Good News from Iraq

This will probably get lost in the election news, but there is great progress to report from Iraq:

October is on track to be the first month in which no U.S. troops have died in combat in Baghdad...

The news comes in a week in which the troops have already made headlines. Their latest milestone? Two days ago, the U.S. military had handed over control of yet another province to the people of Iraq. This is the 13th of the country's 18 provinces to be placed back in Iraqi control, a sign of the tremendous dedication of the men and women of our military.

Remember, Obama opposed the surge and even said that he still wouldn't have supported it, even knowing in hindsight that it worked. McCain was an early supporter of the surge and helped push Bush into doing it. I think what it says about their foreign policy judgment is pretty clear.

Amputee Marine returns to combat duty

Just wanted to quickly share an inspiring story from our military (saw this on Hugh Hewitt):

On July 23, 2007, [USMC Corporal Garrett] Jones was on foot patrol near the Iraqi city of Fallouja when he was injured by a roadside bomb. After the attack, his left leg was amputated above the knee. He developed infections and fevers. His weight dropped from 175 pounds to 125. At 21, Jones faced months of painful rehabilitation and a likely end to his service in the Marine Corps.

One year later, Jones is walking smoothly on a prosthetic leg. He not only continues to serve on active duty, but he has worked his way back to a war zone, serving with his Marine battle buddies in Afghanistan.

First of all, it's amazing and humbling that we have such dedicated men (and women) in our military, going into harm's way. Pretty cool story. And don't miss that a big reason Corporal Jones is able to do this is the significant advances in medical science resulting in improved treatment and prosthetic limbs. Personally I would argue that this is an important outgrowth of a free market, not universal/government health care system, but that's a long discussion for another post.

Election Update: Evangelicals for Obama?

If you're paying attention to the presidential election, you've probably seen more than one news report about how Obama is reaching out to evangelical Christians and how evangelicals are planning on voting for him in large numbers. Personally, I don't know how any Christian who cares about abortion and life issues could vote for him, but that's just me. What do the actual data say?

How many pieces have we read in recent months about how evangelical Christians are falling over themselves in a mad rush to support presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama? Every discovery that evangelicals care about more than just the sanctity of human life and traditional marriage is met with hopeful accounts about how the Republican Party is losing these voters to the Democratic Party.

Now, it may be true that presumptive Republican nominee John McCain has failed to get many folks, including evangelicals, excited about him. But given all the coverage to the contrary, I was somewhat surprised to see the results of a new Pew study that indicates that Obama is getting slightly fewer — that’s right — fewer white evangelical supporters than John Kerry was at the same time four years ago.

If you follow the link, there are a lot of examples of media coverage saying evangelicals are supporting Obama. It's definitely not a trend that people are imagining.

Here's something interesting, though: voters aren't buying it. About half of Americans believe the media are trying to get us to vote Obama, and the numbers are growing:

The belief that reporters are trying to help Barack Obama win the fall campaign has grown by five percentage points over the past month. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey found that 49% of voters believe most reporters will try to help Obama with their coverage, up from 44% a month ago.

A separate survey released this morning also found that 50% of voters believe most reporters want to make the economy seem worse than it is. A plurality believes that the media has also tried to make the war in Iraq appear worse that it really is.

Interesting. It's heartening to see some sort of evidence that people are catching on to media bias. And this recent, spectacular example should help even more:

If you doubt the media are in the tank for Obama, doubt no more. The refusal of the New York Times to print McCain's op-ed on Obama after an Obama piece was published has nothing to do with editorial judgment and everything to do with protecting the media's heartthrob.

One final note of interest to political junkies: Dr. James Dobson is considering an endorsement for McCain, because he disagrees so strongly with Obama. It's a pretty big deal because up to now, Dr. Dobson was very opposed to McCain's candidacy.

"Barack Obama contradicts and threatens everything I believe about the institution of the family and what is best for the nation," Dr. Dobson said in a statement to The Associated Press. "His radical positions on life, marriage and national security force me to re-evaluate the candidacy of our only other choice, John McCain. I have not endorsed him, but … I have concluded for the first time that I might. If that is a flip-flop, then so be it."

Obama's Flawed Judgment

Betsy Newmark gives a great review of current reporting on Obama’s stand on the Iraq War. The key point a lot of people are making right now is that Obama’s judgment on the surge was deeply flawed, and he’s compounded the error by not admitting it.

Whether you supported the war in the first place or not, we now have too much to lose to start backing down now. Obama might have learned that if he'd waited to actually find out the facts on his fact-finding tour instead of issuing his policies before going over there. But that would have been the responsible rather than the political thing to do and we can judge Obama by the choice he made.

Read the whole thing, it’s good! If you’re into politics and understand what the typical biases of the big newspapers are, you’ll be blown away by the really harsh editorial from the Washington Post.

Remember, Obama is a little light in the experience department, so he's trying to sell us on his superior judgment. It's pretty noteworthly that even leading mainstream newspapers are starting to question it.

Top War Correspondent Releases New Book on Iraq

Michael Yon’s new book Moments of Truth In Iraq has just been released. Check it out.

Success in Iraq does not bode well for Democrats

Just like with the Vietnam War in the late 60's and early 70's, the Democrats have always tried to paint the dimmest of pictures regarding the war in Iraq. This emphasis served nothing more than a political smoke screen. The liberals will try anything to distract people from the central issues facing our nation. In a rare glimmer of the truth by the MSM, Tom Foreman reveals this fact in an article posted today on CNN.com:

Iraq is certainly not at peace, but it is undeniably much more peaceful than it was. And Democrats, it appears, desperately hope that American voters will not notice. Because if voters accept that Iraq is improving, perhaps they will no longer accept the idea that the Republicans need to be driven out of Washington.

And if the Holocaust of legal murder known as abortion is going to be stopped, it will only come through the appointment of Supreme Court justices by a Republican president.

Another Sign That The Surge Is Working

Peace is finally becoming more of a regular occurrence in the streets of Baghdad. Consequently, Iraqi citizens are saying “thank you!” to the American people. That’s what embedded news journalist Michael Yon is hearing on the ground in Baghdad. He highlights one emotional moment, where “men and women, both Christians and Muslims, [were witnessed] placing a cross atop the St. John’s Church in Baghdad.”

Major Success Occurring In Iraq

This is definitely worth watching. (5 minutes 42 seconds)

click here >>