WP: A Baghdad Thanksgiving's Lingering Aftertaste

[kskiska]

Now they tell us…

By Dana Milbank

Stars and Stripes, the Pentagon-authorized newspaper of the U.S. military, is bucking for a court-martial.

When last we checked in on Stripes, it was reporting on a survey it did of troops in Iraq, finding that half of those questioned described their units' moral as low and their training as insufficient and said they did not plan to reenlist.

With the Pentagon just recovering from that, Stars and Stripes is blowing the whistle on President Bush's Thanksgiving visit to Baghdad, saying the cheering soldiers who met him were pre-screened and others showing up for a turkey dinner were turned away.

The newspaper, quoting two officials with the Army's 1st Armored Division in an article last week, reported that "for security reasons, only those preselected got into the facility during Bush's visit. . . . The soldiers who dined while the president visited were selected by their chain of command, and were notified a short time before the visit."

The paper also published a letter to the editor from Sgt. Loren Russell, who wrote of the heroism of his soldiers and then added: "magine their dismay when they walked 15 minutes to the Bob Hope Dining Facility, only to find that they were turned away from their evening meal because they were in the wrong unit. . . . They understand that President Bush ate there and that upgraded security was required. But why were only certain units turned away?"

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57870-2003Dec11.html

[neuvocat]

1. Well well well...

there goes Bush's military vote.

[eridani]

5. Not really

The military vote is going to be electronic, so it should be close to 100% Bush.

[demconfive]

12. I'm sure...

...that those getting absentee ballots will also be "preselected".

[monobrau]

37. and

There goes another campaign ad. I'd like to see a figure for how much both of these photo ops cost us.

[David__77]

2. This is significant.

Who was excluded, and how were the participants selected? I am curious. Indeed, "morale" could have been an indicator, with only the "gung ho" allowed in for the meal.

[UpInArms]

20. this enlisted member

was probably allowed to participate

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/video1/iraqiwar.rm

[54anickel]

32. There are no words to reply to that video.

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[0007]

40. It won't open for me! shucks~`

[rocktivity]

46. Working link

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/video1/20030716ll_iraq.ram


rocknation

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

47. and neither was that LT just before him....

talking about intentional woundings.... holy shit.

[MO_Dem]

3. I wonder if the

"chain of command" or booshies have a way of checking voter registrations of soldiers? Could they have selected ONLY republican soldiers to "dine" with the turkey in chief?

[Vitruvius]

43. To ask that question is to answer it.

Of course.

[liberalmuse]

4. How is it possible...

that the Bush-turkey photo-op was even more disgusting than we thought? Time to adjust the cynicism to a new low. Pretty soon I'm going to strike oil.

[young_at_heart]

6. Are they saying this was highly SCRIPTED?

What a major surpise....I'm beginning to think every single minute or his life is scripted. NOTHING is able to be spontaneous.

[PurityOfEssence]

7. Is this a threat? It certainly sounds like one...

"The 1st Armored Division officials told Stars and Stripes that all soldiers had the opportunity to get a proper Thanksgiving meal -- possibly more than the newspaper's editors will get in Guantanamo next year."

Is the brass telling Stars and Stripes that if they give them anymore guff they'll be in our own national Devil's Island? Hmmm, sure sounds like a threat...

[DeepModem Mom]

13. Those are Milbank's words, aren't they?

Quite a pointed joke from Dana...

[PartyPooper]

8. I heard that the "turkey" Junior was holding in a tray was "faux".

I believe it was CNN saying that it was a plastic bird. Anyone else hear about this? I wonder what the military thought about this Rovian "photo op". Of course, it wasn't quite the "Abraham Lincoln" aircraft carrier moment. But, still...it was the pResident on hand for 2 1/2 hours of schmoozing and picture-taking with the troops. What a war hero!

:eyes:

[Maccagirl]

9. John Kerry talked about it being fake last night

I thought that the "fake turkey" story was just DU being funny-but apparently it's true! I would be sooo pissed if I was a soldier and was being exploited for a photo-op (in addition to the much more serious exploitation of being used as cannon fodder).

