August 29, 2007

Too Soon To Give Up: A Report From Iraq

By Jeff Emanuel
Baghdad, Iraq - On this, my latest trip to Iraq, I have been embedded with the US military on the front lines for the last month, spending about three weeks in Salman Pak (just south of Baghdad) with the 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, from Ft. Benning, GA, and spending another several days near the Turkish and Syrian borders with a US Special Forces team and an Iraqi Police SWAT unit. As one of the very few journalists (out of the hundreds who come here) who actually spends time out on the real front lines, seeing with my own eyes (and experiencing firsthand) the gunfire, the IEDs, the school openings, the public clinics, the Concerned Citizens meetings, and the other events of great import - rather than simply sitting in safety and reporting hearsay - I have personally seen evidence that the ‘Surge' is working militarily. I have also seen, though, how broken and splintered this country really is, and what a difficult - and perhaps impossible - task it will be to...(Read Full Article)