"...a refreshing change of pace...."

That's what CJ is calling a piece he emailed out last week. I happen to agree with CJ (there's a shocker..lol) so want to share this with you all:

S.D. Liddick, a Marxist journalist back from Iraq, writes in the Huffington Post, of all places, beating up on a fellow journalist's wildly biased negative Iraq war reporting, calling him a liar and a coward, saying the war in Iraq is being won, and calling the US military brilliant:

"I just read your piece about Sheik Aifan Sadun, the "Teflon Don " of Fallujah. I've researched similar figures, in Haditha, Bagdadi, Hit and Al Qaim, and I saw many of the same things you did. But I've come to very different conclusions. That, I believe, is because you had a pre-existing agenda you were determined to conform evidence to (i.e., war is bad, the U.S. is waging a war, so whatever it's doing in Anbar is bad); and because you're a coward."
...

"The military has been surprisingly forthcoming with me and all I had to do was ask. Marine Corps Colonel Patrick Malay sat with me on three different occasions, for long discussions about security in his area of operation in Anbar. One thing I learned quickly is that the military's officer corps is filled with the best of America's minds--kids that aced their college entrance exams, were the captains of their ball teams, and had to be nominated by senators to go to the schools they did. These are the guys (along with their much more experienced superiors) that are deciding strategy--and they're fucking smart. I was allowed to sit in on a couple of their high level briefings--again, all I had to do was show some kind of aptitude for objectivity--and I can tell you their comprehension of the situation on the ground is apt, their thinking clever, and their intentions centrally wrapped up with the Iraqi people."
...

"I'm phobically allergic to the conservative Republican types the military is rife with, but I've only been in country four months and already I hate liberals. There's plenty of ugliness to report in Iraq (as there are thousands of stories of hope and headway)--and the U.S. military certainly isn't beyond reproach. Nobody's telling you to report on one side or the other. But manipulating the truth because of your own personal biases is wretched and works in the face of progress. The other end of the political spectrum disregards you, Dahr, and now I know why. I thought it was because you're a liar--but you aren't. You don't have enough backbone to be a liar. You're a craven obfuscationist, intent on promoting your agenda at the cost of a menagerie of much braver men and women."

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Liddick still has some residual lefty crap stuck inside his skull when he calls America a 21st century empire, yet his story is well worth reading for its clear thinking and honesty, unusual for a radical:


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sd-liddick/open-letter-to-a-craven-r_b_167047.html

I did follow the link there. It was a very interesting read, which I encourage you all to read.

Thanks, CJ!!