David Online

People who truly want to know what’s going on in Iraq do not tune in to CNN or MSNBC to listen to the likes of Keith Olbermann pretending he is Edward R. Murrow reporting from a bombed out bunker in World War II London. People who really want to know what’s going on in Iraq go to Iraq to see for themselves.

Military historian and columnist Victor Davis Hanson, who has been to Iraq several times, was recently in Baghdad where he met up with Colonel Rick Gibbs, commander of the 4^th Infantry Combat Brigade, better known as the Dragon Brigade.

The Dragon Brigade’s area of operations is the so-called Rashid Security District in the southern portion of Baghdad and is perhaps the most volatile area in Iraq. Predominately Shia, the area also has a significant number of Sunnis along with a large presence of al-Qaeda and other extremist groups.

Since the arrival of the Dragon Brigade last March, there has been a radical decline in violence. Murders have fallen from 553 a month to a tenth of that number. IED attacks have fallen by half. The Dragon Brigade has overseen some $100 million in investment in Rashid commerce and infrastructure. There are now 900 businesses open.

Something quite significant is going on, Hanson says, and we in the United States are unaware of it. In that context, Hanson interviewed Colonel Gibbs to find the answer and why Americans seem confused, almost stunned, by the unexpected good news coming out of Iraq.

Hanson’s interview with Colonel Gibbs can be found here. Colonel Gibbs’ remarks at the end of the interview are especially illuminating and heartening.

“I would just say that what the brave men and women of the Dragon Brigade are accomplishing here in southern Baghdad is nothing short of amazing. I like to say that “Our soldiers are our greatest ambassadors,” because it is absolutely true. I watch young captains, lieutenants, and sergeants who have but a few years in the army carrying on healthy, effective relationships with local military, government, religious, and tribal officials here that you would expect of people with years and years of service.”

“I want the American people to know that their most precious resource – your sons and daughters – are doing amazing things here and we are seeing the kind of progress that I hope I’ve successfully illustrated in the previous questions.”

Debbie at Right Truth has a Time Magazine photo of Barack Obama with the American flag as a backdrop, casually standing with his hands clasped together in front of him while the National Anthem is played.

The event was Democratic Senator Tom Harkin’s Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa on September 17, 2007. In line behind Obama are Bill Richardson and Hillary Clinton – both of whom apparently had the sense to put their hands over their hearts when the anthem was played.

Last month Barack Obama gave up wearing an American flag pin. This month it appears he has given up saluting the American flag.  

How does a Chinese dishwasher living in a run-down tenement in the impoverished Chinatown section of high-cost New York City come up with a $2,000 campaign donation to Hillary Clinton?  According to the Clinton campaign, he did and so did hundreds of other dishwashers, trinket sellers, and hawkers of rubber sandals and bargain-basement clothes.

The Los Angeles Times reports that hundreds of dishwashers, waiters, and others whose jobs and dilapidated home addresses seem to make them unpromising targets for political fundraisers are pouring $1,000 and $2,000 contributions into Hillary Clinton’s campaign treasury. The Times reports that in April a single fundraiser in an area long known for its gritty urban poverty yielded a whopping $380,000. John Kerry in 2004 received only $24,000 from the same area.

Worse yet, when the Times checked the donors, more than a third couldn’t be found and most were not even registered to vote. Some didn’t even have green cards.

At this point in the presidential campaign cycle, Clinton has raised more money than any candidate in history. It should also be mentioned, that candidate Clinton has also had to return more campaign “donations” than any candidate in history. Last month, Clinton had to return $850,000 in campaign contributions collected by Chinese con man and Clinton collaborator, Norman Hsu.

Investors Business Daily said voters had better pay attention to this because for the first time in our history, we could be electing a Manchurian candidate – someone who’s loyal to foreign and unseen donors rather than American voters.

“What do these hidden interests want in exchange for marshaling the dishwashers of Chinatown to contribute to Clinton’s campaign coffers? What has she promised them in exchange?”

“Knowing that the Chinese seek greater access to U.S. technology, how will this serve their national interests over our own? Will voters find themselves in the situation of watching a President Hillary Clinton sit on her hands after an American aircraft is shot down because of what someone in Beijing knows about cash she accepted?”