On July 23, 2007, Jones was on foot patrol near the Iraqi city of Fallouja when he was injured by a roadside bomb. After the attack, his left leg was amputated above the knee. He developed infections and fevers. His weight dropped from 175 pounds to 125. At 21, Jones faced months of painful rehabilitation and a likely end to his service in the Marine Corps.

One year later, Jones is walking smoothly on a prosthetic leg. He not only continues to serve on active duty, but he has worked his way back to a war zone, serving with his Marine battle buddies in Afghanistan.

"I want to be someone an injured Marine can talk to," Jones said. "And I can tell them: 'Times will be rough and not always easy as an amputee, but you can still make great things out of an unfortunate situation.' That's what I want to do."

Jones didn't get his first prosthesis until November. By the end of December, he had learned how to snowboard again, a sport he had enjoyed for years. He plans to compete in freestyle snowboarding in the 2010 Paralympics in Vancouver, Canada.

THE PRESIDENT:  Good morning.  This has been a month of encouraging news from Iraq.  Violence is down to its lowest level since the spring of 2004, and we're now in our third consecutive month with reduced violence levels holding steady.  General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker caution that the progress is still reversible, but they report that there now appears to be a "degree of durability" to the gains we have made.

A significant reason for this sustained progress is the success of the surge.  Another is the increasing capability of the Iraqi forces.  Iraqi forces now have 192 combat battalions in the fight -- and more than 110 of these battalions are taking the lead in combat operations against terrorists and extremists. 

We saw the capability of those forces earlier this year, when the Iraqi government launched successful military operations against Shia extremist groups in Basra, Amarah, and the Sadr City area of Baghdad.  Because of these operations, extremists who once terrorized the citizens of these communities have been driven from their strongholds.  As a result, our Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, was able to walk the streets of Sadr City last Wednesday, as something that would not have been possible just a few months ago.

This week, the Iraqi government is launching a new offensive in parts of the Diyala province that contain some of al Qaeda's few remaining safe havens in the country.  This operation is Iraqi-led; our forces are playing a supporting role.  And in the moments -- in the months ahead, the Iraqis will continue taking the lead in more military operations across the country.

As security in Iraq has improved, the Iraqi government has made political progress as well.  The Iraqi Council of Representatives has passed several major pieces of legislation this year, and Iraqi leaders are preparing for provincial elections.  And Prime Minister Maliki recently returned from a successful visit to Europe, where he held important diplomatic discussions with Chancellor Merkel, Prime Minister Berlusconi, and His Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI.

The progress in Iraq has allowed us to continue our policy of "return on success."  We now have brought home all five of the combat brigades and the three Marine units that were sent to Iraq as part of the surge.  The last of these surge brigades returned home this month.  And later this year, General Petraeus will present me his recommendations on future troop levels -- including further reductions in our combat forces as conditions permit.

As part of the "return on success" policy, we are also reducing the length of combat tours in Iraq.  Beginning tomorrow, troops deploying to Iraq will serve 12-month tours instead of 15-month tours.  This will ease the burden on our forces -- and it will make life easier for our wonderful military families. 

We're also making progress in our discussion with Prime Minister Maliki's government on a strategic framework agreement.  This agreement will serve as the foundation for America's presence in Iraq once the United Nations resolution authorizing the multinational forces there expires on December the 31st.

We remain a nation at war.  Al Qaeda is on the run in Iraq -- but the terrorists remain dangerous, and they are determined to strike our country and our allies again.  In this time of war, America is grateful to all the men and women who have stepped forward to defend us.  They understand that we have no greater responsibility than to stop the terrorists before they launch another attack on our homeland.  And every day they make great sacrifices to keep the American people safe here at home.  We owe our thanks to all those who wear the uniform -- and their families who support them in their vital work.  And the best way to honor them is to support their mission -- and bring them home with victory.

Thank you very much.

Chesty’s retirement ceremony took place at the end of a practice session to prepare for the sunset parade, which the Marines hold every Friday evening for tourists and spectators at 8:45 p.m. During the ceremony Chesty XII was replaced as the USMC mascot by another English Bulldog, Chesty XIII. (All the Chesty mascots are named after the famed Marine, Chesty Puller.)

It was a lot of fun to watch and of course, spend the morning with all those good-looking Marines. Special thanks to Gunnery Sergeant Will Price for inviting me. And, check out his book Devil Dog Diary!

Here are some of my pics:

The "new" Chesty and the "old" Chesty

Waiting for the ceremony on the parade grounds at 8th and I.

Petting the Chesties!

Below is an opinion piece that ran in Roll Call today in honor of my friend, John Gibson, who was killed 10 years ago today while protecting me and my staff in the U.S. Capitol. 

My daughter jokes that he was tougher on her than I was. But in the case of Capitol Police Detective John Gibson, his influence on my family was not born of the years we were together, the thousands of hours, hundreds of meals and dozens of holidays we celebrated together. It was the man.

