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In late May of this year I guess I was having trouble keeping up with events in Iraq's Al Anbar province.
At least Glenn Greenwald would say I was having trouble keeping up on events in Al Anbar province.
The source of my difficulty keeping up on events in Al Anbar province? The fact that I was in Al Anbar province.
On May 24th a little blog fued of sorts broke out between Salon.com's Greenwald and my blog-father, Glenn Reynolds, and my friends at Hotair.com.
I could not partake in the blog fued because I was at OP Delta with Able Company, 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
OP Delta is just south of the city of Kharmah and just east of Fallujah.
The internets don't work very well at OP Delta, and therefore denied the wisdom of Greenwald, so I was completely unaware of what was happening in Al Anbar province.
So I had to amuse myself in the down time by reading a back issue of Foreign Affairs.
I had always felt that the Kharmah area would be one of the last places tamed by the coalition and the last place in Anbar the Awakening would arrive in.
I was wrong on half of my speculation.
On May 21st I went with Army Captain Matthew Gregory and members of Able Company to the Village of Shihabi where I saw this.
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A member of the Shihabi, Iraq Provisional Security Forces mans a check
point with a DShK machine gun mounted in the back of a Bongo truck. |
I spent the day around Shihabi and interviewed several members of the Provisional Security Forces defending their village from Al Qaida.
The men of Shihabi had fought two intense fire-fights against Al Qaida in the previous months.
They defeated Al Qaida and captured the Dshka Bongo from Al Qaida.
On May 26th I was with Able Company on Operation Copper Landing. The IP, with a little prompting from U.S. officers, single handedly took down the leader of an IED cell. Something unheard of in 2005.
On the 27th I was back in Shihabi living with 2nd Platoon, Able Company, at the not-fully-built outpost in Shihabi.
I spent the time their talking with members of the PSF and interviewing them on camera.
It was not until today that I learned that what I saw in late May, captured in brilliant High Definition video, was a fabrication of unnamed sources whispering in Joe Klein's ear.
I would prefer that Mr. Klein travel to Anbar and witness it in person because it truly is a sea change from my experiences in 2005 when the locals were scared to death of Al Qaida.
What I really learned today is the lengths many will go to deny the facts on the ground--when they have no knowledge of those facts--and the fear they have of success in Iraq.
To them the Anbar Awakening cannot be true, because if it is, the surge will be extended, the Petraeus plan will be implemented fully accross the country and the enterprise could prove successful.
And if the enterprise is successful, they were wrong. Their identities being so wrapped up in their opinions and belief that Iraq is and will be a failure, that their egos will not allow them to be wrong. Admission that they were wrong is tantamount to self-identity suicide.
Therefore, the Awakening does not exist, what I saw in late May and previously in April does not exist. It is not happening. Everyone is being duped and lied to. Those Iraqi tribesmen? Actors. It is all astroturfed. After all Glenn Greenwald wrote a best selling book and I'm only a guy who spent two months in Al Anbar this Spring.
I am so glad Mr. Greenwald was able to set me straight--even if belatedly. To think, I was actually going to make a documentary about the Awakening Reaching Shihabi and Kharmah. How silly of me.
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JD is currently editing the follow-up to his 2005-2006 documentary Outside The Wire. He will return to Iraq to shoot another documentary as soon as it is released.
We all know that freedom is not free--and neither is reporting from Iraq.
Each digital tape capturing the heroic efforts of Soldiers and Marines costs $7. JD uses almost 100 tapes on each trip. One DVD buys one tape that will permanently capture what the media refuses to cover.
As you know JD spends his time in Iraq with the Soldiers and Marines doing the work Outside The Wire. That means hundred and thousands of dollars of equipment and gear gets damaged. Three dollars buys a new protective lens cover. Fifty dollars buys a pair of ballistic glasses. Just to get there, the airfare costs $1,500.
It all helps and it is all needed to tell the story that is not being told.
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Thank you for taking the time to read this and any support you can give.
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