Well it occured to me that we never really had a thread that covered the war in Iraq. So here it is. I 'm posting an e-mail written to me and some family and friends by Col. Steven Bensend, currently stationed in the vast deaserts of Kuwait. Really read this. The bottom part has got some good information from General Abizaid. Just kind of a second perspectve here, based on what has been attempted to be pounded into your heads by the media.

Feel free to change the subject occasionally, don't let it get stale.

Friends,

It is with great resolve that I write to you on this eve of this holiday season.
Our soldiers are doing great things here and the efforts to defeat the al Qiada
insurgancy and restore some resemblance of a normal society to the countries of
Afghanistan and Iraq is alive and well. I have copied below some comments and
remarks made by General Abizaid. I think that every American should at least
hear the truth about what we are doing and understand that the significance of
it goes beyond the surface scratch that political and media attempt to portray.

Our soldiers are doing great work. This holiday season will be difficult for
families and soldiers alike. Please do not worry about us, we are doing what we
believe is right and have been encouraged by the results of our actions. I
believe that it is a great honor to be able to give back a small token of sweat
equity to a country that has afforded me immeasurable freedoms and prosperity.

I ask you to stand up for the ideals that this country was founded upon and do
the right thing. Demand that those who speak without knowledge be held
accountable for their actions and castigation. Do not allow isolated negative
actions of a few dictate the outcome of many positive works.

Have a Merry Christmas. Thank you for your support!

Steve Bensend

____________________________________________________________
General Abizaid (Commander, U. S. Central Command whose responsibilities
include Iraq and Afghanistan) spoke to the Naval War College last week. The
audience comprised primarily War College students who are mid-grade/senior
military officers. The majority of these officers have served in the
conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, so there was a real understanding of the
dynamics of the region... BS would not sell to this audience.

Here is a short summary of General Abizaid's comments, from contemporaneous
notes:

He is amazed as he goes around the country and testifies before the Congress
how many of our countrymen do not know or understand what we are doing or
how we are doing. There are very few members of Congress who have ever worn
the uniform (of our Armed Forces). He said that the questions he gets from
some in Congress convince him that they have the idea that we are about to
pushed out of Iraq and Afghanistan. There is no relation between this and
the reality on the ground.

As he goes around the region and talks to troops and junior officers he is
very impressed by their morale and their achievements. They are confident
that they are capable of defeating the enemy. You will never see a headline
in this country about a school opening or a power station being built and
coming on line, or a community doing well. Only the negative things will
get coverage in the media. He told the mid-grade/senior officers to go to
their local Lions Clubs when they go home and tell the people what they are
doing. If they don't get the word out, the American people will not know
what is really happening.

The insurgency is in four of 18 provinces in Iraq, not all 18. You do not
hear about the 14 provinces where there is no insurgency and where things
are going well. The insurgency in Afghanistan is primarily in Kandahar
province (home of the Taliban) and in the mountain region on the Pakistani
border. The rest of the country is doing well.

Iraq now has over 200,000 soldiers/police under arms and growing. They are
starting to eclipse the US/coalition forces. Their casualty rate is more
than double that of the US. There are more than 70,000 soldiers under the
moderate government in Afghanistan and growing.

He predicted that the insurgencies in the four Sunni provinces in
northern/central Iraq and in Southwestern Afghanistan will be there for the
foreseeable future, but they will be stabilized and become small enough so
the moderate governments will be able to keep them under control.

2006 will be a transition year in Iraq and that will see the Iraqi forces
take much more of the mission from the US forces. This is necessary to
bring stability to Iraq. We need to be fewer in numbers and less in the
midst of the people for the moderate Iraqi government to succeed.

Our primary enemy is not the insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is al
Qaida and their ideology. We are at a period now that is similar to the
1920s where Communism and Nazism had not taken hold in Russia and Germany.
The ideology of Al Qaida is out there and it has not taken hold in any
country in the Middle East. We need to make sure that it does not and we
are doing that, but it will be a long problem with a long commitment.

He said that we are focused on the things that we (Americans) have done
wrong, like Abu Ghraib, and not talking about this enemy. We need to talk
about this enemy. al Qaida is all over the world. Their goal is to get the
US out of the region and come to power in the Islamic countries of the
region. From there, their goal is to establish a Caliphate (under a single
Islamic ruler) that goes from the Atlantic in North Africa to Indonesia in
the Pacific. Fifty years after this happens, their goal is to rule the rest
of the world.

Since Desert Storm in 1991, US forces have not lost any combat engagement in
the region at the platoon-level or above. al Qaida has no beliefs that they
can defeat us militarily. They see our center of gravity as being the will
of the American People. That is influenced by the media and they are
playing to that. They don't need to win any battles. Their plan is keep
the casualties in front of the American people in the media for long enough
that we become convinced that we cannot win and leave the region. This
would be tragic for our country.

The battle against al Qaida will not be primarily military. It will be
political, economic, and ideological. It will require the international
community to fight too. We must not let al Qaida get hold in any country.
It will result in our worst nightmare. Picture life in Afghanistan under
the Taliban, that is what Al Qaida's ideology has as a goal.

If you look at the geography (of al Qaida), there is no place to put a
military solution. They are networked and they are all over the world.
They are a virtual organization connected by the Internet. They use it to
proselytize, recruit, raise money, educate and organize. They have many
pieces that we must focus on: the propaganda battle in the media, safe
houses, front companies, sympathetic members of legitimate governments,
human capital, fighters and leaders, technical expertise, weapons suppliers,
ideologically sympathetic non-government organizations (charities),
financers, smugglers, and facilitators. A lot of their money comes from
drugs.

We are winning but we have got to maintain constant pressure over time with
the international community and across the US government agencies. No one
is afraid that we can't defeat the enemy. Our troops have the confidence,
the courage, and the competence. We need the will of the American people to be
sustained for the long haul.

I must say I agree.... the stories coming out of Iraq are always about how things are bad for the soldiers and how things aren't going so well.

Personally I don't buy it. I don't believe things are as bad over there as they are made out to be. Of course if you just show soldiers fighting and talk about the 2000 dead soldiers since the war started then it looks bad.

No one talks about the good the soldiers might be doing. It's really sad.

i feel for those soldiers bravely fighting in this war. unfortunately, there's no reason for the united states to still be in iraq. we overstayed our welcome after we overthrew the government and had no plans to replace it. george bush lied to get us in there and we have to get out to save lives and money.