[T]hese are the worst of the worst. And we have been very effective against them. They are associates of Zarqawi. They are some of the worst human beings on the face of the Earth. And it gives us no — there is no really greater pleasure for us than to kill or capture these particular individuals.
[P]lease, everybody, just please tell the American people how great their soldiers are. You’ve got to tell them. I mean, it is unbelievable what they’re doing. I mean — and I know I can’t keep you any longer, but I just want to tell you, they’re fighting. They’re defeating the enemy. They are partnered with Iraqi security forces. They’re building Iraqi security force capability. They’re providing humanitarian assistance. They’re organizing reconstruction right now. They are taking care of the people of the city as they’re pursuing the enemy. I mean, it is extraordinary the quality of the young men and women who we have here pursuing the enemies of our nation and helping to secure the people of Tall Afar and western Ninevah. So you got to tell them.
Col. H.R. McMaster, briefing on September 13, 2005 re: recent fighting in Tall Afar, Iraq. RTWT.
(Via Belmont Club)
Good but sad quote wrt the media’s lack of coverage of the good that’s happening. I’m probably beating a dead horse, but back to that scenario of what if today’s media were around when the Marines took Iwo Jima in WWII? Instead of running a front page of the flag raising, they would dwell on the casualties and quagmire of taking out each Japanese tunnel, bunker, and cave…
Nito, don’t forget, when we invaded Iwo Jima was attacked, we had a Demcorat president. If we had one now, then Iraq would be praised as a visionary project.
Heh, good point. I’m still waiting for John Kerry to offer up his plan for Iraq that he espoused all throughout the campaign. We’re paying for his salary afterall. For the good of the nation, let’s hear it.
Speaking of our GI’s, and Iwo Jima, I still get a little choked up every time I see the picture of the flag raising, or one of our boys in Iraq. It’s been cheapened in pop culture by the mass media, and diluted by the left, but the end result has always been the same to me: America has and will always mean freedom from tyranny. Growing up in Taiwan, I didn’t understand politics, but I understood a few things. My parents didn’t want me to grow up and be drafted into the Taiwanese army, presumably to not get killed. And that American aircraft carriers are cool, presumably because they kept the Chicoms at bay. It’s one of those things that you grow up with. No big tragedies befell me luckily, and I’m thankful. Why? Because some American boy from Texas, or Michigan, or Iowa signed up and stood guard over “the wall”. That American boy allowed Taiwan, and Korea, and all the other boys like me to grow up, maybe not completely free from fear, but with a good feeling that somewhere someone was keeping an umbrella over us. It’s not an easy duty. It’s not even a much appreciated duty. But they’re doing it. And that’s a pretty darn good thing.