It's going to take time
Michelle Malkin
Bill Ardolino continues his excellent reporting on his month-long embed in Iraq. The message from an interview with a Fallujah Military Transition Team (MiTT) leader is the same message Bryan Preston and I heard from our embed unit in western Baghdad and the same message President Bush and Gen. Petraeus continue to underscore: It's going to take time.
Speaking of our embed unit, one of our commanders was featured in a big photo on page 2 of yesterday's USA Today. The photographer highlighted Lt. Col. Steve Miska's Arabic name tag, which should be familiar to MM.com readers and Hot Air viewers: [image at right]
Flashback MM.com Jan. 17: [image]
The USAToday piece does a good job portraying the hands-on work of counterinsurgency, tactical changes, and the establishment of combat outposts in the middle of Baghdad's battle zones. They also recreate a map that looks very similar to a slide we were shown during our Dagger Brigade briefing: [image]
Lt. Col. Miska emphasizes the locals' lack of confidence in the government, which we witnessed in our interactions with local Iraqi Army troops, neighborhood council leaders, and fire department employees. Capt. Stacy Bare, the civil affairs officer who led several of the dismounted patrols we accompanied the troops on, is also quoted in the USAToday article on the need for time: ...
