December 09, 2007
Stay Tuned
My next dispatch will be ready shortly, and should be published either Sunday night or Monday morning at the latest.
I have hardly slept in the same place for two nights in a row for almost a month. Every day I've had to pack up my things and shove off to another location in or around Fallujah, often to places off the edge of the world with no Internet access. A few nights ago I slept on a cot in a shipping container. Writing while embedding with the military is possible, but difficult and slow. Thank you for understanding and being patient.
Posted by Michael J. Totten at December 9, 2007 07:13 AMLooking forward to it, Michael... your reports are always worth the wait.
On a different note-I've twice seen it published in the local paper that Baghdad was 65-75% Sunni before the War and is now 65-75% Shia. With a city population of around five million, this implies millions displaced within Baghdad alone.
Does anyone know if this is true? Thanks.
Posted by: MartyH at December 9, 2007 07:30 AMI would far, far rather wait a few days to get a great (and accurate) report, than have instant garbage. And I can't really say that I'm sorry that the military has other priorities in Iraq than maintaining Internet access in the field - convenient as it might be.
Take the time you need. As the previous comment says, it will be worth the wait.
Posted by: wj at December 9, 2007 08:56 AMJust wondering if your keeping an eye on Lebanon, I haven't heard about them much, and it seemed like there was a confrontation building up.
Posted by: Prairie Dog at December 9, 2007 12:30 PMHave you heard the news about Iran? Apparently, about the time of the invasion of Iraq, Iran got scared and stopped their nuclear weaponization program. Certainly not a coincidence.
Posted by: Solomon T at December 9, 2007 02:19 PMMichael, thanks for the update, and as the other commenters have said, your posts are always worth the wait.
I've had my thoughts on Iran and the National Intelligence Estimate, but basically I haven't got a clue what's going on.
This story of a Christian Mass in Baghdad made me think of you for some reason.
Stay safe, take care of yourself, and write when you can. My friends ask about you often.
warm regards,
Asher
Thank you for understanding and being patient.
Thank you for going there and bringing us firsthand reports from the scene, the good and the bad, instead of presenting us with a predetermined 'narrative'.
Stay safe.
Posted by: rosignol at December 9, 2007 06:07 PMMike,
Another great article, and I'm very happy to have found it on RealClearPolitics.com. It was great to hear from the guys who were there back in 04. Hey, the firefight that Sgt. Smith was talking about, does anyone know if that's the firefight that Brad Kasal was in? His book is "My Men are My Heros" Keep safe, and looking foward to the next article.
This blog is very, very interesting.
Posted by: Freddie Sirmans at December 13, 2007 04:00 PMMichael,
You don't appear old enough to have been in The Military Intelligence Officer's Career Course
at Ft Holabird, MD in 1969. Would that have been your father, uncle ... just coincidence?
Warren,
Just a coincidence.
My father was in the Army in 1969, but he was not an intelligence officer.
Posted by: Michael J. Totten at December 22, 2007 12:34 PM
