Moment of Truth in Iraq

People reading this before, will recall my recomendation of Michael Yon's reports. As one of the few people actually reporting from inside Iraq he has information that doesn't really get reported.

Recently, he wrote a book, Moment of Truth in Iraq. I just got my copy and have found it gripping and very informative. So far it's been an excellent read on how the US screwed up and how AQ alienated Iraqi's even more, and how the situation changed. It's a great primer for people that want to see exactly what's happening over there and what the changes that surround the Surge and the Anbar Awakening really mean.

I'll have a more in-depth review once I finish reading it.

But even now I recommend you buy your own copy. Moment of Truth in Iraq: How a New 'Greatest Generation' of American Soldiers is Turning Defeat and Disaster into Victory and Hope. At the very least go to his website and read his articles. What's going on over there is too important to be left to an incompetent, inattentive, and inept mainstream media.

Here's a good interview with Yon about his book

Interview: Replacing Fatalism with Hope
Inside Iraq with Michael Yon.


The American soldier is the most dangerous man in the world, and the Iraqis had to learn that before they would trust or respect our folks. But it is only after they see with their own eyes these great-hearted warriors, who so enjoy killing the enemy, are even happier helping to build a school or to make a neighborhood safe that we really got their attention.

...

Lopez: Let’s say Barack Obama becomes president. How does Iraq work out?

Yon: Well, I don’t do politics.

But since you brought it up, in my view the Bush administration was mostly wrong about the war for a long time and now seems to be mostly right. I will say that Sen. McCain is one of the few who seems to have understood the war, not just backed it, but understood it from the very beginning.

That shows in his steadfast opposition to torture, by the way. Betraying American values is no way to win a counterinsurgency. We win counterinsurgencies by killing the “irreconcilables” and then showing everyone else what America is really like.

Related on why Iraq is less of an issue

The real downside of this lack of coverage is that some people don't realize how things have changed, and that allows some politicians to run on an older (2004-2005) perception of the war, but that's all the more reason to go to Yon's website and/or buy his book.