Friday, May 16, 2008

Yon's "Moment of Truth in Iraq"

Yep, I got a review for you. No, not by me, I'm only half way through it and have absolutely no way to tell you if he's right or wrong on his take, but Michael J. Totten does. He has his review of it in his The Real Iraq
  • 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.

And, I also recommend the book, even though I haven't finished it yet. It really does look to me like Pulitzer. The cover has his photo of Farah, the Iraqi girl killed by Al Qaeda in, what I still consider to be, the photo and story that captures the Iraq war like nothing else ever could.

Well done Yon and to all of you who contributed to keep him in camera's and equipment.

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