Cheny finds U.S. troops skeptical

[CRH911S]

"Cheny rode the wave of last week's parlimentary elections during the 10-hour surprise visit to Iraq that aimed to highlight progress at a time when Americans question the mission. Military commanders and top government officials offered glowing reports, but the rank-and-file troops Cheny met did not seem to share their enthusiasm.

"From our perspective, we don't see much as far as gains," said Marine Cpl. Bradley Warren, the first to question Cheney in a round-table discussion with about 30 military members. "We're looking at small-picture stuff, not too many gains. I was wondering what it looks like from the big side of the mountain-how Iraq's looking."

Nedra Pickler, The Associated Press, December 19, 2005

The comment by this young Marine Cpl is speaking from a much different perspective-a truthfull first hand account. On the other hand arm-chair quarterbacks on this OT can only report heresay that is seriously slanted. The payback is sweet

[techweenie]

Originally posted by CRH911S
The comment by this young Marine Cpl is speaking from a much different perspective-a truthfull first hand account. On the other hand arm-chair quarterbacks on this OT can only report heresay that is seriously slanted. The payback is sweet

I'm sure the 'armchair quarterbacks of OT' will have a snappy retort to the Corporal -- as soon as Limbaugh, O'Reilly or Hannity tells them what it is.

[Joeaksa]

Would have a few questions for him, like how long has he been in-country, where has he been and what is his duty. If he is a Cpl in charge of a mess hall (cook in other words) or a truck mechanic, then it would be different than if he was out in the field.

Joe A

[Dixie]

Let's be fair here. It would be foolish to think every individual in the armed services are lock step in opinion. However, CRH911S is too quick to show his bias and read what he wants into Cpl. Bradley Warren's comments.

• The Cpl's is simply stating that he works on carrying out specific short-term tasks, and not in planning and implementing long term strategies. He's interested in hearing Cheny's perspective on how the larger picture is progressing. This is no different than a staff worker in the private sector asking the CEO how things are progressing.
• I'm sure those attending the round table were picked by their superiors. It’s only natural they’d pick those who would make a good impression of, themselves, their immediate superiors, and the Marines in general. After all would you pick a malcontent on your staff to eat lunch with your CEO?
• It's interesting how the poster got from one "troop", to "troops"....

[Jeff Higgins]

Grasping at straws, they are. Gotta love those lefties and their never-say-die attitude. One corporal, in one very editied comment, and the lefties get all giddy on us.

Many of us, including myself, have close personal friends over there. Some, like Joe, are there or have been there themselves. We have posted positive reports passed on to us, or in some cases, experienced first hand. These are sumarily dismissed by our friends on the left.

Impartial news sources have at times reported individual troop's positive impressions. They are not seen often, especially on the major networks or in the bigger magazines and newspapers, but they do pop up every now and then. These go completely ignored by the left as well. Meanwhile, illuminaries of the industry such as "See B.S." would "Rather" dig deep for the one disheartened serviceman or woman and flog their story to death. Notice, though, how few they really do find. You can bet your a$$ they're looking.

Better yet, let's find a grieving mother and fuel her need for attention by making her a celebrity. Let's ignore the presumably 2,999 other mothers that have lost sons or daughters that are suffering in silence. Their grief is just as real, but they don't have anything bad to say about the war or the administration, despite their loss. So let's ignore them, because they do not add to our negative impression that we would like to convey.

Instead, let's quote one corporal, out of context and edited to our liking, because he appears to say what we want to say. We know there are folks out there who will just lap this up without question. They will because it represents what they so very badly want to believe. Hell, we have them so well trained by now that they will even fill in the blanks for us, reading in all kinds of implications that are not there. Better to let their imaginations run wild than to give them the whole boring story and ruin the whole thing. Gee, this works pretty good. Just like so many trained little lap dogs. "Intellectual elite???" heh heh heh...

[Nathans_Dad]

Link please? I have done a search on Cheney on the AP website and can't find an article which has this quote in it. I'd like to read the entire article if I may...

[andrew15]

Here's a link to one article:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/252583_cheney19.html

[Nathans_Dad]

Ah, thank you. Wonder why that story isn't on the AP website...that's wierd.

[techweenie]

My favorite: "U.S. forces guarded Cheney with weapons at the ready while Iraqi soldiers, who had no weapons, held their arms out as if they were carrying imaginary guns."

And they'll be taking over control of their country with imaginary guns, when.

