Hint: you’re not going to find it on cable TV.

Would you like to see a view of the Iraq war that is, quite frankly, boring? Boring in a good sort of way? A side of things not heroic, glamorous, terrifying, or chaotic? Then watch this on-the-ground look at an American/Iraqi army patrol in a relatively quiet neighborhood in Baghdad. Amidst all the violence and upheaval of war, there’s the difficult, behind-the-scenes business of rebuilding a dysfunctional and oppressed country virtually from scratch — a subject pretty hard to fit into a 30 second clip.

All I can say is: thank you. Thank you Michelle Malkin and Bryan Preston for doing what our soundbite-laden TV reporters have failed to do: show us a true picture of reality for American and Iraqi security forces in the field. Unlike the talking heads on the nightly news and the superficial suits in Washington, these are the brave men and women who are attempting to do the impossible: bring freedom to the Iraqi people. Whether you agree with the premise of the war or not, and it’s fine if you don’t, these military, police, and civilian personnel deserve our respect and our gratitude. We owe them this much.