A Cry for Help

I had all these great plans for today's blog, but then I found an urgent email in my inbox. It's from one of my old buddies at the 101st (Captain Eric Simon) who served as a staff officer with me in the 159th Aviation Brigade. He also happens to be quite the filmmaker:

2Slick!

Hey bro, I hope life after Campbell is treating you well. The documentary premiered at Fort Campbell back on September 1st with a good response from everyone in the surveys they filled out. We're still editing, adding last minute stuff and making the final cut.

I'm still looking for footage and photos from OIF - particularly your photos from campus, riot etc. Is there any way you could FEDEX me a CD of all your photos and your miniDV tapes? (I'll reimburse you ASAP and send the miniDVs back once we dub them) You'll get full credit in the film for it too. We're close to finishing up so we'd need them soonest (hence the FEDEX). Someone told me that you made some short videos with your footage? I'd love to see them.

Let me know what you can send.

www.159thfilm.com is the website if you'd like to check it out.

Thanks!

Eric Simon

I'll do what I can to get him my videotapes, but YOU people are going to have to help him with the pictures. I think he especially wants any pics from the University and/or from the University riots. I don't have those with me here in Kuwait, so if you have any of those great shots that I sent you last year- please email them to Eric at: UH60inbound@hotmail.com

Your help is greatly appreciated. I've seen the teaser for Eric's movie, and I'm sure it will be a powerful and moving film. His main focus is on the tragedies we suffered in November of '03. Check out the website if you don't know what I'm talking about. It's well worth a look.

So the car bombers have continued with their attack on American soldiers and innocent women and children. Unfortunately, it's only going to get worse in the near term. However, this is not the time to get "weak in the knees." I've noticed a disturbing trend in the media. Left-leaning pundits are trying to equate the term "optimistic" with "delusional." Oh those tricky lefties! The fact is, we have very good reason to be optimistic, but don't take my word for it- check out this Washington Post article by LTG Petraeus. If you're prompted for login and password, feel free to register if you want (it's free) or use login: fedup@mailinator.com and password: fedup (thanks to the wonderful service provided by www.bugmenot.com).

This article is a MUST READ, and he CLEARLY states that a) yes, it's bad right now, b) yes, it'll get worse as elections get closer, and c) he's got a plan to make things better. He gives a quantifiable justification for optimism while admitting that the road ahead will be bloody and ugly (in other words- this is a war). It's a politically unfiltered and unedited assessment straight from the horse's mouth. Just about any liberal will tell you that he's a lunatic- that any suggestion that things will get better equates to "painting a rosy and unrealistic picture of the situation in Iraq." They use that mindless talking point anytime somebody (Allawi, Bush, Petraeus, et al) insists that progress is being made in the face of ugly opposition. Don't let them fool you. It's leftist propaganda and it's wrong. Nobody is suggesting we should believe in a nonexistent fantasyland of peace and happiness over there. What we ARE suggesting (and rightly so) is that Americans need to show strength and resolve when times are tough. There's nothing delusional about that.