On the ground in Anbar

Five or six weeks ago I mentioned that Bill Roggio from The Fourth Rail would be going to Anbar Province in Iraq to be embedded with the troops there for a few weeks. He's there now and posting regularly at ThreatsWatch. Look for his dispatches in the InBrief section and just keep scrolling. Bill's analysis of what's been happening in Iraq is one of the alternative sources I mention in the post below. There's also plenty of other interesting news and commentary on the rest of the site so I suggest taking a few minutes (at least) and checking the entire site out.

As an aside, this dispatch involves an Army Psyops team. As Bill notes, psychological operations conjures up all kinds of negative and spooky things to people but the reality is much more mundane. Back in the '80s I did my Army Reserve service with a Psyops unit as a press operator. The print section was set up in trailers so if we were ever activated we could go just about anywhere and set up to produce printed materials like those leaflets he pictures Iraqis putting up. Our mission was to communicate truthful information to foreign civilians and combatants. That meant everything from Red Cross forms to posters in whatever language was needed. Then, as now, what could or could not be done was governed by a slew of Army regulations.