Some Examples of What Victory Looks Like

I have pondered Chris's question asking "what does victory look like."  And I thought instead of debating what Chris had to say, I would give some examples of what I thought victory looked like.  Sometimes victory doesn't come all at once.  Sometimes it comes a little at the time. 

Unicef rebuilding a girls' school

USAID's many projects

Operation Iraqi children

And last but not least, just a few facts:

47 countries have reestablished their embassies in Iraq;

the Iraqi government employees 1.2 million Iraqi people;

3,100 schools have been renovated; 38 new schools have been built; 263 schools are now under construction;

there are 15 active hospital construction projects; 67 public clinic construction projects; 83 railroad stations; 93 water facilities; 69 electrical facilities being constructed; and

Iraq's independent media now consists of 180 newspapers, 75 radio stations and 10 TV stations.

We have become an impatient society.  We want instant gratification.  We are not going to get that in this war.  Our victory will come piece by piece.

Lisa

UPDATE:  Go over to my buddy Steel's place and see a prime example of what the MSM reports on.  Wanna' hint?  Nothing good.

Michelle Malkin talks about the difference between blogs and MSM when it comes to coverage of military activities.  I couldn't agree with her more.

Comments

[Mitchell Land]

Lisa,

I'm not sure you meant it this way, but this statement: "We have become an inpatient society" sent me into uncontrollable gales of laughter. An in-patient society indeed!

[Chris]

These are certainly all good things. I in no way mean to undermine our accomplishments or those of the Iraqi people. I do, however, want to know what we are shooting for. The logistics in setting up a democracy and making it stable enough and training the Iraqis to do their own security are complicated at best. I hope it happens--but as Col. Hunt says--hope is not a method. I don't think it is outrageous to want my President to tell me what victory is supposed to look like. These things might never happen--will we stay until they do? Do we have people who know how to take a warring tribal culture and change that mindset to one of a cooperative government--mindset changes take generations..are we to be there--with our guys getting blown up--for that long? I am not saying cut and run. I'm not saying that when the President tells me what victory looks like I won't supportit. I don't know. But I think it is time for him to level with us--to set realistic expectations--so that the public can decide intelligently where they stand. He hasn't done that and the message coming from the various voices of the administration don't even tell the same story. Cheney says the insurgency is in it's last throes--Rumsfeld says 10-12 years left in the insurgency fight. There are a lot of people who should be looking a hell of a lot smarter to you all right now. People who said in the beginning that they supported the cause but wanted better planning, people who said it would take a minimum of 10 years people who knew that this task was huge and wanted us to take it on the right way. Senators John McCain and Joe Biden said this stuff. They fought for people to listen and they didn't--so I am waiting for my President to tell me now. I think he owes us that.

Chris

[Lisa]

Damn...everyone's a critic. I've corrected my mistake. Geeze, I even used spellcheck.

[Lisa]

None of us have a crystal ball, not even President Bush. Nobody can be sure how long the insurgency will be fighting. President Bush has said that this is a long term effort. He has said it many times. He has said that we are looking at years. Now if you want an exact number, you're out of luck. Again, nobody knows that.

War on terror is a psychological war with military involvement. The fact that Al Jeezera is able to broadcast all over the Middle East every time one of our Congressmen stand up and call our guys Nazis or say that we are in a quagmire, just feeds the insurgency.

And yeah yeah, I know.... Colonel Hunt says hope is not a method. Believe me, that's drilled in my head. But sometimes you have to try different methods until you find one that works. And in the mean time, hope is what gets you through.

You know, maybe a method would be for Kennedy and Durbin and others to shut up and let our guys get their job done with the support of the American people behind them.

[Always Question]

The accomplishments and works in progress you list... those are all commendable and I'd have expected no less... especially from our men and women in uniform; however, the Iraqi government to which you refer is still without a Constitution or buy-in from substantial blocs of Iraqis, and many of these works-in-progress continue to be sabotaged before they can be completed. One might say that we've actually accomplished very little. While acknowledging the continuing efforts of many, many people, there is an argument to be made that we're spinning our wheels.

[Chris]

Yeah, yeah, yeah--I get the no crystal ball--but see your problem is that you think and have thought that the War on Terror and the War in Iraq are one in the same--well they weren't in the beginning--even if they are now. They are now because of the way we did this. And it's not only Durbin and Kennedy--what more you want me to say about them I don't know I already called them pussies--but the American people have a right to know what the deal is--and President Bush said the war on terror would be a long haul he said we'd be greeted by happy crowds in Iraq. Just because you say over and over that he said it would be a long war doesn't make it true. Anyway--I support the troops and am willing to support the mission but I want a plan and a goal and my President to tell me what victory looks like. And I think you are in the minority if you don't want those things too.

Chris

[Lisa]

First...to Always Question (love that name BTW),

Rome wasn't built in a day. Sorry they're not whipping up the ole' Iraqi Constitution fast enough for you. My grandmother always said "There's never time to do it right but always time to do it over." Well maybe they are trying to get it right. And whoever says we've accomplished very little has been watching way too much main stream media. Stop drinking the Kool-Aid and do some research. There are many more good things going on than what I posted. Those were just a small sample.

