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One picture is worth a thousand blogposts

"While the MSM slept, Michael Yon -- the self-employed, reader-empowered embedded journalist blogger reporting from the front -- captured the spirit of the age in one amateur photograph that has touched the hearts and minds of our fellow citizens in spades," we wrote two years back re the citizen journalist's image of Major Beiger cradling a fatally wounded Iraqi child.

"Our soldiers, those from countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany, France (yes, France) and the United States, are better in all aspects but one," wrote independent journalist and former Green Beret Michael Yon last March in "Ernie is dead," a FOXNews.com dispatch blogged here:

The terrorists somehow manage to beat us in our respective medias. We may own the air, but terrorists own the airwaves.

I believe we are losing the war in Afghanistan, but I have strong hope for Iraq. Nearly all of America and Europe believe Iraq is a lost cause, but there is hope here, and it lives in the thousands of stories about this place that are never told because they have not been witnessed by our media, or at least not reported.

The surge was just getting under way back then, even as broken-record types like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, John Murtha & Company were stuck on all is lost, it's time to cut and run, and it's all Bush's fault.

"The Iraqis asked me to convey a message of thanks to the American people," the "blogosphere's own Ernie Pyle," Michael Yon sets the scene for this image of "men and women, both Christians and Muslims, placing a cross atop the St. John’s Church in Baghdad. They had taken the cross from storage and a man washed it before carrying it up to the dome." © Michael Yon 2007*

Now comes Michael Yon's latest photograph (above) to touch the hearts and minds -- and typing fingers -- of the immediate blogosphere. Gaius of  Blue Crab Boulevard has a good roundup of one-liners. Michelle Malkin is calling it an "iconic image of hope and unity in Iraq," and Wretchard of The Belmont Club compares Yon's image to Joe Rosenthal's flag-raising at Iwo Jima, musing "There are times when a single picture captures the essence of an entire campaign. Maybe Michael Yon's picture from Baghdad has done it for the surge":

It's important to remember that the flag raising on Suribachi occurred on the fourth day of a campaign that would last a month longer. In the War against extremism, as in Iwo Jima, the worst may be yet to come. But it's good to take a deep breath and remember what the journey is all about.

Instapundit reader John Ramsay sees "a poignant contrast with this picture":

From the caption of our early-Surge post "A vicious circle of shortsighted sanctimony" of last January: “By the time we reached the embassy, the gates were shuttered and armed Marines were standing guard above the concrete walls . . . Thousands of desperate Vietnamese, screaming and begging, were trying to climb the walls and get through the coils of barbed wire, only to be pushed back into the street by none-too-gentle rifle butts,” wrote Newsweek reporter Loren Jenkins of our countrymen's ignominious cut-and-run exit from Saigon when the city fell to the North Vietnamese in April of 1975. (Photo unattributed)

Indeed. 'Wish we'd thought of that. Great fodder for a new post or even a new category: The Good, the Bad and the Smugly?

"The toppling of Saddam’s statue seemed like the iconic moment, but it proved only to be the first frame," notes Jules Crittenden:

"Unlike the Saddam shot, an image of tearing down the old evil, Yon’s captured the Iraqis putting something up, restoring something good, themselves. There is still a lot of fighting and dying ahead, but here’s an image of hope and determination, a sign that victory might not be too far off.

Fighting with "hope and determination" for "something good" against "the old evil." It sounds downright American. Then there's The Anchoress's deep, dark and delicious take:

What I see in this picture is something more than a historic moment -- I don’t even know if that’s what we should call it -- I see the sort of thing people do when they are neighbors, when they are working together for their neighborhood, for the good of all who live there, and that makes it seem less “historic” than calmly, wonderfully normal, ordinary, wholesome and sane. I see tolerance, which so many are so certain cannot exist in Iraq -- or anywhere in the Middle East.Tolerance in the best sense of the word -- converting no one, insisting on nothing beyond ordinary acceptance; tolerance that gives people room to live their lives.

Day by Day says it all in 3022 words (three pictures = 3000 words + 22 words of text).

One picture is worth a thousand blogposts?

