One of the great pluses of my job at PJM/Pajamas TV is I get to work with people like Michael Yon. Whenever I get an email from Michael, I quickly check on Skype to see if he’s there for us to record a quick video interview. (Yon’s lifestyle is, to put it mildly, considerably more erratic and dangerous than mine. I have to seize targets of opportunity.) I caught up with him early this Sunday morning at at 9:30 AM LA time. He was in a trailer in Kandahar, Afghanistan where it was twelve hours later for him.
Michael, who was about to embed with an unspecified military operation in the Afghani mountains, seemed elated by his recent trip to Iraq. That war was substantially over, he said. He was able to go many places in that country now without body armor, a new event for him. Iraqis he met were even more optimistic about their future. When he told one man he would be back in Iraq for a vacation in ten years, that man predicted five. (You can hear more of this when we post the full interview on PJTV next week.)
Listening to this optimism at first made me testy. How come this victory for democracy is being treated as such a trivial event by our media (if it is being reported at all)? But then I remembered that greatest of all cliches–”No good deed goes unpunished”–and that second greatest of all cliches–”Virtue is its own reward”. And I calmed down somewhat.
Although he may not have realized it, it was Yon himself who helped me through this. When you watch the war and the warriors at close hand, as he has, your perspective is different. And the fruits of victory don’t have to appear (or not) on the front page of the New York Times or on the six o’clock CBS News. They appear on the ground in the real lives of people, in this case mostly Iraqi people, but also among our troops who have the deep satisfaction of having done good in the world. These same troops, Yon told me, are often more optimistic than he is about the future of Afghanistan. Talking to Michael in Kandahar, the onetime home of Taliban leader Mullah Omar, was also reassuring. Omar may be still alive, but he wasn’t there. The religious madman has to live in hiding.
Another interesting, and positive, factor Yon reported is that our troops are not particularly worried about Obama’s election. They believe the new president will support them in Afghanistan, just as McCain would have. And my guess is that he will. Part of the reason for that is the great success in Iraq (which I will be surprised if Obama really acknowledges). Troops and materiel will be liberated for the ongoing struggle against the Taliban in the cold Afghani winter. Pajamas TV will be there in the person of Michael Yon (with high definition camera). My guess is his reporting will be more solid and deeper than anything on CNN or Fox. Indeed, that’s not a guess. It’s a fact. You won’t want to miss it.
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11 Comments
1. Belladonna Rogers:Roger, you write that “no good deed goes unpunished.” In the case of the American presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, you might add that many good deeds go not only unpunished, but also unpublished. This is but one of many reasons your readers and viewers value PJM. You publish what no MSM is even covering, much less covering intelligently. Much looking forward to the full interview with Yon on PJTV.
Nov 23, 2008 - 2:53 pm 2. Mike_K:Michael Yon’s reporting has been the principle source of news from Iraq for me for years. Second to him if Michael Totten whose focus is more on the Balkins and Lebanon. Those two guys are better than CNN, the New York Times and the rest of the MSM combined. I contribute to both of them. Worth every penny. That’s what I do instead of subscribe to newspapers. I would also highly recommend Bing West’s new book, The Strongest Tribe. It is similar to the Michael Yon book but with some additional background on the higher command. They are all great. This is what the internet is for.
Nov 23, 2008 - 3:25 pm 3. Belladonna Rogers:Correction: Not only does no good deed in Iraq and Afghanistan go unpunished, but many good deeds there go unpublished—except by PJM & on PJTV.
Nov 23, 2008 - 3:41 pm 4. Pinkie Ann LeBrainne:God Bless Michael Yon.
Nov 23, 2008 - 10:57 pm 5. steveaz:Roger,
If you had spent the last five years berating America’s efforts in Iraq as “Bush’s Mess in Iraq,” would you ever publicize our victory there?
Think about it: if only eight months ago Iraq was a “failed” Neocon project, and if now, less than year later, Iraq is a success, then there is simply no way to report the success without ceding all of your reportorial integrity.
No, it’s better to just keep quiet about it, and, look, there’s a pretty butterfly!
The media and politicians that fell into this integrity trap should be laughed out of town. Keep the pressure on them, Roger.
Nov 24, 2008 - 6:26 am 6. steveaz:Roger,
If you had spent the last five years berating America’s efforts in Iraq as “Bush’s Mess in Iraq,” would you ever publicize our victory there?
Think about it: if only eight months ago Iraq was a “failed” Neocon project, and if now, less than a year later, Iraq is a success, then there is simply no way to report the success without ceding all of your reportorial integrity.
No, it’s better to just keep quiet about it, and, look, there’s a pretty butterfly!
The media and politicians that fell into this integrity trap should be laughed out of town. Keep the pressure on them, Roger.
Nov 24, 2008 - 6:26 am 7. David Thomson:“They believe the new president will support them in Afghanistan, just as McCain would have.”
Is somebody smoking an illegal substance? Barack Obama is a self hating American. Our country is undeserving of victory over its enemies. We supposedly crapped on these people and that explains their anger toward us. In the long run, we should be very wary of Obama’s existentially committed instincts. Have we already forgotten Bill Ayers and Rev. Jeremiah Wright?
Nov 24, 2008 - 6:47 am 8. Victory « In Other Words:[...] the “Nightly News” for your information? Clearly, it’s left you uninformed. Roger L. Simon knows the real deal. Michael [Yon], who was about to embed with an unspecified military operation in the Afghani [...]
Nov 24, 2008 - 8:27 am 9. David Thomson:Michael Yon and others seem to go out of their way to give the benefit of the doubt to Barack Obama. His well established history is conveniently pushed to the side. Everybody knows that Obama lies at the drop of a hat. He is truly one of our most deceitful politicians. But numerous people take it for granted that Obama is not lying to them! Have we already forgotten how he lied to blue collar workers in Ohio regarding economic protectionism while Austan Goolsby was telling Canadian officials to ignore the lies required to get him elected?
Nov 24, 2008 - 10:23 am 10. Alan Kellogg:David Thomson, #9
Barack Obama is a politician, politicians contradict themselves all the time. They are changeable beasts, masters of the protean ever ready to alter their ways, adapt to new situations, and blithely deny they ever espoused any course other than what they now promote. When it comes to hypocrisy politicians are consummate professionals.
We let them get away with it, in part because we see no way to stop them, but mostly we don’t care. As long as the Sun shines, gas is $2.00 or less a gallon, and the local NFL game sells out in time we’re good. Our apathy bulwarked by constant reinforcement from culture, government, and early education. Activism takes resources, and there’s bling we don’t own yet.
The situation will change when the UAW starts rioting in Detroit over the shut down of Ford, Chevy and Chrysler.
Nov 24, 2008 - 2:36 pm 11. gippergal:Well, this is Thanksgiving week, so I will choose to simply be grateful for a dedicated eyewitness on the ground.
You know. Instead of hair-pulled-out angry that the established, elitist media is more interested in making money than that old-fashioned virtue, reporting the news. Seeing a great, solid guy out there actually makes me all the more aware of the discrepancy between him and the leftist illuminati who take themselves so seriously (hopefully, a little less, after Ben Affleck’s great Olbermann rendition on SNL).
More than wishing I could see “fair and balanced” reporting, I wish I could see quality. Real quality.
It’s something I’m not sure I’ve ever had in my generation, and sometimes I think I never will see a big three network, or the cable mainstays, have quality reporting.
That saddens me.
Nov 24, 2008 - 7:41 pm