Wounded KCK Soldier Gets Call From Vice President

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/2669086/detail.html

BERLIN -- President Bush's surprise visit to Baghdad meant a wounded Kansas soldier didn't get a scheduled Thanksgiving call from the nation's chief executive, but Spc. Matthew Van Buren didn't mind. In fact, he said, things couldn't have turned out better.

After Vice President Dick Cheney called to explain that the president had been serving sweet potatoes and corn in Iraq to members of Van Buren's 1st Armored Division and the 82nd Airborne Division, Van Buren said he immediately understood.

"Once I realized why he hadn't called it was quite all right with me, because my boys are still down there in Baghdad and they need the moral support more than I do," Van Buren said in a telephone interview from the U.S. military's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in southwest Germany.

Van Buren, a 21-year-old native of Kansas City, Kan., is recovering from shrapnel wounds to the legs. Van Buren, a scout, was injured Nov. 8 when his Humvee hit an improvised land mine outside Baghdad in an incident where another soldier was killed. His name was submitted by the hospital when the White House called asking about who might be there on Thanksgiving for the president to speak with.
<snip>
Now, if the visit was planned "weeks in advance," why were they scheduling calls at the same time?

The spin is making me dizzy.

[0007]

1. What's on the menus for xmas?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

2. They're waiting to see what Hillary or Dean are going to be doing

so they can try and upstage them.

I hope it's going to be crow.

[shanti]

5. next time

we should do the same, and not announce the visit.

[loudnclear]

3. So, Cheney calls from his bunker...

Sorry, I am just synical.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

4. The fact that he was scheduled to get a call from...

...Herr Coke-n-Smoke tells me that his trip to Iraq was done as a knee-jerk reaction to Hillary's trip to Afghanistan. They must be getting pretty nervous.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

6. Ka-ching!

[TheLastMohican]

7. Iraq is turning into 51 state!

Every politician thinks its his obligation to go to Iraq to boost his popularity chances, cheap popularity I should say.

P.S. I want to see Shrub in a body armor and Kevlar helmet riding a Humvee with machine-gun pointed at the locals. That would make a great photo-op, NOT! Too damn dangerous for the chimp.

[Judi Lynn]

8. You've got'em dead to rights, I'm certain.

Those steps described in lining up people to call from Crawford would simply have been not considered and left untaken by people who were planning to do something quite different.

(snip) Friday, November 28, 2003 - Page updated at 12:06 A.M.

Bush's Baghdad blitz makes troops' holiday

By Seattle Times news services
BAGHDAD, Iraq — President Bush stunned U.S. troops in Iraq yesterday by turning up at their Thanksgiving dinner after an unannounced 27-hour flight saying he was "just looking for a warm meal."

The surprise, morale-boosting visit brought wild cheers from battle-worn soldiers and even surprised the president's parents, who had been expecting him at a family Thanksgiving gathering at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. (snip/...)


President Bush, left, puts his arms around a soldier yesterday in Baghdad, Iraq.
THESE GUYS don't look like the same ones who would have been cheering wildly. They look downright underwhelmed.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001802645_bush28.html