"The Report" from Jase

All,

Hope this finds everyone doing well. I also hope that y'all got a chance to watch the Congressional Hearings with the CG and the Ambassador. I was disturbed at how some members of the panels personally attacked the general and the ambassador. I was impressed, however, at how the general and the ambassador handled it. I don't think I could have been as level headed. I'm sure I wouldn't have been, I was yelling at my TV. Let me put this into a little perspective. I'm not even going to discuss a difficult piece of legislation that OUR congress can't pass. I will tell you about something far easier to do, yet they took their sweet time doing it. My boss, Major General Bergner, just got "officially" promoted. Generals do not get promoted like the rest of us. Basically, they get promoted by being selected for a certain job. The rank comes with it. However, the number of generals is mandated by federal law, and to wear the rank, the person must be confirmed by congress. Gen Bergner was wearing one star in a two star position for about 3-4 months. Nothing all that wrong with it, but he had 2 two stars working underneath him. You don't have to know much about the military to point out that, wait, how can they work under him if they outrank him? Doesn't make sense does it? And the hold up? Congress approving it. So, while the surge was supposed to rebuild a country in a few months, our own congress could not even promote a General, who is also a spokesman for our organization. The Iraqis see him a lot, the US sees him a lot on TV. Interesting. It's not all crimson and clover over here, no one who has actually been here will say other wise, but things are happening. It would be nice if it would happen faster! The goal is to stabilize enough so Iraq can take over. Kinda like sending a kid through school. They won't be perfect, but should be good enough to survive. Unfortunately, people's mind's have been made up, and no matter how things are actually going, it will not change people's opinions. Well, that is about all I have. Not too exciting. But, in a war zone, that is a good thing.
Take care.

Jase