*NOTE. "Michael Yon is making this photograph available to media outlets, such as print publications and cable and television news broadcasts, at no cost for a limited period of time . . . He is entirely reader supported . . . If you value his work, please consider supporting  his mission."

The broken wishbone

"Two arguments in favor of the whole bird," we wrote back in November of 2004, the first anniversary of the MSMs faux plastic turkey debacle: 1) the wishbone itself, together with 2) an hours-long-in-the-making culinary joy, turkey stew from homemade post-Thanksgiving stock and fixin's. (Turkey wishbone 2004 simmering in broth, above)

"The Iraqis (or Indians) working in the mess hall in Iraq seem to take more pride in helping to support our troops than our own representatives in the House and Senate," writes Laura Lee, sharing with her readers this poignant report from her own soldier at the front, who emails:

I went to eat tonight at the mess hall and I had been going to the sandwich bar the last few days trying to see if they had any turkey, but the guy there didn’t have any, so the last couple days it’s been either salami or ham.

Tonight I saw they had turkey and I guess the guy knew who I was (not sure if he’s Iraqi or what, probably from India) anyway, he seemed pretty happy that this time when I asked for turkey he could say, “Yes I have turkey.” So I said, “Great. I’ll take a turkey sub”, but he said, “No. I will make two turkey sandwiches for the big strong Captain.”

The other guy that works there counted the slices and he put like ten on each sandwich, then he laughed and said, “You are an Army Captain and I am the Sandwich Bar Captain.”

Here's the broken wishbone that sticks in Laura's craw:

Shame on John Warner, Gordon Smith, Susan Collins, Chuck Hagel, Olympia Snow, Norm Coleman, and Sam Brownback, Republicans all, who are revealing themselves to be no different than the Cut and Run crowd with their pathetic flirtations/efforts to come up with nonbinding resolutions against President Bush’s decision to send more troops into Iraq.

I do not expect anything of the Democrats of course, except for Independent Democrat, Joe Lieberman. But these Republicans in name only are despicable turncoats and not worth one slice of turkey placed on any soldier’s bread.

Pouring on a little gravy, here's what we wrote in Laura Lee's comments:

Warner and Coleman are the biggest disappointments . . . I had foolishly looked to them as wiser heads . . . The story from your young man at the front, as usual, brings tears of sorrow and hope to these tired old eyes . . . Have you seen Fox News' bold new self promotions, two that I've noticed in the last 24 hours?

1. America has problems. America is not the problem.

2. Fox News . . . The only cable network where you won't find left-wing bias . . .

We shall overcome!

When the MSM Captains decided a few weeks back that "stay the course" was a no-no, their typing- and talking-head troops marched in lockstep -- to the delight of the enemy -- spreading the plastic-turkey word that we couldn't -- shouldn't? -- win this war. Fortunately, those on the front and those like Laura Lee and ourselves and our fellow homefire burners in the blogosphere, on talk radio and on Fox News have gathered together to ask the Lord's blessing and aren't buying. Abraham Lincoln's words at Gettysburg resonate:

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Surges and escalations notwithstanding, GW is sending in reinforcements. Stand and fight!

A "war of the fleas"

"One of our hosts at Forward Operating Base Justice said they would be happy to welcome Keith Olbermann as an embed. And Chris Matthews (last heard smearing U.S. troops as participants in "ethnic cleansing"), too. The rooms at The Tiger's Lair (pictured above) are spartan, but toasty warm. How 'bout it, boys?" taunts fearless truthseeker Michellel Malkin, just back from her week-long embed with FOB Justice, inviting Chickendove war critics to put their reporters' notebooks where their mouths are.

