Communicating Arts - Main Web Site“How long have you been in Ramadi?” I said.
“Since the last week of January, 2007,” he said. “When I first got here my area of operations was the southern half of downtown. It was ugly then, especially for the civilians. We found more than 50 dead in just one grave in the desert. 50,000 – 70,000 people have returned so far since the war ended in April.” [1]
When the question comes up in online conversation, "What is" or "What was" "The Job", that thing President Bush wants so much to finish, I often trot out something like this: The Job is to reduce the scale of violence--its frequency, extensity, and intensity--from a state military concern to one primarily of interest to the state's police and criminal justice apparatus.
And what's the point of The Job?
Also in my humble opinion: to enable anyone to sit in a cafe anywhere and read anything and talk about anything with anyone free of fear and intimidation.
Why should that be such a hard thing for some people to take, especially if they believe their programs so good?
Michael J. Totten's piece in today's Suicide Girls is the first street-level report I've seen that suggests what The Job means for Iraqi security and U.S. military forces.
1.Totten, Michael J. "Al Qaeda Lost." Suicide Girls, September 25, 2007.
Correspondence and Permissions: James S. Oppenheim
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