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One thing that has puzzled me is why almost every (credible) report I read from Iraq that mentions the morale of our troops says that it remains good, despite the unremitting torrent of depressing failure that we at home live through every time we turn on the television?  (Credible defined largely as "actually quoting someone who is there, is going there, or has been there."  Soldiers gripe, and some of them do actually oppose what we're doing in Iraq, but most of them are generally much more positive than is the American public.)

Reading Dean Barnett's article in the Weekly Standard, I finally figured it out.

Colonel Schlichter talks about the soldiers he commands with unvarnished admiration. He has 20-year-olds serving under him who have earned combat badges. As to why these young men are willingly and eagerly putting themselves in harm's way, Schlichter flatly declares, "The direction comes from themselves. They like to be challenged."

These "kids" (I'm going to have my 48th birthday in less than a month, so yeah, a 20-year-old is a "kid" now) aren't intimidated, whether they're doing incomprehensible and dangerous things with skateboards, surfboards, skis, or hunting IED's in Iraq.  They crave the challenge, and yet they have more discipline than many of us older people give them credit for, more guts, more bravery, more . . . nobility.

More from Barnett's article:

Regardless of their backgrounds, the soldiers I spoke with had a similar matter-of-fact style. Not only did all of them bristle at the notion of being labeled victims, they bristled at the idea of being labeled heroes. To a man, they were doing what they saw as their duty. Their self-assessments lacked the sense of superiority that politicians of a certain age who once served in the military often display. The soldiers I spoke with also refused to make disparaging comparisons between themselves and their generational cohorts who have taken a different path.

But that doesn't mean the soldiers were unaware of the importance of their undertaking. About a month ago, I attended the commissioning of a lieutenant in the Marine Corps. The day before his commissioning, he had graduated from Harvard. He didn't come from a military family, and it wasn't financial hardship that drove him into the Armed Forces. Don't tell John Kerry, but he studied hard in college. After his commissioning, this freshly minted United States Marine returned to his Harvard dorm room to clean it out.

As he entered the dorm in his full dress uniform, some of his classmates gave him a spontaneous round of applause. A campus police officer took him aside to shake his hand. His father observed, "It was like something out of a movie."

Who knows, some day, some enterprising movie producer will actually make an honest movie about what we, the American People tried to do in Iraq.  I hope it has a happy ending--for us and for the Iraqis.

Item 1:  A member of the FreeRepublic site, posting from Baghdad, notes that "Come to think of it, I haven't heard any explosions in the last couple of days..."

Item 2:  Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit passes along an e-mail from Michael Yon who is also "in-country":  "Wow. There was zero combat reported in Baqubah yesterday. Hard to believe. But I am right here, and that's the way it was."

The contrast with the increasingly shrill political environment here Stateside is offered for your evening's meditation.

When you're out playing Jihadis and Infidels, please, please, please don't leave your toys in the nice Jersey lady's yard. 

We note with amusement that it was only an "inoperable military training device."

It should be great comfort to the careless owner of said "inoperable military training device" that if he or she is reported to the authorities for playing with an "inoperable military training device"  underneath the approach pattern of the Newark International Airport, he or she may (courtesy the Democrats in the U.S. Congress) safely sue the homeowner or anyone else foolish enough to think that this behavior was out of the norm.

Hey, maybe it was just someone who's had enough of sewage running down the aisle of Continental Airlines airplanes.  I know I have.  (CO has a major hub at Newark. I know, if you have to explain a joke, it probably wasn't funny.)

Hat tips:  Gateway Pundit; Tigerhawk.

Yahoo News/Reuters:  U.S. Iraq envoy warns skeptical Senators on pullout:

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq warned skeptical senators on Thursday against an unconditional withdrawal of American troops but was told, in the words of one influential Democrat, "We ain't staying."
. . .
Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, a Republican who has distanced himself from Bush's Iraq policy, bluntly told Crocker: "We have to disengage. It's inevitable."

Sen. Joseph Biden, a 2008 Democratic presidential hopeful from Delaware who chairs the committee, chimed in: "Listen to the Republicans. We ain't staying. We're not staying. We're not staying. Not much time."

Unless you consider the Democratic Leader of the Senate holding the FY 2008 Defense authorization bill hostage to a declaration of surrender in Iraq to be "support."

After a rare all-night debate whose outcome was never in doubt, Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a vote on a Democratic measure to require U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq by next spring. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., responded by setting aside the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill “temporarily.”

The failed amendment to the Senate version of the defense authorization bill (HR 1585) has been the centerpiece of a Democratic strategy to force President Bush to change course on Iraq. It would require Bush to begin a drawdown of U.S. forces within 120 days and to complete the withdrawal of most units by April 30, 2008.

I don't.

Michael Yon watches the American military midwife, perhaps, a newer, peaceful Iraq:

On the Oath, the matter was more interesting:
1) I will support and defend the Constitution of Iraq.

Discussion around Point One of the Oath was similar to that around Point Four of the 7 Rules.

2) I will cooperate fully with the Iraqi government.

Point two received some pushback, but again, imagine asking all Americans to comply with “I will comply fully with the American Government.” It would be un-American to agree to that! And here in Iraq, if I were an Iraqi, I would never agree to “I will cooperate fully with the Government of Iraq.” What government? The one in Baghdad that refuses to send legal food shipments to Diyala Province?  I saw this with my own eyes and videotaped officials in the “Iraqi government” refusing to help the Diyala Government, calling Diyala (verbatim) a “terrorist province.” Even though Diyala has been a province riddled by terrorists lately- that still doesn’t change the fact that people here went without food because of the Government people in Baghdad they are now supposed to pledge allegiance to.  No smart person was likely to sign that line.

Read (as the saying goes) The Whole Thing . . .

Way back when, it seems that everybody was in agreement (some grudging, some not) that we would wait until September's report from Gen. Petraeus on the progress of the new strategy in Iraq before making any decisions.

It seems to me that many people, including most associated with the current majority party in Congress, are unable to distinguish the month of July from the month of September.

Here's a hint:  July:  Fireworks, vacations, hot weather, baseball.  September:  Back-to-school, cooler weather, football.

Skulls confirm we're all out of Africa (Yahoo News/Reuters):

An analysis of thousands of skulls shows modern humans originated from a single point in Africa and finally lays to rest the idea of multiple origins, British scientists said on Wednesday.

Most researchers agree that mankind spread out of Africa starting about 50,000 years ago, quickly establishing Stone Age cultures throughout Europe, Asia and Australia.

No, Really.

You Were a Fox

A good observer, you often watch others while remaining unseen. Cunning and courageous, you also have a gentle side.

However bad you think the world situation is, it could get much worse.

Yahoo News/AP:

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Reports that Turkey has massed a huge military force on its border with Iraq bolstered fears that an invasion targeting hideouts of Kurdish rebels could be imminent. But how deeply into Iraq is the Turkish army willing to go, how long would it stay and what kind of fallout could come from allies in Washington and other NATO partners?

Truth, or BS?  Who knows?