[lfairban]

10. As far as I know it was a real turkey, . . .

. . . but it was not for eating. There was much speculation to the effect that it was plastic, but I have not seen it in the press yet.

It was fake or prop in that it was not meant for eating. One poster stated that when serving large groups of people, you separate the white meat from the dark and cook it separately.

The bird that the turkey was holding on the platter may have been undercooked and painted.

[DoctorMyEyes]

11. Real turkey - but inedible

It was made up as a "decoration" for the chow line. It was a real turkey, but it wasn't cooked. The food contractor (Halliburton) greased up a turkey and browned it up nice a purdy with a blow torch - so it was essentially raw on the inside, and never intended for anyone to eat.

[Ferretherder]

14. So, the idea was to stick a fork-full of your 'processed' turkey ...

...in your mouth, then turn and look at the 'prepared' bird and imagine it tasting like THAT turkey LOOKED. Hmmm. So do MRE's come with 8 x 10 glossies of the meals they are patterned after...just to aid in the digestion?

I know, I know. They say the standard issue MRE's are not all that bad, really, but I bet trying to eat ANY meal with * strutting around, posing for the camera, would be nauseatingly difficult...wouldn't you think?

[Gin]

15. The "real turkey" was holding the prop turkey. Can't he ever be

spontaneous? Must he always be staged? Oh..I forgot...a puppet needs to be directed.

[snippy]

26. I think you are supposed to look at the decorative turkey first

and then taste your processed turkey product.

[Devilock]

34. Not savory pictures but close!

I thought you would enjoy this:

http://wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,60094,00.html

"The Natick Soldier Center is working on a project to make rations more palatable to grunts by embedding savory aromas into the food's packaging. If the food smells better, the thinking goes, the soldiers will be more likely to eat their MREs, or Meals, Ready to Eat, and will be better able to carry out their grueling tours of duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere."

[leesa]

44. So in the photo op he was essentially offering up poison to the soldiers?

Very symbolic!

[kentuck]

16. But they were offered their dinner at 9PM...

They were hungry so they ate their MRE's before they had the chance to get in and have some leftover turkey...

[Hubert Flottz]

17. I saw that same Turkey at Walmart!

I'll bet Bush wouldn't give anyone there a Wishbone! The Dog and Chimpy show must go on! I guess Shrub will come down the damned chimney next!

[truthspeaker]

18. the fake turkey thing

This has really bothered me, because how hard can it be to cook one turkey? I'm sure one of Saddam's palaces has a working oven. If not, they could have thrown a turkey frier and a gallon of cooking oil onto AF1. The freedom-haters are pathological - they lie even when they don't have to.

[bushisanidiot]

19. Contrast This With Senator Clinton's Dining With The Troops

I think the only prereq was that they were troops from NY (if there was a prereq at all). There's no way in hell she would have had a chance to handpick only democratic troops to dine with.. and even if she did have that chance, she wouldn't have done it knowing it wouldn't be right.

George W. Bush is absolutely the WORST "president" this country has ever seen. Has the Deserter gone 1 day in office without lying? Has he even gone 1 day in his LIFE without lying??

[dusty64]

21. Very interesting.

Glad to see some truth in the news.

[Stuckinthebush]

22. Whomever the Dem nominee may eventually be...

He or She should make a point of loudly saying:

"This administration has a very real problem with the truth."

Make it stick.

[snippy]

31. The DNC should be running ads saying that right now.

This is the time to start defining Bush in the minds of independent voters.

[LizW]

23. Just think about this insult for a minute

Not only were some soldiers turned away from their Thanksgiving meal (without being told ahead of time), the excuse given is "security". Security???? These are volunteer American soldiers, in the very act of fighting a war on foreign soil and they can't be trusted to be in the same room with their Commander in Chief*?

Sorry, guys, we appreciate you risking your lives and all, but you can't be allowed to get too close to the Dimson, 'cause you might be a threat to his security!:puke:

Please pardon my language, but this is bullshit. The crowd was pre-screened to have the optimum size, racial and gender make-up, and to weed out anyone who might show anything less than glowing adoration for the Pretender.