"I left Iraq with unexpected hope and resolve," writes fierce word warrior Michelle Malkin, just back from her whirlwind embed -- together with Hot Air colleague Bryan Preston -- with Forward Operating Base Justice in Baghdad, overflowing with first-rate reportage and her usual thoughtful punditry, a most riveting read, with much more to come. A few excerpts from "What I saw in Baghdad," her syndicated column:

Modern war in the Middle East is no longer as cut-and-dried as shooting all the bad guys and going home. We are fighting a "war of the fleas" -- not just Sunni terrorists and Shiite death squads, but multiple home-grown and foreign operators, street gangs, organized crime and freelance jihadis conducting ambushes, extrajudicial killings, sectarian attacks, vehicle bombings and sabotage against American, coalition and Iraqi forces. Cell phones, satellites and the Internet have allowed the fleas to magnify their importance, disseminate insurgent propaganda instantly and weaken political will.

I came to Iraq a darkening pessimist about the war, due in large part to my doubts about the compatibility of Islam and Western-style democracy, but also as a result of the steady, sensational diet of "grim milestone" and "daily IED count" media coverage that aids the insurgency.

I left Iraq with unexpected hope and resolve.

"Most people in the states don’t realize that most of Baghdad’s violence is confined to areas where Shia and Sunni mix," reports Michelle's colleague Bryan Preston. "No one so much as threw a rock at us, and the troops were greeted in a friendly manner nearly everywhere they went. Only in Hurriyah did we see overt hostility, but it never went beyond the sly insult stage." Camp Justice -- former headquarters of Saddam Hussein's military intelligence unit and the site of the Butcher of Baghdad's recent hanging -- is in upper right of aerial photo above.

Not that it's going to be easy. Citing the Dagger Brigade's two imperatives -- “Continue mission!” and “Duty first!” -- Michelle carries a message from the front for all who are willing to hear:

The troops I met scoff at peace activists’ efforts to “bring them home now.” But they are just as critical of the Bush administration and Pentagon’s missteps -- from holding Iraqi elections too early, to senselessly breaking up their brigade combat team, to drawing down forces and withdrawing last year in Baghdad and Fallujah, to failing to hold cities after clearing them of insurgents. They speak candidly and critically of Shiite militia infiltration of some Iraqi police and Iraqi Army units and corruption in government ministries, but they want you to know about the unseen good news, too.

Bryan Preston has a lot to say about what went wrong -- from "no plan for the postwar period" to "media misconduct and malpractice leading to flagging homefront morale" -- but returns home, like Michelle, with a message of "hope and resolve":

Iraq is still very winnable. There are mistakes in every war. Iraq is a hideously complex environment to work in and its complexity has to be taken into account. Communities like Al Salam and Khadimiyah in Baghdad prove that at the end of the day most Iraqis value security and the chance to have a normal life above any notions of jihad and sectarianism, and we can work with most Iraqis to make their country safe. Most Iraqis want our troops there now, just not forever. Our troop morale is very high and they are focused on goals that they believe are attainable and will make Iraq stable. Most of the troops we spoke with support the surge; a minority don’t but it doesn’t seem to be a contentious issue. Democracy in Iraq probably won’t look like democracy here when the fight is over (and presuming that we here at home see it through), but if we correct our mistakes and change the media and political dynamics here, we can and should win. The price of failure is that Iraq would become a true hub for an al Qaeda that would see its “victory” in Iraq as Somalia times 100. Iraqi oil dollars would fuel this new terrorist power as long as Iraq’s oil infrastructure holds out. From secure bases in Iraq, the terrorists’ aims and capabilities would be practically limitless. Faith in America as a war ally would be shaken from Europe to Asian and everywhere else.

Hope is not a strategy, but coupled with resolve, we've got a fighting chance. Thank you, Michelle and Bryan, for giving us reason to hope and reaffirming our resolve.

"Kiss a cop, flush a toilet, and drink a beer"

"Sunsets. Spectacular. It's from all the dust in the air," comments the author of a "Secret Letter From Iraq" that cuts through all the -- pardon our French -- crap to tell us what we need to hear about how things are going "over there," published this week in Time. ("Sun Set in Iraq 2nd platoon, Charlie, 508th" by by Pfc. Brandon Aird, 173rd PAO)

"If you want to do something for me, kiss a cop, flush a toilet, and drink a beer," concludes a "Secret Letter From Iraq" published this week by Time, whose editors describe the letter home as a "straightforward account of life in Iraq by a Marine officer . . . initially sent just to a small group of family and friends" [via Inoperable Terran]:

His honest but wry narration and unusually frank dissection of the mission contrasts sharply with the story presented by both sides of the Iraq war debate, the Pentagon spin masters and fierce critics.

