Reports From the Front (It Ain’t Pretty)
Seven enlisted men recently back from Iraq have penned an Op-Ed in the New York Times. Their take is a compelling read and it breaks my heart to think that we are sending more an more soldiers to fight in this FUBAR war, including David Anderson and Beau Biden.
we are skeptical of recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable and feel it has neglected the mounting civil, political and social unrest we see every day.
2 questions:
- Why does Mike Castle continue to listen to the bumbling fool in the White House when reality is so accessible?
- What will it take to convince Castle (and the rest of the nutjobs that stop by) that it is time to go?
Tags: Bush's FUBAR War
To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched.
This whistle blowing is nothing short of heroic. I think we should petition Castle, Carper and Biden to recommend Jayamaha, Smith, Roebuck, Mora, Sandmeier, Yance, Gray, and Murphy for some type of commendation.
“This whistle blowing is nothing short of heroic. ”
Indeed they have more than earned the right to air their opinions.
But I do not recall hearing such praise from you for the soldier that tried to speak at the Kos convention. Perhaps because he was NOT saying what you wanted to hear.
And in a couple of days, when inevitably, other active duty personnel, with quite a different opinion, make their’s known, will you also bring on such praise? Doubtful.
Chris it takes courage to blow the whistle on a superiors’ failure and incompetence, especially when that failure and incompetence is covered up and regarded as success for public relations purposes.
I’m sure even you can understand that.
I didn’t say it wasn’t courageous. But it was also courageous for the guy at the Kos convention. To even step into that lion’s den with any thought other than traditional “defeatist, reatreatist” thinking took a lot of courage.
Looking for consistency, that’s all.
flibble flabble.
It took zero courage for anyone to go to a hotel ballroom and recite GOP talking points. It took a great deal of courage to write that editorial.
this is all clinton’s fault!
The guy at the Kos convention was breaking military law by taking a political stand in public while wearing his army uniform. General Clark was in civies. General Clark was concerned the idiot would get into trouble for appearing in uniform and spouting Bush propaganda.
“the guy at the Kos convention was breaking military law by taking a political stand in public while wearing his army uniform. ”
How does that differ from writing an editorial and signing it with your complete rank and unit? That would seem to me the print version of “wearing your uniform”.
I have no problem at all with these soldiers writing the editorial. Again, they have more than earned the right. And I have no issue with them identifying themselves as military. Just as I had no problem with the gentleman at Kos.
And out of of curiosity, DV, why is his opinion dismissed as “GOP talking points”. If he had been in Iraq and had seen all the issues the five in the editorial had, why would he return and spit out “talking points”. They are only “talking points” to you because you disagree with them. If that were the criteria then 90% for the crap out for your keyboard is left wing talking points. The other 10% is even more insane…which I did not think possible.
Let me try and understand this.
You are taking the situation regarding Iraqi national views from E-4s thru E6s and suggesting they are better informed than all their higher non-commissioned and commissioned officers (warfighters not pencil pushers). Last I checked, an E-4 was guarding his sector which might be an intersection as opposed to an O-5 whose sector includes a province.
Let me emphasize that this thing is a goat rope, but stop being so fucking stupid in your arguments. It doesn’t make sense. I know an E-4 who wanted to quit the Gulf War because his girlfriend broke up with him and he wanted to get back to North Carolina.
Most americans now believe that the
PetreusWhite House report is going to be chock-full of lies….rightfully so, since everything that’s come out of the WH, Pentagon, and Foreign Policy think tanks has been consistantly wrong or outright false for the past 5 years!Why again should we listen to anything these fools and mongers have to say? Please, give me one reason! (and a broken clock is right twice a day argument doesn’t cut it! 🙂 )
Wow! J goes straight to the “Attack the Messenger” mode! How telling!
I guess these E-4s had horse blinders on during their tour! Yeah, that’s it….
One of the soldiers has a funny last name too…someing Pakistani-like….must be working with the terrist…
Did you actually watch the video of the uniformed guy at Yearly Kos? In all fairness, he was pretty incoherent. He asserted that civilian casualties in Iraq were down during the surge. That was really his only point. He was a little batty, quoting something about adversity from the Army manual, and offering to bet his pocket change with the Kos panelists.
What were the Kos guys supposed to do – start a pissing contest with this guy about whether civilian casualties were up or down?
Not to mention most of the guys on the panel OUTRANKED the guy. When a four-star general says “you are out of line, son” it’s time to back down.
I don’t think any of them were afraid of the points he was making, but he would genuinely have gotten into trouble had he continued.
I don’t know the military rules well enough to know about signing editorials, but it’s true you can’t wear your uniform while advocating at a political event.
ok, I am going to make one point about this article and then everyone can jump in on me.
After serving in the Navy I spent 3 years around Nuclear Engineers and some very smart enlisted personell.
Not on my life did I come across one that I thought was remotely capable of writing a Masters level sentence let alone an entire 2 page article as incredibly verbose as this OP/ED was.
I’m not saying these guys didn’t have input, but there is no fucking way, they came close to writing this thing.
Well, I suppose one difference is that there are people involved in this conflict that weren’t in your sub. A great number of National Guardsmen are involved, some with actual masters degrees (take Beau Biden, for one).
ok fair enough…
Not that you got a degree from a diploma mill or anything… 😉
“A great number of National Guardsmen are involved, some with actual masters degrees (take Beau Biden, for one).”
Beau Biden is a Captain (O-3).
Donviti – you’re being polite, but you were right the first time, none of these guys wrote this. I was expecting a real report, which frankly I would have thought it would ultimately have me nodding my head, needless to say, this ain’t it.
The fact it is fraudulent is what bothers me most. If they just came clean with the authors, we’d probably take it more seriously because you’d think it was generated from real experiences on the ground at the appropriate levels.
“Specialist – insert name here” did NOT tell me what HE saw, thus it’s worthless.