I Introduce You To Iraqnophobia

As you all know I interviewed LT Jason Nichols this last Monday from Baghdad. LT Nichols is the founder of the Appeal for Courage. I sent him an email this morning sending him some links to some of the things that have been said about Iraq lately. I gave him the link to Edwards saying the surge had failed, the link to Hillary saying she wouldn't interfere in Iraqi affairs even in case of ethnic cleansing, and I asked what the reaction was to Reid's comments yesterday.

I had sent Michelle Malkin an email describing my conversation with the LT prior to Reid's breakdown. Michelle has been taking letters to Reid from our troops, milbloggers, and regular guys like me. She is posting all of them on her site here. To my surprise the LT had already sent a letter to Michelle. He later responded to my email asking for the reaction in Iraq to Reid's statements, and he gave me permission to quote him. Here's what he had to say:

Casey:

Thanks for the email. I was pretty upset about Reid’s words, I saw it on Michelle Malkin, she asked soldiers to repy. I calmed down and sent him a fairly rational email on his website and sent it to Michelle, she put it on her site with a bunch of others. I’ve also gotten an email from someone describing a new term, Iraqnophobia: the pathological fear and loathing of victory in Iraq. http://takeourcountryback.townhall.com/g/04760218-7487-46e4-bd7e-e5aeeb35fea4

Here is my letter to Senator Reid feel free to quote if you like. I’m no writer, so it’s fairly straightforward.

An Open Letter to Senator Reid on his declaration of Defeat:

Senator Reid:

When you say we've lost in Iraq, I don't think you understand the effect of your words. The Iraqis I speak with are the good guys here, fighting to build a stable government. They hear what you say, but they don't understand it. They don't know about the political game, they don't know about a Presidential veto, and they don't know about party politics.

But they do know that if they help us, they are noticed by terrorists and extremists. They decide to help us if they think we can protect them from those terrorists. They tell us where caches of weapons are hidden. They call and report small groups of men who are strangers to the neighborhood, men that look the same to us, but are obvious to them as a foreign suicide cell.

To be brief, your words are killing us. Your statements make the Iraqis afraid to help us for fear we'll leave them unprotected in the future. They don't report a cache, and its weapons blow up my friends in a convoy. They don't report a foreign fighter, and that fighter sends a mortar onto my base. Your statements are noticed, and they have an effect.

Finally, you are mistaken when you say we are losing. We are winning, I see it every day. However, we will win with fewer casualties if you help us. Will you?

Respectfully,

LT Jason Nichols, USN
MNF-I, Baghdad

I look forward to hearing the audio, thanks again.

Jason

Iraqnophobia ... I can't believe I didn't think of that.