The American Spectator

“Iraq forces are leading the attack through culturally sensitive areas,” Maj. Gen. Abdul Qader Mohan, appointed by Allawi to lead Iraqi forces in Fallujah, said. “Areas with schools, hospitals and mosques (will be) under the operational control of the Iraqi army.”

“For Mustafa, one of 2,000 Iraqi soldiers fighting alongside U.S. troops for control of this insurgent-occupied city, the battle for Fallujah was personal. If the fighters continue to control Iraqi cities, there will be no future for him, his children or his wife of 10 weeks.”

9. Keep notes on your efforts.

Note-taking makes sense even in environments where Al Jazeera, CNN, and stringers for NBC are not the other witnesses to your activity.

“One member of his troop was Sgt Kimberly Snow, a ‘combat camera’ photographer whose job was to record what happened in the battle to prevent the insurgents later boosting their cause with propaganda. ‘If they’re firing out of a mosque or a hospital I don’t care where she is, bring Sgt Snow forward. So when we level that thing, we have pictures to show they were using it as a bad place,’ said Capt Mayfield.’”

10. Think for yourself.

Ralph Peters, New York Post columnist and himself a veteran of military service, recently previewed both next month’s news and the attitude we should bring to it:

“In the coming weeks, the terrorists will try to re-infiltrate the city. They’ll stage photogenic car bombings and assassinations. Then we’ll be told that we still don’t control Fallujah, that we’ve failed. But a city where terrorists have to sneak in to plant a bomb is a far better place than one in which they rule.”

That’s the list. Each of the ten lessons on it has been paid for in blood, sweat, and treasure. You don’t have to support American policy in Iraq to be humbled by that sacrifice, and grateful for it.

Although ten is an honorable number, the list needs at least one addendum, because combat is not the only thing happening in Iraq today. As talk radio host Laura Ingraham and others have remarked, efforts like Operation Iraqi Children, the cooperative charitable venture between actor/director Gary Sinise and “Seabiscuit” author Laura Hillenbrand, are also doing enormous good.

In uniform or out, we do well to remember and give thanks for the advice implicit in that example, too.