[Nathans_Dad]

Tech you really should learn to read more carefully:

"His next visit was to Taji Air Base, where he saw tanks that Iraqis had rebuilt and watched while they practiced a vehicle sweep at a security checkpoint.

U.S. forces guarded Cheney with weapons at the ready while Iraqi soldiers, who had no weapons, held their arms out as if they were carrying imaginary guns."


It was an exercise with Cheney participating. We often run exercises with either fake plastic guns or no guns at all.

[Rodeo]

I hope they give them real guns soon. And I hope that when they do, they don't point them at us.

You guys really think we would put Cheney with a group of armed Iraqis? Get serious.

[techweenie]

LOL!

So none of the hand-picked Iraqis passed the security check. And this changes the situation... how?

[Jeff Higgins]

Amazing how fast this thread changed direction. Starts out with one liberal thinking he has struck gold with the comments of one corporal taken out of context. That is quickly shot down as the non-event it truly was, so what is the ingenious liberal retort? "Yeah, well, um... let's see... gotta think... oh yeah! How about those Iraqi soldiers with imaginary guns??!! What about them, huh? Huh?" Once again, very quickly and easily disposed of by a conservative blessed with some level of reading comprehension. Not that is really related all that well to what the corporal said, unless you really really wanted it to, and ignored the "training exercise" part of the story. You guys keep trying, though. Don't worry, an adult will step in and help you with the big words and complex concepts.

[Nathans_Dad]

More fluff from the left. Do they seriously think they would allow a non-American soldier with an automatic rifle near Cheney in Iraq? Come on guys...back to reality please. And to suggest that the Iraqi soldiers don't have weapons while doing their actual duties because they did an exercise without weapons is silly.

[Rodeo]

Originally posted by Nathans_Dad
More fluff from the left. Do they seriously think they would allow a non-American soldier with an automatic rifle near Cheney in Iraq?

Interesting question, and I must admit I do not know the answer. Foreign troops are in the vicinity of our leaders all the time, esp when our leaders travel overseas. Parades, state events, etc. etc.

I suspect that British soldiers would have no problem being around Cheney, but I could be wrong.

No way they are letting any armed Iraqi near him.

[Tobra]

Originally posted by Rodeo
Interesting question, and I must admit I do not know the answer. Foreign troops are in the vicinity of our leaders all the time, esp when our leaders travel overseas. Parades, state events, etc. etc.

I suspect that British soldiers would have no problem being around Cheney, but I could be wrong.

No way they are letting any armed Iraqi near him.

Lots of parades and state events in active war zones, saves money on fireworks when you can just light up an AK 47.

Having read the article in the link, it looks like they don't trust the leader of Iraq either, he did not know Cheney was there until they were face to face. I bet they filled the barrel of the refurbished tanks he was checking out with concrete, just in case.

You are willing to admit you don't know if troops would be in the area of the VP, but then there is no way they let an armed Iraqui near him. Would you admit there is noticeable bias in the article linked, or would you be disingenuous about that too?

[Rodeo]

The story is either biased or Cheney caught a bad crowd:

Shouts of "hooah!" from the audience interrupted Cheney a few times, but mostly the service members listened intently. When he delivered the applause line, "We're in this fight to win. These colors don't run," the only sound was a lone whistle.

The skepticism that Cheney faced reflects opinions back home, where most Americans say they do not approve of President Bush's handling of the war. It was unique coming from a military audience, which typically receives administration officials more enthusiastically.

I don't know for certain, I thought the troops on the ground were generally more enthusiastic. Maybe the surprise visit caught the with little sleep after some difficult duty. Maybe the reporter is full of it. It seems to me that the best way to at least try to get an accurate picture of what is going on is to listen to multiple sources, with all your filters in full defense mode.

[CRH911S]

The article on the right's poster boy appeared inside the front section of the Anchorag Daily News, December 19, 2005.

I give that young Marine stood toe-to-toe with the second most powerful draft evader on earth the credit he deserves and the respect he has earned. Interestingly enough Joe questions the mos of the Marine and not the war credentials of his fearless vp.

The use of the words "our" and "we" are not mine. The Marine obviously speaks for himeself and others. And incidentally, FWIW, I don't doubt Joe's military service but is it now safe to assume that he might be a cook or just another REMF with a couple of months total incountry?

Since this is a quick reply I apologize for any spelling errors in advance.