Guantanamo detainees aren't getting GI Bill benefits (KY Senator loses grip on reality)

[ProSense]

Guantanamo detainees aren't getting GI Bill benefits

By Steve Benen

I suspect most folks have, at least once, accidentally mistaken satirical news for real news. But Spencer Ackerman's report on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) misstep is a doozy.

On November 14, 2012, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wrote to Elizabeth King, the Pentagon’s congressional liaison, with a an unusually credulous query. “I am writing on behalf of a constituent who has contacted me regarding Guantanamo Bay prisoners receiving Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits,” McConnell wrote in a letter acquired by Danger Room. “I would appreciate your review and response to my constituent’s concerns.”

Um, Guantanamo detainees getting GI Bill benefits? Yes, that’s from the Duffel Blog, as McConnell’s constituent clearly states, complete with the reference URL. Said constituent even notes that he or she can’t find any information about the alleged government payouts to suspected insurgents and terrorists.

The constituent couldn't find any information because there's no information to find -- the United States government is not providing GI Bill benefits to detainees at the prison facility at Guantanamo Bay. What McConnell forwarded to the Pentagon was a satirical piece, published by a terrific online humor outlet. Picture The Onion with a sole focus on the military.

Even if McConnell's office wasn't familiar with Duffel Blog, it's a shame it didn't occur to the Senate Minority Leader's staff to think, "Wait, this doesn't sound quite right."

Indeed, the report itself includes "quotes" from a fake Pentagon spokesperson saying, "By allowing the detainees to use the Department of Veterans Affairs, we hope to completely crush their souls with bureaucracy." Someone thought this was real?

- more -

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/20/17029935-guantanamo-detainees-arent-getting-gi-bill-benefits

Is this worse than "Turkey"?

[SheilaT]

1. And if it were real, don't you think

McConnell should be horrified to learn that U.S. military personnel were imprisoned there?

[Flashmann]

2. My initial reason for clicking this thread

Was to see which KY Senator could be described,even laughingly,as HAVING grip on reality....Still no reason to suspect either.......

Funny read though... .

[Bucky]

3. Is there "no information to find"... or are they covering up the benifits they're giving terrorists?

I think it makes a lot more sense to assume that the government is just covering up every unsubstantiated misallegation against them. I'll bet there are Gitmo terrorists right fucking now getting affordable tuition rates to community colleges and low cost housing loans under the GI Bill. Damn them!

[marmar]

4. "KY Senator loses grip on reality"

As tenuous as it was to begin with.

[Ganja Ninja]

5. They need to stop calling things like this a mistep.

It's not a mistep, it's misdirection. Misdirection is what a magician uses when he wants you to watch him doing something so you can't see what's really happening. It's a deliberate attempt to trick people with false information.

[ProSense]

6. Please don't show Mr. Turtle The Onion because he might believe it's true

Please don't show Mr. Turtle The Onion because he might believe it's true
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/02/20/1188490/-Please-don-t-show-Mr-Turtle-The-Onion-because-he-might-believe-it-s-true