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May 1, 2007

22,000 more black flies to be deployed to Iraqi chardonnays

In today's Times, Marines reservist Owen West writes that claims the Iraq surge is not working are "oddly detached... from what's happening on the battlefield."

The Iraqi battalion I lived with is stationed outside of Habbaniya, a small city in violent Anbar Province. Together with a fledgling police force and a Marine battalion, these Iraqi troops made Habbaniya a relatively secure place: it has a souk where Iraqi soldiers can shop outside their armored Humvees, public generators that don't mysteriously explode, children who walk to school on their own. The area became so stable, in fact, that it attracted the attention of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. In late February, the Sunni insurgents blew up the mosque, killing 36.

Jon Stewart couldn't have said it better. Problem is, I've read the damn thing five times and can detect no sign that West meant it ironically.

Posted by Daniel Radosh

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