[MetaTrope]

29. DynCorp "soldiers" only, no doubt

:puffpiece:

[catmandu57]

24. Every audience is prescreened

for this thief* every movement is scripted, every backdrop designed to impress the simple minded.

[kentuck]

28. Oh to see that as a headline in the NYTimes....

Every Audience Prescreened - Even The Military

All hat and no turkey.

[Patriot_Spear]

39. Potemkin villagers replaced with Potemkin Troops...

In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is King...

[Beetwasher]

25. They Placed People's Lives in Danger and Helped the Terrorists!

"Of more concern, air traffic controllers in Britain are seething over the flight, in which the president's 747, falsely identified as a Gulfstream, traveled through British airspace. Prospect, the controllers union in the United Kingdom, says the flight broke international regulations, posed a potential safety threat and exposed a weakness in the air defense system that could be exploited by terrorists."

Incredible...

[Hubert Flottz]

27. 'Super Jethro Goes To Iraq'!

"Look up in the sky" "It's A Bird" "No, It's A Plane" "No, It's Rambush, the long predicted calamity of the new millennium, who fights a neverending battle against Truth, Justice and the American way!

And the Lawd said, "Let there be Bush?t!"

[54anickel]

33. But I assume nothing will come of this. He's above the law, remember?

[Terran]

30. How can our own troops be considered a security risk? n/t

[monobrau]

38. Do you know anybody over there?

I do, and I don't think it's security they were worried about, but rather filling the room with only the most brain-dead zombie warriors for a good photo op.

[tinrobot]

35. Another case for the draft in 2005

I noticed this little tidbit in the article:

half of those questioned described their units' moral as low and their training as insufficient and said they did not plan to reenlist.

Most soldiers sign up two years at a time, this means by 2005 half the forces in Iraq will be gone. How are they going to refill those ranks without a draft? I doubt people are volunteering these days.

[Moderator]

36. kick

:kick:

DU Moderator

[Cooley Hurd]

41. MoveOn should run a new ad exposing the truth...

...about this photo-op, as well as the carrier landing. The present ad about corporate giveaways (the "Santa in the cowboy boots" ad) is a great ad, but I think it only plays to the more intelligent members of our society. However, exposing Shrub & Co for the lying pieces of crap they are, complete with fake turkeys, stuffed flight suits and most importantly, the utter lack of respect Shrub shows the troops. I mean, keeping the Abraham Lincoln at sea for a few extra days for a photo op after coming off the longest carrier deployment since WW2, as well as turning troops away from a thanksgiving dinner because they weren't Republicans, is utterly fucking SHAMEFUL!

Run that ad with the frequency that the Santa ad has been running, and I'm positive his poll numbers will dip below 40%. That's the kind of stuff that will totally piss off Joe and Jane Sixpack...

[Vitruvius]

42. Kick

:kick:

[rocktivity]

45. I was right--the Gulfstream story DID have a grain of truth in it!

As it happens, Air Force One was flying across the North Sea, off the eastern coast of England, when it was spotted by the mystery plane, a German charter jet. But that's being picky.
It's not being picky at all--just like with the Mission Accomplished banner, was this lie necessary? Did the German pilot "become" British to play up the pro-war alliance? Or was did the German pilot have to be eliminated for the same reason why Germany was eliminated from the Iraqi rebuilding contracts?

...air traffic controllers in Britain are seething over the flight, in which the president's 747, falsely identified as a Gulfstream, traveled through British airspace...The flight...posed a potential safety threat and exposed a weakness in the air defense system that could be exploited by terrorists...The flight was in "breach" of regulations against filing false flight plans set by the International Civil Aviation Organization, which he said should apply to a military aircraft using civilian airspace.
Exactly. I'm sure the British would have been happy to play along with the Gulfstream story if they'd been in on it.


rocknation

[imax2268]

48. Mess Halls and such...

I think it was ABC news that did a piece on the mess halls where BushCo did his "photo op"...they reported that the mess halls and kitchens were in the poorest conditions...rotten meat, blood on floors of kitchen, dirty serving trays and utensils...etc,etc...did anyone hear about this...I can't find a link...maybe because it was just reported...

anyone have any info on this...?