As it should. Thank you, Time, for giving this warrior's viewpoint the exposure it deserves. A few excerpts reveal the wit and wisdom of a gifted observer of the human condition:

It's not really like Ground Hog Day, it's more like a level from Dante's Inferno. Rather than attempting to sum up the last seven months, I figured I'd just hit the record-setting highlights of 2006 in Iraq. These are among the events and experiences I'll remember best . . .

Highest Unit Re-enlistment Rate -- Any outfit that has been in Iraq recently. All the danger, all the hardship, all the time away from home, all the horror, all the frustrations with the fight here -- all are outweighed by the desire for young men to be part of a band of brothers who will die for one another. They found what they were looking for when they enlisted out of high school. Man for man, they now have more combat experience than any Marines in the history of our Corps . . .

Biggest Hassle -- High-ranking visitors. More disruptive to work than a rocket attack. VIPs demand briefs and "battlefield" tours (we take them to quiet sections of Fallujah, which is plenty scary for them). Our briefs and commentary seem to have no effect on their preconceived notions of what's going on in Iraq. Their trips allow them to say that they've been to Fallujah, which gives them an unfortunate degree of credibility in perpetuating their fantasies about the insurgency here.

Biggest Outrage -- Practically anything said by talking heads on TV about the war in Iraq, not that I get to watch much TV. Their thoughts are consistently both grossly simplistic and politically slanted. Biggest Offender: Bill O'Reilly.

Even as the letter-writing Marine is consumed with the alternating terror and tedium of 18-20-hour days on the frontline of WW III [or is it WW IV?], he manages to metaphorically stop and smell the roses:

Only Thing Better in Iraq Than in the U.S. -- Sunsets. Spectacular. It's from all the dust in the air.

Every dust cloud must have a silver lining?

Blogging as to war

Like bloggers -- but unlike a lot of MSM types -- Tiny admits she has a point of view.  In this case, from atop the shower stall edifice, once again trying to avoid taking the hated medicine by making herself inaccessible.

"I spent long enough in Army Public Affairs to know when I’m being fed baloney," writes Donald Sensing of One Hand Clapping, back from a brief blogging hiatus with an Onward-Christian-Soldiers gleam in his blogging eye. "Late this week I received this email":

Hi, Donald. I’m writing from a PR firm on behalf of the U.S. Army. We’re contacting a few bloggers to test a new outlet for public information. The Army believes that military blogs are a valuable medium for reaching out to soldiers. To that end, the Army plans to offer you and selected bloggers exclusive editorial content on a few issues you’re likely to be interested in.

"My response was, 'Count me in,'" continues Reverend Sensing:

This is long overdue. And I predict the Post and others of the dinosaur media will scream bloody murder. I don’t care. They’ll say we are biased, as if they are not. As Glenn wrote, “I’m glad that the folks at the Times and the Post are “true believers” in objective reporting. Now if they’d just become true practitioners thereof.”

But I am biased, I freely admit (another difference between bloggers and the MSM is we admit we have a point of view. They do, too, but pretend they don’t).

With apologies to the Victorian generalist Sabine Baring-Gould, author of the words to the rousing "Onward Christian Soldiers":

Onward, clear-eyed soldiers, blogging as to war,
Truth where e'er you find it going on before.

We look forward to "the sign of triumph [as] Satan's host doth flee."

Lacrymosa

"The photo of Major Beiger cradling the Iraqi girl, Farah, was the people's choice the first week of May, 2005," reports Michael Yon re his heart-stopping photograph of the fatally wounded child cradled in the arms of an American soldier that is leaving the other Time Mag people's-choice photos of the year in the dust. Go here to put your vote where your heart is. Michelangelo's Mary cradling her son and Kathe Kollwitz's "Mother with dead child" (below) come to mind.

