Michelle’s Trip To Iraq

Michelle Malkin writes in the Washington Times about what she saw in Iraq:

Outside the wire, we toured the slums and met with neighborhood leaders inching toward self-sufficiency in al Salam. We sipped chai with a sheik who condemned terrorists on all sides. We watched residents bicker over a civil affairs blanket drop in Khadamiyah. We sat with slimy Mahdi Army apologists in Hurriya. We stopped by a Sunni insurgent enclave, which soldiers I patrolled with dubbed a "sniperville," in al Adil.
   
There’s nothing glamorous or romantic about these missions. No one will make a movie about our men and women in uniform engaged in the tedious, painstaking business of moving Iraq toward stability and governability. But if the war is to be won — if security is to be established and the foundations of a civil society bolstered — this is Ground Zero. The troops I met ask only three things of their fellow Americans back home: time, patience and understanding of the enormous complexities on the ground.

And the troops are getting none of those things from the left and the Democrat representatives.  Instead we get the shrill cries of cutting and running, the whining of "it’s hopeless!" and "let the Iraqi’s figure it out, it’s not our job!"

The everyday bravery and consummate professionalism of the troops I embedded with have strengthened my faith in the U.S. military. These soldiers are well aware of the history, culture and sectarian strife that have wracked the Muslim world for more than a millennium. "They love death," one gunner muttered as we heard explosions in the distance while parked in al Adil. Nevertheless, these troops are willing to put their lives on the line to bring security to Iraq, one neighborhood at a time.
   
They have teamed with Sunni and Shia, Iraqi civilian and soldier alike to establish local government structures and security framework districts. "We are not here to build the Iraqi Security Forces," Lt. Col. Steven Miska, deputy commander for the Dagger Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, said. "We’re here to grow them. You can’t just plant and walk away." Capt. Aaron Kaufman of Task Force Justice added: "It’s not a six-month or yearlong process, especially when you’re talking about training the Iraqi forces."
   
The troops I met scoff at peace activists’ efforts to "bring them home now." But they are just as critical of the Bush administration and Pentagon’s missteps — from holding Iraqi elections too early, to senselessly breaking up their brigade combat team, to drawing down forces and withdrawing last year in Baghdad and Fallujah, to failing to hold cities after clearing them of insurgents. They speak candidly and critically of Shi’ite militia infiltration of some Iraqi police and Iraqi Army units and corruption in government ministries, but they want you to know about the unheralded good news, too.
   
Every day, Iraqi Army trainees risk their lives and their family’s lives to come to work at FOB Justice. Residents of Khadamiyah approach the base with tips. Schools are reopening; neighborhood councils are sharing intelligence. "All those things are coming together," Capt. Stacy Bare, civil affairs officer, said emphatically.

While mistakes were made our leaders have adapted and improvised, as they should.  But the everyday courage of our troops AND the Iraqi’s who put their lives on the line to bring Democracy to Iraq should be applauded everyday.  Our soldiers have not died in vain Nancy Pelosi, they have not died for a political whim.  And neither have the Iraqi’s who are attempting to turn their country into a Democracy.