Michael Yon’s book "Moment of Truth in Iraq" is being praised unstintingly. I liked it. Yon stepped into a gap in coverage and filled it. He shows, quite well, why, as he puts it, Iraqi boys want to grow up to be American soldiers and marines. But he also shows that we have always had too little "paint to cover this barn," and the proposed troop drawdowns are unconscionable when our warriors are still in contact in Mosul and elsewhere.
But Yon’s rather thin book (triple-spaced to make it seem longer) can’t touch Bing West’s "No True Glory," which I am finishing, about the 2004 fights for Fallujah. It’s not only twice as long as Yon’s, but reflects more work. It does tackle less ground but has many more named sources and quotes and is, altogether the better book. West even quotes some marines who are now in legal trouble for things they did in 2004. But I’ll go on contributing my few dollars to Yon’s efforts. He’s got the tougher and, possibly, more important job: bringing the news from the front lines that the MSM rarely touches.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 