More from Michael J. Totten

Just in case you aren't checking in on him, Michael J. Totten has The Final Mission, Part II posted and you need to read it. Make yourself a note to follow the whole series. He and Yon are continuing to provide very unique perspectives to the goings on in Iraq.

• FALLUJAH – The United States military plans to formally hand over Anbar Province to the Iraqis this spring because the insurgency truly is finished in that part of the country. Most Americans have heard about the success in this province by now, but few seem to be aware that the cities of Anbar were the scenes of the most ferocious fighting: Ramadi, Haditha, and – worst of all – Fallujah.

The Democrats and the Iraq battle

I've pointed out before that the Democrats have married up to defeat in the war against Al Qaeda when it comes to the battle in Iraq. I thought that sometime after Petraeus came back last September and reported about the progress of the strategy he employed for 2007 they'd have to shift their stance to something supportive. For some reason, they haven't. More on that from Fred Schwarz over at National Review Online in his Will Vietnam Cost the Democrats the White House -- Again?

• A year after the American troop surge in Iraq began, its success is clear, even to Newsweek, the Washington Post, and Rep. John Murtha. As Wesley Morgan details in the current issue of National Review, violence is way down, American troop levels are decreasing, tribal leaders are casting their lot with America, and a tattered al-Qaeda is on the run. Yet most leading Democrats sound like they haven’t heard the news.

The Global Warming problem

The problem with global warming isn't as much what is causing it as it is what the recommended remedies for it are. Whether it's man made, or a natural occurrence, almost makes no difference. The global warming alarmists are taking us down a road that we need to understand and make every attempt to get heading in the right direction. It's easy to get into the argument on whether it's man made or not, or if it's even happening (not all that apparent in the last decade), but when we do that we lose track of these absurd remedies the alarmists have come up with.

For instance, read what George F. Will has to say about The Biofuel Follies over at Newsweek.

• To avoid drilling for oil in ANWR, the planet savers evidently prefer destroying forests that absorb greenhouse gases.

Make a note that in developing our biofuels we produce almost as much greenhouse gas emissions as we do using what we're trying to replace. And, we also run up the price of food as we take that source and try to convert it to fuel while we destroy forests which naturally take CO2 out of the atmosphere.

Iraq oil info

The New York Post has an informative article posted called AT LAST, AN IRAQ OIL RUSH DELIVERS $15B ...

• February 3, 2008 -- The gaunt 52-year-old Iraqi army private stands on top of a rudimentary guard post fashioned from huge, sand-filled hessian sacks, brandishing a rifle.

  The post stands in a strip of featureless brown desert, broader than a motorway, which is flanked by deep ditches, great earthen berms and chain-link fences covered in coiled razor wire that stretch away to the horizon in two almost impenetrable parallel lines.

It's worth noting that we are investing in infrastructure that is easier to protect from sabotage. Iraq would have had problems with this forever if it hadn't been addressed.

Worth remembering

Or, if you're young enough, worth learning for the first time. J. Peter Pham at The Tank has Remembering the Real Tet Offensive

• In a column in today's Ottawa Citizen, journalist David Warren recalls how forty years ago Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese regulars violated a negotiated truce to launch what became known, after the Vietnamese lunar new year, as the "Tet Offensive," a total military defeat from which they nonetheless salvaged a propaganda victory.

New tree feeder update

I've been playing most of the weekend with the new tree feeder. Filled it up this afternoon so I could see just how bad the gas mileage will be, and was somewhat surprised. I actually got 18 mpg which is actually 2 mpg better than I used to get in the Explorer. That's pretty amazing as I haven't really lifted my foot of the floor while I feel the car out. Wonder how much it will improve if I start driving like a normal person...

Alright, I'll start getting back to blogging. Maybe not much tonight as I'm a little sidetracked with the Super Bowl, but I should at least get to finding stuff tomorrow night.

Friday humor