While the MSM slept, Michael Yon -- the self-employed, reader-empowered embedded journalist blogger reporting from the front -- captured the spirit of the age in one amateur photograph that has touched the hearts and minds of our fellow citizens in spades:

At the end of the year, the ten photographs that polled the highest numbers during the year are selected as finalists and readers and visitors are given the opportunity to determine their choice for photo for the year. It was a tremendous honor to learn that this photograph was among those images most often selected by people; especially when I saw all the other photos, which are all amazing images.

Any US soldier who has ever served in combat can probably give countless examples of moments like this. I just happened to be on the scene that day when a terrorist who had been trailing a Deuce Four patrol in a car packed with explosives waited until a crowd of children had gathered around the soldiers and selected that moment to drive into the crowd and detonate.

You don't have to know anything about art -- or even the Bible -- to find yourself overwhelmed with emotion in the presence of Michelangelo's marble sculpture "Pietà" (1498–99) in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Jesus lies lifeless in the arms of his mother, Mary, after the crucifixion. The heaviness of her son's lifeless body weighs oppressively upon her, the angular lights and darks, ins and outs of the folds of her garment a muscular expression of her mental anguish.

The competing images in Time's online competition are visually compelling -- beautiful and in some cases sublime and in all cases technically awesome -- but they lack the heart and soul of Michael Yon's snapshot from the front. Like Michelangelo's Pieta (above) and the Lacrymosa movement of Mozart's Requiem, it speaks directly to our humanity and leaves us in unconsolable tears:

Lacrymosa dies illa qua resurget ex favilla iudicandus homo reus:

Day of sadness, day of mourning,
From the dust of earth returning,
Man for judgement must prepare him;
Spare, O God, in mercy, spare him.
Lord who didst our souls redeem.
Grant a blessed requiem, Amen.

"Drawing is the only thing that makes my life bearable," wrote Kathe Kollwitz, blogged here, "Woman with dead child 1903" (left) and another drawing (site doesn't give info).

Is it too impossibly pretentious and silly of us to say that blogging is the only thing that makes our own life bearable?

"In the field good seed wins"

World War I poster urged farmers on the homefront to "Save Seed for Victory." Its poetically powerful message that "in the field good seed wins" still works metaphorically -- big time -- when you think of our awesome Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines. We can save seed today by supporting efforts like Valour-IT.

"So, civilian bloggers, choose your branch. Choose wisely," writes ur milblogger Blackfive, rallying the blogtroops to roll up our sleeves and light a few homefires in Valour-IT's online fundraising competition. It started yesterday and runs through Veterans' Day, November 11. The idea is to send in our dollars -- and encourage our readers and friends to do the same -- to provide "voice-controlled software and laptop computers to wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from hand and arm injuries or amputations at major military medical centers" -- "A laptop in every soldier's lap" as we blogged last summer. Our blogpal Teresa of Technicalities, mother of "young son," explains:

Blackfive -- with his mega huge readership and years of Army experience is leading the team to completely trample on those Jarheads, Zoomies, and Squids who will try to beat us bring in the most money.

Please use the Donation Button over at Blackfive's or the top of my main page to donate for the Army team! Donations via the regular Project Valor button will NOT be counted for us.

Pick your branch -- we're going over there with Teresa's Army team -- and put your money where your heart is. Meanwhile, Argghhh! gets us up to speed and puts things in historical perspective:

In previous wars, letters from the troops remained private affairs. By their very nature, they were difficult to share beyond the family circle, unless a family member passed one to the local newspaper for reprinting. Usually, the information within did not pass beyond a few friends. In this war, e-mails routinely travel to multiple recipients, and chats and blogs are open to anyone with online access.

Computer access -- either PC or laptop -- is limited in a military hospital because they don’t have the luxury of unused space suitable for an internet café operation. And there’s the matter of shattered hands. Of missing hands . . .

Voice-activated computers exist. Voice-to-text software exists. However, the people who need them don’t have them – with the exception of the inspiration for Project Valour IT Captain Chuck Ziegenfuss of TCOverride [thanks to commenter FbL for the correction]. His wife, Carren, describes its use a bit here.

