The attack on Hitchens as described by an eyewitness

Michael J. Totten provides a riveting account of the recent attack on Christopher Hitchens in Beirut, Lebanon.

A prize quotation from Hitchens:

“My attitude to posters with swastikas on them,” he later told Alice Fordham at NOW Lebanon, “has always been the same. They should be ripped down.”

Say what you want about Hitchens, he has some admirable qualities.

Michael J. Totten assesses Iraq

Advance warning: The "he" in the first quoted paragraph is independent journalist Michael Yon, who declared the Iraq War a win.

I’m reluctant to say “the war has ended,” as he did, but everything else he wrote is undoubtedly true. The war in Iraq is all but over right now, and it will be officially over if the current trends in violence continue their downward slide. That is a mathematical fact.

If you doubt it, look at the data.

Security incidents, or attacks, are at their lowest level in four years. Civilian deaths are down by almost 90 percent since General Petraeus’ counterinsurgency “surge” strategy went into effect. High profile attacks, or explosions, are down by 80 percent in the same time period. American and Iraqi soldiers suffer far fewer casualties than they have for years. Ethno-sectarian deaths from Iraq’s civil war plunged all the way down to zero in May and June 2008.

(michaeltotten.com)

Michael J. Totten is an independent journalist. Totten is reader supported, so follow the link to read and support.

Michael J. Totten in praise of Michael Yon

Is it just because their first names are the same?

Iraq is where ideologies go to die. Arab nationalism, Baathism, anti-Americanism, al-Qaidism, Donald Rumsfeldism, and Moqtada al-Sadrism have either died there or are dying. Conventional liberal opinion, more or less correct about the foundering American war effort from 2004 to 2006, has been severely bloodied—along with Iraq’s worst insurgent groups and militias—by General David Petraeus’s leadership of the American troop surge. Even post-9/11 fear of Islam has proven unsustainable for those who regularly interact with ordinary Iraqis. Independent journalist Michael Yon, who has spent more time embedded with combat soldiers in Iraq than any other reporter, is a refreshingly unideological analyst of the war. His self-published dispatches have earned him a loyal following around the world, and he has set out to reach even more people with the publication of a terrific new book, Moment of Truth in Iraq.
(michaeltotten.com)

More likely Totten respects Yon because both are independent journalists providing reports from areas that most journalists do not wish to visit.

Once Mr. Totten gets his direct link logo fixed so that I can figure out how to use it, I'll put his right under Michael Yon's under "Essential Links."

Michael J. Totten on Iraqi opinion

A recent Iraqi public opinion poll by ABC/BBC contained plenty of good news for "stay the course" conservatives. Ed Morrissey, who jumped ship at his own Captain's Quarters blog to join Michelle Malkin's enterprise at Hot Air, already noted that Sunnis were overrepresented in the poll sample and that may have made the poll seem a bit worse than it was in actuality.

Freelance reporter Michael J. Totten offers an additional caution regarding Middle East opinion polls:

Two days ago ABC News released a new poll of Iraqi public opinion, and John Burns at the New York Times made a very perceptive observation that should be taken into account when looking it over.

Opinion polls, including those commissioned by the American command, have long suggested that a majority of Iraqis would like American troops withdrawn, but another lesson to be drawn from Saddam Hussein’s years is that any attempt to measure opinion in Iraq is fatally skewed by intimidation. More often than not, people tell pollsters and reporters what they think is safe, not necessarily what they believe. My own experience, invariably, was that Iraqis I met who felt secure enough to speak with candor had an overwhelming desire to see American troops remain long enough to restore stability.

This feels right to me, not only thanks to my experience in Iraq, but also in places like totalitarian Libya where no one dared criticize the regime in public, and where everyone I spoke to did so in private where they were safe. Saddam Hussein commanded a murder and intimidation regime in Iraq, and today’s insurgents wage a murder and intimidation campaign in the streets. In Fallujah and Ramadi, Iraqi civilians were murdered just for waving hello to Americans, and for accepting bags of rice as charity. Fear should not be ignored when gauging Iraqi public opinion, and that includes fear of American guns as well as fear of insurgents.

