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Michael Yon On “Civil War”

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in The War On Terrorism, War

From the man on the ground…

Throughout 2005, I said in writing, on the radio and television that Iraq is in a state of Civil War. It had been in that state for decades. I’d point to all the kindling heaped around the country and point to the smoke on the horizon, but most people politely dismissed the warnings. Now the fire is bigger. Listen. Listen! Iraq is in a state of Civil War. Much bigger than it was a year ago, and next year it will be bigger still, if we do not recognize that there is a FIRE!

There is no reason why Iraq and its proud people cannot make it. There is nothing written in any holy scripture – so far as I know – that says Iraq cannot make it. Iraq can, but will it? Not if we don’t stop quibbling over definitions and just come to grips that the fire is growing. This is not a fire we can afford to leave to natural forces. Not in that tinderbox we call the Middle East.

Agreed.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 24th, 2006 and is filed under The War On Terrorism, War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Michael Yon On “Civil War””

  1. callimachus Says:
    March 24th, 2006 at 4:33 am

    Glad to see you’re a fan now. My fondness for his work used to be mocked here.

    Interesting bit of discussion here, starting with the line

    COOPER: Well, the question on how the war is being reported came today from Gayle Taylor, whose husband just returned from more than a year in Iraq where he covered stories for the U.S. military.

    Unfortunately they lost him a short way into the feed. But not before this:

    Michael, let’s start off with you. We just heard Gayle and Kent talk about stories from the war, acts of heroism and kindness, rebuilding bridges that soldiers are doing every day. What did you see while you were there? And why don’t you think those stories are getting told?

    MICHAEL YON, U.S. ARMY (RETIRED): Well, Gayle and Kent told the truth. That is absolutely the truth. There are a lot of bombs, of course, and a lot of shootings and whatnot — a great deal. But it’s much easier to tell the bad news. It’s easy. The strobe light flashes, you know, the bomb goes off, you take a picture, you have a story. It’s easy news. It grabs people’s attention. And it makes money.

    I thought the quotes from the two foreign correspondents, Nic Robertson and “Time’s” Michael Ware were telling; a lot of people on the right are irate about them. But this is the pure essence of journalism: suspicion, cynicism, independence.

    ROBERTSON: There is a huge propaganda war going on here, and the insurgents are certainly very, very aware of what they’re doing. They will try and put bombs in front of cameras. They will try and blow up hotels where journalists are. And if they can get something on a website, they will trumpet it right away.

    … I think that we’re in danger here of saying this is something I think we’ve all heard of before. Don’t shoot the messenger just because what the message that perhaps appears to be coming across is a negative message, the message with a bad picture. It doesn’t necessarily mean the people bearing that message have negative intentions.

    Of course, as a jounrlaist myself I have to ask whether they’re just posing in this old vein to mask hidden agendas.

    WARE: One has to be very careful. But one applies the same journalistic criteria to the insurgents that we apply to the military. I mean, there is war. Propaganda or information operations is an enormous part of that for both sides. Everyone in war lies to you. Everyone exaggerates, underplays and puts their spin.

    There’s a political aspect to the very nature of war that needs to be capitalized and manipulated by these players. So we need to add these filters and distill the truth ourselves. I mean, just this anti-liberal media campaign that’s been driven from where? From within the political landscape of the United States.

    I’m in a fortunate position. I am an Australian, writing for an American magazine. I have no stake either way. I can — I have no agenda to pursue. I just want to know, what is really going on here?

    Emphasis added. Gee, do you really think it will make no difference to Australians whether al Qaida wins in Iraq and American fails? Why not ask the parents of those kids killed in Bali.

  2. TallDave Says:
    March 24th, 2006 at 10:22 am

    Well, for a while it was “quagmire,” then the ISF started to become a bit too competent for that to stick, so it became “theocracy” for a good while, then they held elections, so now it’s “civil war.” I’m guessing the next meme will be “endemic corruption.”

    And then I’ll have a good laugh when Nancy Pelosi can’t decide whether “culture of corruption” applies more to Iraq or the GOP.

  3. Justin Gardner Says:
    March 24th, 2006 at 10:39 am

    Glad to see you’re a fan now. My fondness for his work used to be mocked here.

    By me? I certainly hope not.

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