Let's get behind the precious ones who put their lives on the line for our freedom and set those blogfires burning.

"He came here to make a difference"

"It's one of those experiences that really gives one hope," writes Major K of his visit to the Mini-NCO Academy set up by 1st Brigade with the help of their MiTT Team a few weeks ago. "This Academy was the brain-child of SFC R. of the Louisiana National Guard's 256th Brigade.  He saw the need and took the initiative to fill it.  When the Academy was first set up, SFC R. and the rest of the MiTT Team were teaching all of the courses.  Now, the courses are taught exclusively by Iraqi NCO Instructors.  Several of these instructors are female. One of the most important things that is infused in these NCO candidates is to think on their feet and take the initiative rather than waiting for orders from an officer." (Major K. photo)

"As we stood at the back of the classroom watching one of the classes being taught by a graduate of the Academy, I thought to myself, 'Maybe this whole revamp of the Iraqi Army might just work,'" writes Major K in his latest post from the front of the War on Terror in Iraq:

As anyone who knows anything about the military will tell you, Non-Commissioned Officers(NCO's) are the core of any competent military force.  Most of the outside world knows them as "Sergeants."  In the US Army, it is said that NCO's are "the backbone of the Army," and it is true.  Tough, competent, professional NCO's are what the Iraqi Army has been lacking for many years.  The culture of the old Iraqi Army was one of an aristocratic officer corps and subservient but tightly controlled enlisted force with no real NCO corps in the middle . . .

I then looked over at my interpreter, Jay, who was born in Iraq but has lived in the USA for over ten years, and he was wiping away tears of joy from his eyes.  As a young man, he had taken part in the Shia uprising in the south after Desert Storm.  He fled to the US not long after, having a price on his head.  He was touched to the core and deeply moved at seeing this small but profound step forward in his native land.  He is a US Citizen now, and will return to his family in the US at the end of his year-long contract here.  He came here to make a difference and serve both of his countries.  Seeing this little Academy let him know that he is.

A few tears of joy here as we read Major K's essay. Tears of appreciation, too, as he managed -- in a brief but eloquent blogpost --  to teach us so much that we didn't know but need to know about the military, both what makes our own so effective and the debilitating legacy that left Saddam's enlisted force with no incentives for initiative.

As Hugh Hewitt said the other day, reflecting on the MSM's monumental "failure to capture the true story in New Orleans even with all of the combined resources of all the MSM working around the clock":

Why would anyone believe that American media is accurately reporting on the events in Iraq from the Green Zone, in the course of a bloody insurgency fought in a language they don't understand? If the combined forces of old media couldn't get one accurate story out of the convention center, why for a moment believe it can get a story out of Mosul or Najaf?

I'll stick with Michael Yon, Major K, and Training for Eternity when it comes to Iraq.

Like Major K's Iraqi-American translator Jay, the frontline bloggers are the ones who will make a difference and serve both countries in the war between truth and propaganda.

Update: Truth trumps propaganda at Beth's My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.

"So much bigger than all our fears"

Everything looked not better, but so much worse in the morning after Katrina's assault on the Big Easy as waters flooded the city in the wake of several breaches in the levees. The scope of the devastation was described by the head of FEMA as "catastrophic," and President Bush cut short his vacation to oversee the official response. "This is so much bigger than all of our fears, that we don't know how to tell you yet how big it is, the Mayor was saying at a press conference earlier," Shepard Smith reports from the scene:

That's a city that no longer functions. Priority number one is getting rid of the water. Everybody is being asked to get out of the city. Reconstruction can't begin until they get the water out, and getting the water out, they say conservatively, will take two weeks.

On the economic front, "Katrina's trail through the Gulf of Mexico and its key oil and natural-gas production facilities rattled energy markets," reports the Wall Street Journal, and "though the extent of damage there also won't be known for weeks, the White House signaled its willingness to open the nation's emergency oil stockpile if needed."