Chris...where do I begin with you... you are right, it's not just Kennedy and Durbin. It's Kerry, Leahey (sp.), and the whole group of left wingers who get out there every chance they get and give Al Jeezera ammunition to broadcast.

I quote:
"But I think it is time for him to level with us--to set realistic expectations--so that the public can decide intelligently where they stand. He hasn't done that..."

That is what you said. I am saying that President Bush has told us to expect this to be a long effort. He has repeated it on numerous occasions. Be honest, what you really want is a timetable. You want specifics and date. I'm here to tell you babe, that's impossible. Wow, talk about giving the insurgency ammunition. Why don't we just e-mail Zarquawi (sp.) and tell him we'll be out of his way on August 8th, 2007 then he can just wait around until then.

I don't want the President to give me specifics. I don't want to give the insurgency any more information.

Here's what I want:

What I want is for our Congressmen to shut up.

What I want is for the MSM to stop helping the insurgency with all of their negative and sometimes false reports.

What I want is for our men and women to be able to get their job done and come home.

Lisa

[Steel Turman]

Damn it! I did a piece ripped from AP where all the stats were gloom and doom ...

we should have cross posted this with that Lisa.

And I KNOW you told me how but I haven't tried yet to TB. And I am way too tired
to do so now. Go see the item ... can't miss it. Talk about yin and yang!

[nurse judy]

Lisa:
I agree we have done a lot of good in Iraq that has not gotten reported. I have written at length about that on a previous blog. However, there is another thing going on here that wasn't there in the beginning.

It is the terrorist network that has been set up in Iraq by al-Zarqawi that is connected to al-Qaeda and has facilitation nodes in Syria and that brings in foreign fighters from Saudi Arabia and North Africa. This network is also connected to what is happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is this global battle, that I don't believe we planned for and don't have a plan for now. And it is this battle that will be the undoing of all the good we have done in Iraq, if we don't get a plan soon on how to fight it.

This idea of General Abizaid now saying they know Zarqawi's hideout, and who was it the other day who said we know where bin Laden is. If this isn't part of a psychological operation, which it may be, why haven't we dropped a couple of MOABs from 30,000 feet on these locations, and if we tear up a little bit of Pakistan or Syria or Iran in doing it, too bad. Just do it and stop the Baghdad Bob crap.

PS: I liked your inpatient society, I thought it fit.

[Mitchell Land]

Lisa,

I in no way, shape, or form, was poking fun at your spelling. I merely thought the slip was quite appropriate given the tenor of your post.

Americans, by and large, are an in-patient society. If it doesn't concern their here and now they just aren't interested. Not to mention that most of them are on some kind of life-support (rather than living for themselves) -- and no, I don't mean welfare, I mean critical thinking skills.

As for the later commments, asking for a timetable is simply ridiculous. No one asked FDR or Churchill for a timetable for the defeat of the Germans in 1940. Of course, that was a different time with a less evasive foe.

[Lisa]

Judy,

I don't want to know the plan. If I and you and everyone else knows what the plan is, then guess what, so does Zauqawi (thanx for the right spelling BTW) and so does bin Ladin.

When did it become the end all rule that the citizens of this country need to know our military's plans. It's none of our business. Let them do their jobs without the rest of us acting like armchair generals and without telling the world and tipping off the enemy.

Mitchell,

You can make fun of my spelling all day long. It's nice to hear if from someone else besides my mother. haha

You are right, in WWII this country didn't need a blow by blow of the military's actions. Soemtimes, technology can work against us.

BTW, when you say Americans, you say "they" and "their". Am I assuming correctly that you are not an American? Nothing negative meant by it, just curious.

[nurse judy]

Lisa:
I don't want to know the plan. I just want to know that there is a plan, or at least make me think there is a plan. That's all.

[Mitchell Land]

Lisa,

No, I am American and proud of it...I just don't identify myself with the in-patient crowd ;-).

SGT Mitchell Land
LSA ADDER, Iraq

[Larry]

Great post. When highlighting some accomplishments resulting from the Coalition
actions in Iraq, I think that we should mention a couple of others first --
(a) We put a stop to the Genocide;
(b) We brought Iraq back as a member of the world economy (as a freely exporting and importing participant).
If (a) seems unclear, recall that over 8 or 9 years under the UN's Oil For Food program, the USA was accused of killing what, a million (or hundreds of thousands) of Iraqis each year; we know that those deaths were caused by the Baath regime there, but the world was told that the USA was to blame.
Note on this -- if you watch the DVD edition of "Uncle Saddam", in the Special Feature section where Joel Soller talks to the
camera, he explains that he started the filming project to document the Genocide in
Iraq; but after being there and seeing the children left to die by Saddam, he realized that the mass die-off was government-induced and Joel decided to covertly document that instead. Thanks and regards, Larry in San Jose

[Lisa]

Ah...Mitchell,

I love a man in uniform. ;-)

You stay safe over there. Please keep us posted on how you and your unit are doing. Thank you for the job you are doing. It's because of you that the rest of us can rationally and irrationally debate in the blogosphere.

I hope you become a regular commenter here. Your perspective would be eye opening for us as well as the "in-patient" folks.

Thank you again for your service and God be with you.

Lisa

[Larry]

Sorry, typo ... correct spelling: Joel Soler, creator of the "Uncle Saddam" documentary.