WANT TO REALLY SUPPORT OUR TROOPS IN IRAQ?

Everyone says they "support our troops" fighting in Iraq.  Liberals just pretend they do – while conservatives are sincere but may not know how to for real. 

So let me introduce you to Major Eric England, an Air Force intelligence officer who has been deployed in Saudi Arabia (where he was on 9/11), Bosnia, Colombia, Afghanistan, and in Iraq for eight months of combat duty.

Maj. England is developing a very interesting way for regular folks to give soldiers in Iraq what they actually need.  He calls it Online Troop Sponsorship Registries.  Here's how it works.

He has developed a network of contacts among Marine and Army units on the front lines in Iraq.  These are the guys who are out there directly in contact with the Iraqi people whom they are trying to protect from the Jihadis.  The units tell Maj. England what they most need for their mission, or for local Iraqis who want to help them.

Then Maj. England places these requests on his Troop Sponsorship Registry so that regular Americans can donate money or materiel, which he then delivers to the units in Iraq.

You may not be surprised to learn the #1 request is for $20 bills.  Units need cash to reward helpful locals because locals know where insurgents make bombs and plan sectarian attacks.  There is an existing small rewards program now, where the troops pass out coupons which helpful locals can redeem for cash (and divulge their info) at the nearest military base.

This requires the local Iraqis to risk their lives being seen by Jihadis going to the base.  Far better for units to pass out the cash and get intel right on the spot.

But much more is needed than cash.  Ordinary tools (hammers, saws, etc.) are a big hit.  Small power generators even bigger.  Medical supplies the biggest.

The US Army's "Black Lions" Battalion of the 28^th Infantry Regiment told Maj. England that nothing would more help them win local Iraqis over than medical supplies.  With $10,000 in donations from hundreds of Americans, Maj. England was able to deliver one dozen industrial-sized medical first aid kits to the Black Lions.

The men of the regiment say it is helping them enormously with the local Iraqis, and have no doubt it has already saved a number of American soldiers' lives.

The first step in really supporting our soldiers is to understand they believe in what they are doing.  Hundreds of thousands of the finest young Americans our country possesses have served in Iraq or are there right now.  All but the tiniest fraction not only believe in the morality of this war but that it can be won.

Not only that, there is growing evidence that it is being won, particularly with the Sunnis.  The deadliest part of Iraq used to be Anbar Province.  Now an alliance of tribal chiefs has pretty much shut down Al Qaeda and the Sunni insurgency in Anbar.

At this moment, the deadliest place is Diyala Province, where so many Jihadis fled from Baghdad after the Petraeus surge.  Again, an alliance of almost one hundred Diyala tribes has formed, and the violence there is being shut down.

The improvement is so dramatic that even the New York Times is reporting the possibility of a wholesale Sunni cease-fire. 

As for the Shias, perhaps you noticed that after Mookie (Moqtada al-Sadr) made an appearance last week calling for an end to American "occupation," we went after his militia straight up and killed several of his main commanders.  Mookie quickly went back to ground.

This war has not been won.  There are still vast problems.  But it is being won.  Our soldiers on the ground see it with their own eyes.

One good way to directly help them is through Maj. England's Troop Sponsorship Registry.  To do so, you can contact him at [email protected].