What can individual citizens do? "The highways in many cases are impassable, so they're urging people to stay off the roads to allow emergency personnel to get through," reports Rick Leventhal. Local citizens are being asked to mobilize their motorboats and report for duty to help rescue people stranded on rooftops throughout the city.

It's Tocqueville's "civil society" in action, with private individuals coming together in common purpose, and the blogosphere is gearing up to do its part. "Hugh Hewitt is suggesting a day of concerted blogging for hurricane relief efforts," writes Glenn Reynolds:

It's a good idea. How about Thursday, to give people a chance to organize? I'll link blog posts -- and in the meantime, send me suggestions for aid organizations worth mentioning. Put "flood aid" in the subject line.

Send your ideas to hhewitt@hughhewitt.com and/or pundit@instapundit.com and/or tell us here in the comments and we'll post your suggestions. Hewitt sensibly favors supporting "groups that will be in the region beyond the immediate relief effort," making "loans/grants to people to get houses and businesses repaired." We're thinking of animal relief efforts, natch.

Keeping the away-from-homefires burning

"LTC Kurilla didn't want to leave the bombs buried in the road, so he pulled the Strykers further back, and tried to use the terrorist's radio control to detonate them. He dropped down inside the hatch and asked the terrorist how to use the transmitter. In the most shocking admission of guilt imaginable, the terrorist walked the Commander through the steps," writes Michael Yon on the scene with the Deuce Four in Mosul. (Michael Yon Photo)

"Deuce Four is an overwhelmingly aggressive and effective unit, and they believe the best defense is a dead enemy," writes Michael Yon -- "an independent, informed observer chronicling the monumentally important events in the efforts to stabilize Iraq," as he describes himself -- in his latest you-are-there dispatch from the front in Mosul, Iraq, in the environs of "what might be the most dangerous traffic circle in the universe":

They are constantly thinking up innovative, unique, and effective ways to kill or capture the enemy; proactive not reactive. They planned an operation with snipers, making it appear that an ISF vehicle had been attacked, complete with explosives and flash-bang grenades to simulate the IED. The simulated casualty evacuation of sand dummies completed the ruse.

The Deuce Four soldiers left quickly with the "casualties," "abandoning" the burning truck in the traffic circle. The enemy took the bait. Terrorists came out and started with the AK-rifle-monkey-pump, shooting into the truck, their own video crews capturing the moment of glory. That's when the American snipers opened fire and killed everybody with a weapon. Until now, only insiders knew about the AK-monkey-pumpers smack-down.

No wonder the blogosphere -- not to mention the soldiers he chronicles -- loves this Renaissance man who's doing his part for the free and the brave by keeping the away-from-homefires burning. The battlefield springs to heart-thumping life under his cyberpen, and he always leaves us begging for more.  Framing the blood, sweat and tears of his blow-by-blow accounts, Michael Yon's wise and witty asides will knock your socks off, especially if you're used to relying on the timid and agenda-driven MSM for any idea of what's really going on over there:

The most serious terrorists do not fear prison here. Captain Jeff VanAntwerp, who commands Alpha Company, recently told me that Iraqis joke among themselves that they would pay 5,000 Dinar per night to stay at Abu Ghraib prison. It's air conditioned, the showers are good, the food is good, and the water is good. The mother [of a "detainee" captured during the latest battle] seemed to know this and it curled in contempt behind her smile.

Re the psychological battle for hearts and minds back home:

I walked back through the dark and did the radio interview by cell phone. During such interviews, I get the impression that people at home are losing faith in the effort, though we are winning. But at home they cannot see it, and when I said goodbye that time, I sat in the dark.

And this:

That night, there was an important memorial for Nils Thompson, the soldier who had been killed by a sniper. Soldiers had labored for days, and into the nights, to make a fitting ceremony for young Nils Thompson. Top officers, a General among them, came to the ceremony. Though he'd just turned 19, Thompson already had earned respect from officers and men in the unit. Many quiet tears marked the true pain of the loss. A few soldiers wondered, Do people at home even care?

You'll be rewarded with useful perspective and some first-rate storytelling if you read the whole thing, and you'll probably find yourself clicking on the PayPal button there, as we did.