The second most important man in Baghdad
Gen. Petraeus has made the most important difference in events in Iraq since he was named commander and started the surge. The man that is doing the most to give him a chance for success is not a partisan or in the military but is an honest reporter of events John Burns, the NY Times reporter.
For those of us who support our efforts in Iraq that is a very surprising event, but Burns has always been an outstanding reporter and he has never let the politics of the paper inhibit his honest assessment.
Hugh Hewitt has a lengthy interview with him that is worth reading in full.
On Monday this week Rush Limbaugh talked about all the members of the mainstream media who are now coming to the conclusion that the surge is working. I think Burns and his fellow Times correspondent Michael Gordon have done more than anyone to change those attitudes and they did not do any of it as partisans. It is especially ironic that these two men of integrity work for the paper that has done its worse to insure defeat.
If you want to know what is going on in the war in Iraq, you can get a good start by reading what Burns has to say to Hewitt. He is much better informed than Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi. It is interesting to see how events have swallowed the Democrat message of defeat and retreat. It will be more interesting to see how that message changes if at all when smacked by reality.
Here is one small excerpt from the interview:
For those of us who support our efforts in Iraq that is a very surprising event, but Burns has always been an outstanding reporter and he has never let the politics of the paper inhibit his honest assessment.
Hugh Hewitt has a lengthy interview with him that is worth reading in full.
On Monday this week Rush Limbaugh talked about all the members of the mainstream media who are now coming to the conclusion that the surge is working. I think Burns and his fellow Times correspondent Michael Gordon have done more than anyone to change those attitudes and they did not do any of it as partisans. It is especially ironic that these two men of integrity work for the paper that has done its worse to insure defeat.
If you want to know what is going on in the war in Iraq, you can get a good start by reading what Burns has to say to Hewitt. He is much better informed than Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi. It is interesting to see how events have swallowed the Democrat message of defeat and retreat. It will be more interesting to see how that message changes if at all when smacked by reality.
Here is one small excerpt from the interview:
...The left wing will be angry about this turn of events, which says more about their character and integrity than they would like to reveal.
JB: I think there’s no doubt that those extra 30,000 American troops are making a difference. They’re definitely making a difference in Baghdad. Some of the crucial indicators of the war, metrics as the American command calls them, have moved in a positive direction from the American, and dare I say the Iraqi point of view, fewer car bombs, fewer bombs in general, lower levels of civilian casualties, quite remarkably lower levels of civilian casualties. And add in what they call the Baghdad belts, that’s to say the approaches to Baghdad, particularly in Diyala Province to the northeast, to in the area south of Baghdad in Babil Province, and to the west of Baghdad in Anbar Province, there’s no doubt that al Qaeda has taken something of a beating.
...
The interesting program over the weekend was Chris Matthews on ABC [NBC appears resolutely against patriotic support of our troops & any positive outcome in Iraq] when thoughtful reporters like Gloria Borger and David Ignatius expressed their cautious opinion that the Surge was beginning to have a positive effect.
ReplyDeleteDingy Harry Reid & his female sidekick in the House are totally invested in a defeat in Iraq, so when the NYT's Pulitzer reporter John Burns & Brookings came out with positive noises, the Dhimmi-crats rolled out their political commissars for a broadside on the character, skill-sets, and general intelligence of all who could dare to disagree with the Dhimmi-crat defeatist appeasement policy line.