Glad I switched to the Daily Show after Burn Notice. Lieutenant Colonel Nagl had some very interesting decorations, including the Close Combat Badge, what looked like a Purple Heart and what looked like a Joint Services Commendation Medal. Since the AXE is seriously old, I thought he looked like a college kid, but as a LTC, even if promoted early, he's at 35-37. What I was amazed at was his responsiveness to Stewart, particularly about the percentage of terrorist action by al Quieda in Mesopotamia..."It's classified, I can't tell you." "You gotta tell me." " I gotta tell you?" "Yes." "Seven. nine percent..."
OK, why was a serving officer, in uniform, on the Daily Show? Damned if I know, but I can guess. The Army is really very fed up with the administration's bubble mentality, and is doing what it can to preserve the reputation of the force. It is concerned about the image soldiers are getting; it's concerned about the damage this war is doing to the force. The service tends to rally around its own, and both the Four Star running Iraq and the three-star war Czar are looking like fall-guys to most of us.
Nagl didn't sugar coat anything. He had a great summary of counter-insurgency -- "Be polite; be professional; be prepared to kill."
The Rob Riggle piece was also right on last night. I found one of the soldiers' comment to be really right on concerning the Iraqi Parliament Vacation -- "Enjoy your vacation, Parliament; we'll hold down the fort. Because it's a frickin' fort."
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