There is no one more respected for his on the ground knowledge than the independent journalist Michael Yon. He has spent more time ‘in the sand’ and in the Hot zones than any other reporter in the business and, by many, is considered the ‘Earnie Pyle’ of this generation. He was one of the first to declare the Iraqi situation devolving into ‘a civil war’, which later proved to occur. He predicted Afghanistan getting much worse long before others noticed. So when he declares that the war in Iraq is essentially over, it should be paid attention to. It is a fragile ending and another great reporter there, Michael Trotten, isn’t going that far; however, there is unquestionably a big drop in violence with deaths running lower than ever before.
Of course, saying the war is over is likely considered inappropriate for another, far more political reason than uncertainty. It would require one to admit a very uncomfortable fact to many people:
(Bush actually managed to oversee the winning of the war, despite eveything that ’smarter people’ did to impede that. Shhhhh!)
Update: Apparently our line soldiers are now bored in Iraq and want to help go after the Taliban; sounds like it’s definitely time to call this one a win.
Update 2: Yon expands further here:
Maybe we should put Michael in charge of Obama’s education because even the press admit his self-education attempts were a failure.
