| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq-Jordan |
| embedded Robert D. Kaplan |
| 2004-06-19 |
| EFL: long article When The Atlantic Monthly’s correspondent Robert D. Kaplan signed on this spring as an embedded journalist in Iraq, he had no way of knowing what the experience would bring. Given that the war had been declared officially over for months, and that the Marine battalion to which he was assigned had been charged with "security and stability operations," it seemed likely that he would be filing a report on the military’s nation-building efforts. As it happened, however, the course his battalion charted from Kuwait to central Iraq landed him in the Sunni Triangle just weeks before four American contractors were murdered and publicly mutilated inside Fallujah. Word came down the chain of command almost immediately; his battalion would be assaulting the city. When the troops set out at 1 a.m. on April 5 to attack the city, Kaplan went with them. In "Five Days in Fallujah," the article he later filed for The Atlantic, Kaplan describes his experiences there, and offers insight into the culture and operating style of the Marines, as well as thoughts on the larger picture of the military situation in Iraq. |
| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #10 How you like that Lucky? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-07-27 5:35:52 PM |
| #9 And then went to Spring Soldier and said he forgot and loved 'everbody so forget it. He was a patriot before he was a traitor, and then changed his mind again. Good hair tho. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-07-27 5:34:49 PM |
| #8 And was wounded three times and left, and told the truth about American Krimes. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-07-27 5:33:31 PM |
| #7 To deify young men who have been trained to complete a mission regardless of the harm it exposes them to jeopardizes them even more. They are like us. We better have damn good reasons for putting them in harm's way. Instead of a President who weasels out of war as a soldier, then goads would-be attackers to "Bring it on" as Commander-in-Chief, perhaps it is time for a President who volunteered for military duty, then returned and testified of the pitfalls of such action. http://pharosreview.blogspot.com/2004/07/five-fibs-in-fallujah.html |
| Posted by: igm 2004-07-27 5:26:58 PM |
| #6 "The idea that Marines are trained to break down doors, to seize beachheads and other territory, was an abstraction until I was there to experience it. Running into fire rather than seeking cover from it goes counter to every human survival instinct–trust me ... In one flash, as we charged across [the street] amid whistling incoming shots, I realized that they were not like me; they were Marines." This says it all, IMO. The idiotarians lie. They do not give even the tiniest shit about these American Troops, who risk all to bring peace to others, deserving or not, and thus security for America. The idiotarians want American deaths - the more the better - for 3 reasons: 1) crass and craven political gain 2) because they do not value the freedoms they enjoy 3) because they do not understand what Kaplan came to understand in this quote |
| Posted by: .com 2004-06-19 6:23:11 PM |
| #5 The Atlantic has really gone downhill since Michael Kelly died. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2004-06-19 4:53:26 PM |
| #4 the "War officially ended" nonsense was added by another pointy-headed liberal journalist/editor, safe in his cubicle back in NY |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-06-19 10:20:49 AM |
| #3 Don, It's become obvious that the media does not at all understand military operations. Some of them may be lying but I suspect a lot of it is simple ignorance. I agree, Raptor, good for him. |
| Posted by: Kathy K 2004-06-19 10:17:29 AM |
| #2 Now thats what I'm talk'n bowt. A jurnalist with the integrity to get down and dirty with the Troopers,and tell an honest story. |
| Posted by: Raptor 2004-06-19 9:49:28 AM |
| #1 "Given that the war had been declared officially over for months" - NO! Major military operations had ended, no such end of the war has been declared. The lies continue don't they? |
| Posted by: Don 2004-06-19 7:47:03 AM |