I Hope Keith Olbermann Reads the New York Times

July 30, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
A War We Just Might Win
By MICHAEL E. O’HANLON and KENNETH M. POLLACK
Washington

VIEWED from Iraq, where we just spent eight days meeting with American and Iraqi military and civilian personnel, the political debate in Washington is surreal. The Bush administration has over four years lost essentially all credibility. Yet now the administration’s critics, in part as a result, seem unaware of the significant changes taking place.

Here is the most important thing Americans need to understand: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms. As two analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration’s miserable handling of Iraq, we were surprised by the gains we saw and the potential to produce not necessarily “victory” but a sustainable stability that both we and the Iraqis could live with.

After the furnace-like heat, the first thing you notice when you land in Baghdad is the morale of our troops. In previous trips to Iraq we often found American troops angry and frustrated — many sensed they had the wrong strategy, were using the wrong tactics and were risking their lives in pursuit of an approach that could not work.

Today, morale is high. The soldiers and marines told us they feel that they now have a superb commander in Gen. David Petraeus; they are confident in his strategy, they see real results, and they feel now they have the numbers needed to make a real difference...

And check out this quote from later in the article:

Just a few months ago, American marines were fighting for every yard of Ramadi; last week we strolled down its streets without body armor.

That's just part of the op/ed piece by a couple of left of center types who actually went to Iraq themselves.

I sure hope that complete nut job Keith Olbermann reads the New York Times. And I wish I were a fly on the wall in the room when he reads it. I'll bet that big ol' vein in his forehead almost becomes a gusher. If not, I'd settle for air bag Chris Matthews.

And wait another minute.

Didn't Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid recently state before The Senate and the world's cameras that we have lost the war in Iraq, the surge is not working, and that we should pull out our troops now?

Hmmm. Who should I believe?

Do I believe the most ridiculously partisan man in all of the U.S. Legislature, or a couple of reporters who just got back from touring around Iraq, and as they said, "...strolled down the street without body armor."?

Methinks one of these is lying. And I'll bet you one shiny nickel that it ain't the guys who just got back from Iraq.

Heck, I'm still reeling from the fact that the Al Qaeda Times New York Times even printed this op/ed.

---

The opinions expressed by this blogger on this particular blog post are the opinions of this blogger only and not necessarily the opinions of any other bloggers or of this bloggers readers. (Say that ten times fast.)

But this blogger's pretty sure he's right.