CIVIL WAR IN IRAQ….Michael Yon reports from the UAE on the facts of life in conservative talk radio:
Last week, in America, a radio producer for a large syndicated program in the United States called me requesting that I go on the show, a show that has hosted me many times and where I?ve been referred to as, ?Our man in Iraq.? But when I said Iraq is in a civil war, that same producer slammed down the phone and, in so doing, demonstrated how much he reveres truth….When the receiver slammed into the phone, the producer revealed himself naked; he was not supporting the troops, nor the Iraqis, but the President.
….I checked my website to see if the United Arab Emirates had shut me down for saying Iraq was in a Civil War. They had not. More interestingly, though a few military leaders politely disagreed with the statement that Iraq is in a state of civil war, a larger number of Iraq-experienced military officers agreed (off-the-record) that Iraq is in a civil war, and thanked me for saying it.
So whose opinions should we respect on matters Iraq? Smart combat veterans who have graduated from top schools in the United States and who have faced bombs and bullets and bled in Iraq, or a radio producer who has never been there and who cannot control his temper in the face of words? It?s time we listened to our combat leaders.
It’s worth noting that although Yon believes Iraq is engaged in civil war, he doesn’t think this is reason for us to withdraw. However, it’s also worth noting that if our officer corps largely believes that Iraq is engaged in civil war too, they need to be willing to say this publicly, not just off the record. If Iraq eventually falls apart and the American public comes to believe that our military leaders were unwilling to speak candidly about events on the ground due to political pressure, the result will be a loss of faith in the military similar to what happened after Vietnam. That would be a very high price to pay.
