Holding one's breath over Iraq

The "surge" is working... a combination of General Petraeus' plan using more troops in a proactive manner, plus two other things: the Sunni "awakening", where tribal sheiks have decided they're sick of al Qaeda's horrific tactics, and Muqtada al Sadr's order for his Shia militias to stand down at this time. While the Iraqi government has floundered in a sea of politics, Iraqi citizens have taken action themselves to try and make their country a better place. Yes, it's tenuous. But it's all we have. If we listened to the vast majority of our people who've been over there five years running, we'd know victories come a little at a time... and the sacrifices are so great. As the mother of a soldier, I don't have the luxury of selective listening, of hiding my head in the sand. I know first hand that what the TV news shows is only a small part of the story over there. Unlike many, I don't lay it on political bias; I blame it on the type of war this is, and the general lack of understanding the average network corrospondent when it comes to the military and war fighting. I've caught so many mistakes on Fox News Channel I had to quit watching. Yes, they're pro military, but get a "D" at best in accuracy and comprehension.

I'm just an Army Mom, but I'm one who scours the internet for accurate and reliable news every day, from sources all over the globe. I have my television on cable news all day long. But mostly, I have the words of my son, and his brothers in arms. A lot of people condescend to them, saying "well, they're young...". But these young people have been fighting in Iraq for 5 years now. Most have deployed more than once. My son is almost 22, but there's one hell of a difference between his 22 and that of the majority of his peers who haven't been to war -- twice -- like he has. These young people have old souls now... they have no delusions, or illusions... they're pragmatic, realistic. Each of them volunteered. There is something in them that needs to reach beyond what most of us are willing to. And I think that means at the very least, we are obliged to listen to them.