I have seen people spin a defeat as victory. 

The U.S. may be the first nation ever to spin victory as defeat.

Allah at Hotair blogged about this suicide bombing at Baghdad's Mansour hotel. 

This was not a random suicide bombing this was a hit to take out a few common enemies. 

All my gear finally arrived back at the home office in Salina, Kansas.  I mailed a lot of back from Iraq. 

But I carried all of it to Iraq. 

Somehow I was able to carry all this stuff on and off a helicopter.  TV requires a lot of gear.

From yesterday's WaPo: 

"Even so, some insiders worry that the new push will still prove to be too little, too late. "We have lost the fight for public and political support, so no matter how successful we are militarily, we are being led to failure," said one U.S. intelligence expert involved in Iraqi operations."  (Emphasis Added) 

Me thinks this un-named intelligence expert is unintelligent, uninformed or on the wrong side.

Baker-Hamilton is making an unfortunate comeback.

Unfortunate because while Sandra Day O'Conner is a distinguished jurist I am not sure of her qualifications to guide counter-insurgency tactics. 

It is unfortunate that a group of old, er, elder states people will be granted expert status on a war they have barely witnessed in person and issue a several hundred page document.

The Johannes report will take you down into Baghdad's mahalas and Anbar's villages in brilliant High Definition DVD where you will see and hear first hand accounts from tribesmen who are fighting Al Qaida, soldiers who are fighting Jaish al Mahdi, Generals, Lt. Colonels, Captains, Sergeants and enlisted men.

I'll be on WABC New York this evening on Jerry Agar's program. 

Topics:  Anbar Awakening and syndicated columnists who write about Iraq (See previous blog item.)

You can listen to the Jerry Agar show from 8pm to 10pm eastern time.

Newsweek columnist Anna Quindlen makes the typical un-forced error so common among columnists and the chattering class--taking one statement and conflating it to a generalization without the context of time, place and mission.

There is no substitute for spending a lot of time outside the wire with the young men who fight the war in Iraq to understand the context. 

Without the context of time, place and mission, especially mission, the statements of a Soldier or Marine are horribly misunderstood. 

With photos too! 

http://mattsanchez.typepad.com/