Tuesday Tidbits

Michael Yon has the second part of his latest dispatch from Bagdad "Desire's of the Heart"posted and what a story the pictures of the Iraqi people paint, Shia, Sunni and Christians living around the Seminary and returning to their neighborhood now that security is staying. They are genuinely happy the Americans have returned and it shows in their faces as they show of their children. Mike will tell you truth about what he sees and hears and he his seeing more glimmers of hope than despair as services slowly return, garbage is collected and hauled away, buildings are repaired and the 'death squads' have largely been stopped. I challenge the skeptics to look at those kids and their proud moms and tell me you want to desert them and leave them to the brutal thugs that had run the neighborhood. I want you to tell me those children wouldn't then grow up the resent America instead of as a great friend that came to help them have a better life. The kids look up to our GIs as the heroes they are and are eager to meet them and hang out with them. As Mike so poignantly points out that building relationships with the people will have a long lasting affect as many friendships have been built among the troops and police that fight side by side for a better Iraq and with friendship comes trust and honor both of which are highly valued by the Arab culture. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid should be forced to read Mike's dispatches as they are clearly deluded and ignorant about our efforts.

While it appears we have al least one major battle yet to fight clearing the Diyala province as Al Anbar is quickly being pacified as the tribes join the coalition forces to hunt down Al Qaida and kill them. Bill Roggio has all the news you can use on the GWOT. I am seeing reports the AQ head Al-Masri has been killed by one of the tribes that have turned on them, it has not been confirmed though. He also reports on a major offensive that killed or captured hundreds of terrorist thugs over the weekend. The Iraqi people are sick of being blown up just for existing and as their trust grows in the GIs, MNF and Iraqi, to provide them security, tips are pouring in with actionable intelligence. We can win, we are winning and we must win for the sake of the average Iraqi citizen, not just for us and our troops know this, the Iraqis know this and so should our elected officials.

Yeah, Tony Snow is back, and thankful for our support and prayers, in an appearance on Mike Gallager's show I just heard. He was also saying the same thing I am here.

On the '08 campaign trail Mitt Romney is burning up the straw polls in several states which is far more important than national polls as they represent the party activists willing to walk precincts and man phonebanks in the crucial primaries, CPAC being the first of such straw polls. South Carolina's imortant county straw pollws he won easily and is in a great position in many others as his ideas continue to win people over and he gets some name recognition for his many accomplishments in the private and public sector. Like Matt Lewis at Townhall, I am thinking a Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson ticket may just be the perfect combo.

Want the dirt on the Dems, including squeaky clean B. Hussien Obama? You can find plenty here at No Agenda. He has some shady land deals and long relationship with a convicted Chicago slumlord, Tony Rezko from his former State Senate district and his Pastor Jeremiah Wright is quite the ethno-centric, anti-American, african-american. No Agenda has lots on Nancy and Harry as well. Umm, can you say Culture of Corruption? We all know Hillary had to rent a warehouse for her skeletons in the closet. Wouldn't it be nice if this stuff was reported as widely as any appearance of a misdeed in the GOP or if the DNC took the same punitive measures against its members that the GOP does? Wouldn't it be nice indeed to get rid of all the corrupt bastards in the Swamp? Can you say Term Limits?