narang Valley on the evening of May 16 for a scheduled 24-hour mission in Kunar province, Afghanistan.

A part of Operation Rock Penetrator, the ANA soldiers took the lead role in this mission, which was to search and clear Bidal Village, designated “Objective Grappa”, while Able Company Soldiers secured overwatch positions.

Under the moonlight, approximately 150 American and Afghan soldiers flew into Kunar’s Narang Valley aboard CH-47 Chinooks and UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters. The Soldiers, under the protection of Apache attack helicopters, were safely delivered from Camp Wright in Asadabad to five separate landing zones.

First platoon Soldiers were tasked with being the support element for the ANA soldiers. The paratroopers exited the Blackhawk helicopters in tall wheat fields west of Bidal.

Burdened with heavy equipment, the Sky Soldiers began moving upward with the help of their night vision devices. After several hours of climbing high stone terraces, crossing dangerous terrain with 10-15 feet drop offs, 1st platoon arrived at their position.

“We’ve had reports that rebels have been moving through this village intimidating people and keeping weapons and supplies there, so they can take them up into the Korengal and Shuryak Valleys,” said 1st Lt. Jason P. Levay, Platoon Leader for 1st Platoon. “I know this is not a peaceful area.”

At first light, from beneath camouflage netting, the paratroopers watched as ANA soldiers began moving in the valley toward objective Grappa. The ANA soldiers made their way through a mostly dry river bed and proceeded to search one side of the village and then the other looking for weapon caches, contraband and insurgent safe-havens.

“While the ANA were clearing a house, they found two anti-personnel mines and some explosives. We arrested the guy, and airlifted him out of there later on that day,” said Army Staff Sgt. Daniel C. Metcalfe, 25, from Rochester, N.Y., acting platoon sergeant for 1st Platoon.

In the afternoon, after the ANA soldiers had finished their search, an element of 1st platoon Soldiers led by Levay, climbed back down the mountainside and met up with the ANA soldiers in one of the village compounds. ...

Later in the evening, acting on intelligence that stated there were more enemy fighters in the area, the mission was extended 24 hours. Helicopters arrived and flew the Soldiers to 2nd Platoon’s position, where they were re-supplied.

Read about the rest of the mission here.


Click here for more 173rd ABCT Afghanistan posts.

David Bellavia on Pundit Review Radio

From Kevin at Pundit Review:

It was our honor to welcome back to the show retired Staff Sgt. David Bellavia. David is author of House to House: An Epic Memoir of War, co-founder of Vets for Freedom and now candidate for congress in the 26th district in New York.

You can listen to the interview here.

House to House is one of the best books about the Iraq war, and if you haven't read it yet you should. Here's the book video.



Congratulations to Kevin and Gregg at Pundit Review, who last night began their fourth year of broadcasting on Boston's 50,000 watt talk station WRKO. Thanks for your fine work, guys!

Give the Marines 96 hours...

...and they'll give you optimism.

Optimism Grows as Marines Push Against Taliban

GARMSER, Afghanistan — For two years British troops staked out a presence in this small district center in southern Afghanistan and fended off attacks from the Taliban. The constant firefights left it a ghost town, its bazaar broken and empty but for one baker, its houses and orchards reduced to rubble and weeds.

But it took the Marines, specifically the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, about 96 hours to clear out the Taliban in a fierce battle in the past month and push them back about 6 miles.

But... (this is the NYT, after all)

It was their first major combat operation since landing in March, and it stood in stark contrast to the events of a year earlier, when a Marine unit was removed in disgrace within weeks of arriving because its members shot and killed 19 civilians after a suicide bombing attack.

It was decided - after an inquiry and 3 days before this article was published - not to charge the Marines with any wrongdoing. The Times doesn't mention that until the 12th paragraph of the article, where they bring up the incident again adding the decision was "greeted with dismay in Afghanistan". (By whom? The Taliban?)

Anyway, back to the point of the story, if you can wade through the rest you'll find other unmistakable signs of progress like the one below, so it's worth a read.

“They [the Marines] have disrupted the Taliban’s freedom of movement and pushed them south, and that has created the grounds for us to develop the hospital and set the conditions for the government to come back,” said Maj. Neil Den-McKay, the officer commanding a company of the Royal Regiment of Scotland based here. People have already started coming back to villages north of the town, he said, adding, “There has been huge optimism from the people.”

The Marines were originally tasked with securing a single road through the district, but decided to change their plans after realizing how important the area was to the Taliban. The impact of their operations has been twofold - they've disrupted a major Taliban transportation artery and source of income, and the locals have been "unexpectedly welcoming to the American forces and eager for security and development."

Back in Germany

I can't get enough of this photo. I know I'm a dork.