Let The Troops Do The Convincing

Have any you ever wondered if reporters embedded with our troops in Iraq were affected by what they experienced while sharing what the troops experienced day to day? Does what they experience change their opinions about American troops or their mission? Do they come away wondering how it is they could have been so blind as to what was really happening in Iraq? Jeff Emanuel answers the questions in his OpinionJournal piece.

While I was at the Combined Press Information Center in Baghdad on my recent trip to Iraq, a pair of Spanish journalists--a newspaper reporter and a photojournalist--walked in, fresh from their embed with the 1-4 Cavalry of the First Infantry Division (the unit with which I embedded only days later). They had spent two weeks amongst the troops there, living and going on missions with them, including house-to-house searches and seizures, and their impressions of these soldiers were extremely clear.

"Absolutely amazing," said David Beriain, the reporter (and the one who spoke English), said of the young Cavalry troops. "In Spain, it is embarrassing--our soldiers are ashamed to be in the army. These young men--and they seem so young!--are so proud of what they do, and do it so well, even though it is dangerous and they could very easily be killed." Mr. Beriain explained that the company he had been embedded with had lost three men in the span of six days while he was there--one to a sniper and two to improvised explosive devices, both of which had blown armored Humvees into the air and flipped them onto their roofs. Despite this, he said, and despite some of the things they might have said in the heat of the moment after seeing another comrade die, the soldiers' resolve and morale was unshaken in the long term, and they remained committed to carrying out their mission to the best of their ability for the duration of their tours in Iraq.

It was in the process of performing that mission, of coping with the loss of loved ones, and of just being themselves as American soldiers that these young men were able to win over the admiration and affection of more than one journalist who had arrived in their midst harboring a less-than-positive opinion of the Iraq war, and of those who were tasked with prosecuting it.

"I love those guys," Mr. Beriain said, looking wistfully out the window of the media cloister in the Green Zone that is the Combined Press Information Center. "From the first time you go kick a door with them, they accept you--you're one of them. I've even got a 'family photo' with them" to remember them by. "I really hated to leave."

Such a radical transformation--and such a strong bond of affection--can rarely be forged in so little time outside of the constant, universal peril of a wartime environment. "It is those common experiences," Mr. Beriain explained, "where you are all in danger, and you go through it together. It builds a relationship instantly."

It doesn't matter how skeptical of the war a journalist might be, according to an Army public affairs officer who spoke with me about it on condition of anonymity. "So often, they come out of that experience and--even if their opinion of the war hasn't changed--they're completely won over by the troops."

"I was one of those," admitted Mr. Beriain, speaking broken English and blinking away tears. "No matter what you think of the war, or what has happened here, you cannot be around the soldiers and not be completely affected. They are amazing people, and they represent themselves and the Army better than anyone could ever imagine." A retired Army officer concurred, telling me that "young troops are some of the best goodwill ambassadors we've ever produced. It would never occur to one to not tell you what he's really thinking, and they are so earnest" that it is almost impossible not to be won over by them if given enough time.

It makes me wonder if spending time with our troops, much as the reporters did, would do some of the members of Congress some good. If nothing else, it might change their minds about the mission in Iraq because they would be face to face with the very people they say they support. I think that many a Democratic vote in the House and Senate would change were they to spend enough time with our men and women on the front lines.

Some of the military veterans in Congress seem to have forgotten what it was like, have forgotten what is truly at stake. I think Representative John Murtha could do with a little refresher course as it seems he's forgotten what it feels like to have your government turn its back on you while you are still fighting an intractable enemy.

On more than one occasion I've heard some of the Vietnam vets say that it would have been nice if Congress had let them win the war. A number of Gulf War and Iraq/Afghanistan war veterans are wondering if they will end up saying the same things as their predecessors. I'd hate to think that we could lose this war against the Islamofascists not because they defeated us, but because Congress wouldn't let us finish the job.

George Santayana once said that those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it. It looks like too many in Congress have forgotten the lessons of the history of the 1960's and early 1970's.

Heaven helps us all if that is true.