Gibson met everyone, regardless of whether he knew them, with a smile. He was kind and funny and unfailingly honest. He was as tough as iron, except when he wasn’t, and then would emerge the doting, beloved father of three. He was a devout Catholic, and when he wasn’t working through the Boston Globe sports page, he could be seen thumbing through his Bible. He loved hockey, so much so that he even vainly suffered to explain it to me, who couldn’t tell a red line from a Red Wing.

He served on my security detail from 1995 to 1998, and in that time he became a unique friend in my life. Capitol Police officers on security details, you see, are not supposed to become too friendly with the people they protect. Personal relationships cloud objectivity and judgment — and thank God for that — and yet I, like the members of my staff and, from what I could tell, everyone he ever met, would call Gibson my friend.

He was often the first person I saw in the morning and the last one I saw at night. He was frequently the person with whom I spent the most time in a day, and, quite possibly, in a month or a year. I did not deserve the unique gift of this man’s company and friendship.

He was a trusted friend to my wife, a second father to my daughter, and a beloved member of both my personal and Congressional family. John Michael Gibson was my hero even before July 24, 1998, when a disturbed man named Russell Weston ran into my office on the first floor of the Capitol with a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver.

We all heard the shots. None of us saw them, though, because the moment we were in danger, John ordered everyone to take cover. Weston, who had moments earlier slain Officer Jacob Chestnut at the document room door on the west side of the Capitol, chased a woman down the hall and into the suite of offices known as H-107. John shoved the woman to safety, but before he could defend himself, Weston shot him in the chest. Mortally wounded and with some of his last conscious breaths, John drew his weapon and brought down Weston with shots in his stomach and each leg. Seconds later, the Capitol Police arrived in force, arrested Weston, and removed from his pockets the additional rounds of ammunition he could have used to kill all of us.

It’s strange that the word that comes quickest to mind when we meet those sworn to protect us — police, firefighters, soldiers — is “professionalism.” The confidence and competence such people exude is not borne of years of intense training and experience, but of the choice they make to undergo it. What makes people like John Gibson and J.J. Chestnut, like every man and woman serving in the Capitol Police, special is not their courage and integrity, but their sacred choice to offer those qualities, and indeed, their very lives, into the service of others. It is easier to call this daily choice to serve “professionalism,” but those of us who know the men and women of the Capitol Police, those of us blessed to have known John Gibson, know better. What we classify as “professionalism,” we recognize, in our grateful hearts, as love.

John Gibson and J.J. Chestnut did not die to protect “others.” They died to protect me and my staff. They died to protect you. Think about that when they lose their specialty pay in budget cuts, or when they’re in need of new bulletproof vests that will actually fit under the plainclothes uniform of our protectors. Think about that the next time you’re in a hurry and you feel inconvenienced with a request to walk back through the metal detector or flash your ID.

Think about that. And think about them.

A U.S. decision to bend policy and sit down with Iran at nuclear talks fizzled Saturday, with Iran stonewalling Washington and five other world powers on their call to freeze uranium enrichment.

In response, the six gave Iran two weeks to respond to their demand, setting the stage for a new round of U.N. sanctions.

Iran's refusal to consider suspending enrichment was an indirect slap at the United States, which had sent Undersecretary of State William Burns to the talks in hopes the first-time American presence would encourage Tehran into making concessions.

Officials and diplomats refused to characterize the timeframe as an ultimatum, but it appeared clear that Iran now has a de-facto deadline to show flexibility.

The Bush Administration has done everything a superpower can do except use military action.  Iran's mullahs come to the conclusion that the U.S. and Israel either will not or cannot stop their nuclear ambitions.  If strikes are launched against the mullahs' nuclear facilities, the U.S. will have tried every avenue to stop the program without resort to bombing. but Iran is an outlaw regime and it does not care a bit what the world demands of it.

HH: Now talk to us a little bit, we take so granted our free political press and the benefits it gives us, and the pleasure it gives us, and the outlet it provides us. What’s the media like in Iraq right now? 

FK: Oh, the media is ferocious in Iraq. I mean, there are lots of media outlets, there’s free press. Most of the outlets, as in America, reflect one view or another, or one party or another. But there are enough of them that, and Iraqis can get them all, that they can get a pretty full picture. And there’s very vibrant political discourse, and there’s lots of arguments and name calling, and all the kind of stuff that we would be very familiar with. But the other thing about Iraq that’s found is when you fly over an Iraqi village, and it’s four mud huts on the ground, two of them will have satellite dishes. 

 

Americans tend to take for granted the joys and benefits of a completely free media, one in which the temptation to political violence is always held down by the opportunity to organize and vent.  One of the greatest gifts delivered to Iraq by the overthrow of Saddam was this freedom to argue and decry, inveigh and satirize.  Those who want with Obama to bolt on the Iraqis are indifferent to amazing march of freedom in the former tyranny, and cannot be a friend of the Iraqi people or the broader Arab world which is watching a multi-party democracy take hold and deepen its roots.

Read the entire Kagan interview.  He, Kimberly Kagan and Jack Keane are owed an immense set of thank-yous for the work they have done to persuade the Administration and the country to save Iraq and to publicize the unfolding victory there.