BOB OWENS: “I value the writers’ service and their opinions as soldiers who have served in Iraq, but wouldn’t this editorial have meant more if the Washington Post had managed to find soldiers to write it who had actually been in in Iraq in the last year?” Yeah, things change fast. In 2006, Anbar was written off.

Just remember, Michael Yon is in Iraq right now. Why doesn’t the Post ask him for an oped? Drop me a line, Post editors, if you’re having trouble reaching him. I’ll give you his satellite phone number.

UPDATE: Related thoughts here, including this: “Petraeus’ erstwhile counter-insurgency advisor, Australian LTC David Kilcullen, said an interesting thing recently. When you served in Iraq tends to color how you view Iraq.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Murdoc is suspicious.

MORE: From Iraq, Greyhawk writes: “We’ve won the war.”

Well, that’s a relief, though some will find it disturbing.

STILL MORE: Michael Yon emails:

It’s amazing that a dozen ex-captains who apparently served in Iraq — only one of them recently — are so out of touch with the situation.

They’ve shamefully added their names to what amounts to a petition published in the Washington Post. Big questions: Who actually authored this Op-ed? How did these dozen captains get their names tied to it?

If people like Bob Owens and the “Army of Davids” get interested in this, we’ll likely get some answers.

Would be very interesting to know what specifically each of these captains did in Iraq, how they were viewed by their peers, and what they are doing today. Did they come up with the idea for this article themselves, or did someone write it, perhaps, then round up a posse of disgruntled ex-officers who would put their name to it?

It would be interesting to know the backstory.