Cowen and Hunt have sources in the military that I don't. Here is how Hunt described the exchange over at TwoBabesAndABrain:
Last night [Wednesday, August 3, 2005], LtCol Bill Cowan and I went on O'Reilly and said the following:I've been searching the FNC site for the transcript, and am unable to find it. Which is truly unfortunate because I would like to be able to illustrate exactly what was said.
We are in favor of this war in Iraq and on terror.
Our sources are in favor of this war in Iraq and here are the facts jack. (Well, I did not say "fact jack," but you get my drift.)
I did say we lost 1,825 killed and almost 14,000 wounded.
I did say that foreigners will not venture outsided the green zone without security.
I did say that there is rampant corruption in Iraq and that these last two facts are hurting our efforts and the efforts of Iraq to be free.
What I forgot to say, is that our guys are getting attacked at a rate of over 600 attacks a week. That is an increase of over 100 attacks since the same time last year.
I also said all this comes from Pentagon and other government statisitics and sources.
I also said that the best thing we have going over there is our soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen.
I also said that this is a winnable war.
We have been watching missing blondes in Aruba and hurricanes for too long.
We have our best men and women dying in Iraq for us; the least we can do is pay attention.
I will make a deal with Ann "I-am-too-skinny-for-my-shirt" Coulter. I will not talk politics if she will not talk about war.
This is a war for our very existance; we have to get it right.
What Bill Cowen and I did last night was to tell the truth as we see it while still respecting those who are fighting for us.
And I really hate to say this, but Ann Coulter was right. Ann came on the show the very next night and was asked about this segment. You can get the transcript of that exchange here.
The impression that I got from Hunt and Cowen was that we were losing. That isn't what is happening. Hunt himself says so in the followup at Two Babes..., so what exactly is the truth?
One can assume that Congress has a handle on this. Here is the latest from my Congressman, John Boehner:
Iraq Security Forces continue to make progress in recruitment, training, and ability to provide security in Iraq. Currently, the total number of Iraqi forces is 171,500, which includes 93,800 members of the Iraqi police and 77,700 Iraqi service members. The Iraqi army has eight divisions made up of 29 brigades and 101 battalions.Doesn't sound like a disaster to me.
According to General Petraeus, some Iraqi units are leading the fight against the insurgents with minimal or no help from coalition forces.
Even though Iraqi Security Forces are frequent targets by the foreign terrorists who are led by Jordanian Abu Musab Zarqawi, Iraqis are still volunteering to serve their country.
I get what Col. Hunt is trying to do. He'd like to see sufficient pressure exerted on the Iraqis to get their security forces up to speed. I concur. I also would like to see Col. Hunt apply the same techniques on our so-called allies in Europe who haven't supported democracy in Iraq.
Do we still have a way to go? Sure. But the point of saying good things about Iraq is that the media is dwelling on negative news from Iraq. "If it bleeds, it leads" isn't exactly a morale booster, Colonel. We need to keep morale up and support as high as possible. I'm not saying we should sugar-coat things, but let's not be such a downer, eh?
Mark's Remarks
With all due respect to Cowen and Hunt, I don't think they effectively got across the message they were wanting. Looking at some lefty blogs, their words are being used to characterize why we should leave Iraq post-haste, and why our troops, in the words of a few lefties, are failures.
I disagree with those comments. Let's look at some context. Col Hunt talked about attacks being up. Why do you think that is? COuld it be perhaps because at this point the terrorists are desperate, especially since targetting Iraqis has done little but embolden the Iraqis to push forward? Could it be that the advent of a new Constitution is scaring the hell out of the terrorists and that they want a full out assault? Could it be, that the intensity of anti-war rhetoric and Bush hatred has reached a fever pitch and the terrorists are sensing an opportunity to make us cut and run, if they can induce enough casualties? Hmmm....
Now is not the time to go wobbly. The Iraqis are getting more and more done. Today we found a carbomb factory, with several cars ready to be deployed. Also, at this time last year, we were not as aggressive in our operations of rooting out the terrorists. We were more in patrol mode, as opposed to hunter/seeker mode. In the last month, we have resumed hunter/seeker mode, with the help of the newly trained Iraqis, and that has led to more attacks on us, as we have been being more present and aggressively seeking the enemy. I think these factors along with the propaganda created by our own media and the American Left has led to the increase, and the terrorists may be emboldened by the attack machine of the MSM and the American Left.
