All of this is the result of the most underreported successful military operation since the invention of the telegraph. For a detailed account of Gens. Petraeus and Odierno's counterinsurgency campaign, see Kimberly Kagan's meticulous article in The Weekly Standard. But the point to take away from the surge is that, though a brilliant military operation, it was never just a military operation. Rather it developed a political, economic and communications infrastructure that is permitting local-level reconciliation. We are creating representative governance from the bottom up -- not from the Green Zone down. Despite a frail and inept national government, the people in the towns and provinces (under the tutelage of the U.S. military) seem to be forming order out of the chaos.
The victory will not have come cheap. According to The Associated Press, 3,861 American troops have been killed in Iraq.
Last Sunday, I attended a Veterans Day commemoration at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery. My only role there was as husband of the keynote speaker. After the formal ceremonies, as we were talking with people, I had a conversation with a former Marine. He was there with his 8-year-old son. He explained that his 21-year-old -- the oldest of his four sons -- had been killed in combat in Iraq just a couple of months ago. He showed us a picture of his fallen son. He was a good-looking, open-faced kid with a winning grin leaning out of his armored vehicle. He died leading his men to the sound of the guns. He is now buried there in that central Texas veterans cemetery, where last Sunday, a hard wind blew, snapping the many Old Glories that stood sentry for our fallen warriors. And the 8-year-old, who idolized his fallen big brother, can hardly wait to be old enough to join up to finish his brother's job. (Of course, we know that in this world, that job of warrior will never be done -- as the postwar period ever glides seamlessly into the new prewar period.)
Standing there surrounded by thousands of veterans' gravestones and looking into the faces of the bereaved, I think of these young heroes today who are doing in Iraq what Ronald Reagan said to the men who climbed the cliffs at Normandy's Pointe du Hoc (quoting Stephen Spender): "You are men who in your lives fought for life -- and left the vivid air signed with your honor."
Tony Blankley
Tony Blankley, a conservative author and commentator who served as press secretary to Newt Gingrich during the 1990s, when Republicans took control of Congress, died Sunday January 8, 2012. He was 63.
Blankley, who had been suffering from stomach cancer, died Saturday night at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, his wife, Lynda Davis, said Sunday.
In his long career as a political operative and pundit, his most visible role was as a spokesman for and adviser to Gingrich from 1990 to 1997. Gingrich became House Speaker when Republicans took control of the U.S. House of Representatives following the 1994 midterm elections.
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