(commentarymagazine.com)

I'll add my own two cents. Poll questions are often worthless because of their ambiguity. I'm not convinced that the problem disappears in Arabic.

32. As you may know, British forces have mainly left Basra province in recent
months. Since the British left, do you think the security in Basra has become
better, become worse, or remained the same?

We don't care if you've never ever been near Basra. We want your opinion anyway.

*****

Michael J. Totten in Fallujah

Michael J. Totten, a freelance journalist somewhat akin to Michael Yon, posted a story from Iraq on Dec. 10. Totten spoke with soldiers in Fallujah, at least some of whom were involved in the big battle there back in 2004.

I hear criticism of Iraqis of some kind almost every day when I'm in Iraq. There is a lot to criticize. Iraq is a broken country. Its infrastructure and economy are shot, its political culture dysfunctional. In my experience, though, contempt for Iraqi culture specifically, and Arabs and Islam more generally, is far more prevalent in the American civilian population, even in liberal coastal cities, than it is among American soldiers and Marines who interact with Iraqis every day, forge sometimes intense personal bonds with Iraqis, eat Iraqi food, and speak at least a little Arabic. Stereotypes about racist and psychotic Marines, as well as fanatical and psychotic Iraqis, can't survive a lengthy trip to Fallujah, at least not to the Fallujah of late 2007.
(michaeltotten.com)

It's worth reading the whole thing.

*****

Another honor killing in Pakistan

KHAIRPUR: A woman was killed on the charge of Karo-Kari here on Friday, police said.

They said accused Mukhtiar along with his accomplices axed to death his brother's wife, Zainab Shar, in the Islamabad village on the pretext of Karo-Kari.

They said two years ago the deceased woman was declared Kari but later acquitted of the charge by a Jirga. However, her brother-in-law did not accept the Jirga decision and killed her with the help of his accomplices.
(The News)

It just serves as a little reminder that Pakistan potentially hangs in the balance. Not every Muslim who favors strict sharia law will necessarily favor terrorism and suicide bombings, of course. But the culture is different in Pakistan, and if Musharraf falls you don't know what you'll get.

This is as good a point as any to point to Michael J. Totten's story about rebels who helped bring down the Shah of Iran and lived to regret it. Don't miss the part about Totten's Komala Party confusion.



*****

Michael J. Totten interview with Iraqi interpreter

MJT: Why is there peace in Kurdistan but not in this part of Iraq?

Hammer: The Kurds got rid of Saddam earlier. They fought against Saddam just like the Shia fought against Saddam, but the Kurds won their war and the Shia lost. In 1991 the Americans were heroes to the Kurds, but they disappointed the Shia and left them to Saddam. They were not reliable. So the next time, in 2003, some Shia thought they should get help from Iran. They know Iran is not going anywhere. Iran is a more reliable ally than the Americans.

The Shia never forgot being abandoned by the Americans. They talk about this all the time, still. They know the U.S. will leave Iraq and they will face Al Qaeda alone.

(read it all)

Consider that template for foreign policy in terms of the proposals from the Democrats over the past year.

Michael J. Totten in Baghdad

Michael Totten reports on the failure of the surge strategy in Baghdad ...
Only kidding.

“This is not what I expected in Baghdad,” I said.

“Most of what we’re doing doesn’t get reported in the media,” he said. “We’re not fighting a war here anymore, not in this area. We’ve moved way beyond that stage. We built a soccer field for the kids, bought all kinds of equipment, bought them school books and even chalk. Soon we’re installing 1,500 solar street lamps so they have light at night and can take some of the load off the power grid. The media only covers the gruesome stuff. We go to the sheiks and say hey man, what kind of projects do you want in this area? They give us a list and we submit the paperwork. When the projects get approved, we give them the money and help them buy stuff."
(Middle East Journal)

The story is lavishly illustrated with Totten's photography. Read it all.

Totten, like Michael Yon, is an independent journalist. While Yon has focused on Iraq, Totten has moved about the Middle East.

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