One Tin Soldier Stands Alone >>>

[Stephanie]

Phil Kiver, an Iraqi war veteran who served from July 2004 to February 2005, holds a placard showing his support for the war during an interview on the side of a country road, near the ranch of US President George W. Bush in Crawford, Texas. Iraq's ousted Sunni Arab elite expressed alarm after the country's Shiite majority made a surprise move towards Kurdish-style autonomy, just days before a crucial deadline for agreement on a new constitution.(AFP/Mandel Ngan)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050812/photos_wl_me_afp/050812151146_2tub4g1j_photo1

[pointblank]

1. He's gonna

get run over standing there...I'm telling ya.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. I wonder if he and the vets for peace are on speaking terms?

[progressivebydesign]

3. He has a right to his opinion, but he look SO LONELY! n/t

[Walt Starr]

4. He needs to go back to Iraq

IF he supports it so much, he should go back.

[Crankie Avalon]

6. He was already there (read the caption)...

...I'm very glad he came back, but not everyone has been or will be so lucky.

He has his right to his opinion, no matter how wrong, lonely and isolated it may be.

EDIT: I see you have since edited your reply.

[Straight Shooter]

5. Well, looky there. He's completely intact.

I wonder what his job was in Iraq.

Interesting how he needs to not only display his support for the illegal invasion, but also for the War Criminal of the Century.

[Lars39]

9. and why hasn't he been sent back?

Grandpas have been sent back, why is he still here?

[Diane R]

7. He is well known in Spokane

What a blast from the past.

He grew up near Spokane and ran for mayor of his small town when he was 18. He was arrested for stealing his opponent's campaign signs and spent (I believe) 5 months in jail.

He is very self-impressed, radically right wing, and unfortunately very articulate and attention seeking. He used to have a weekly gig on a local radio talk program and was often quite entertaining, but has a very serious case of foot in mouth syndrome. Eventually it became quite obvious he had serious issues. During that time, he joined the Army National Guard (I am going from memory here), and was supposedly going to be some sort of communications or Public Relations specialist. I remember him talking about attending broadcasting school for the Army. I wonder where he served in Iraq. My guess is he wasn't riding around in an unarmored vehicle.

He is an opportunist and this is exactly where I would have expected him to show up. Watch out for him; he will charm the right wing press and probably become their darling.
He has huge aspirations. He was adamant that he was going to be a big shot; he aims for the sky. I am sure this move is carefully plotted to position himself well with the bush cartel. Karl Rove will love him; he has a big mouth. Watch for him to be on FAUX before the day's end.

[RetroLounge]

13. He just went to Iraq to pad his resume

:sarcasm:

RL

[blm]

14. Why isn't he re-enlisting like Kerry did after his first tour?

A REAL resume padder - re-enlists.

[RetroLounge]

18. Exactly!

:hi:

RL

[blm]

19. Heh...they can't stand their dumbass charges used against them.

.

[JHB]

15. He was an Army broadcast journalist, and he has a book to hawk

Found this about him. It also says, as you might expect, he uses the book to bad-mouth co-workers and superiors he didn't like, and calls CNN "treasonous" because of the standard RW litany of things they hold against MSM coverage.

http://www.cheneyfreepress.com/070705/chs_and_ewu_grad_phil_kiver_tell.asp

CHS and EWU grad Phil Kiver tells his tale of "182 Days in Iraq"

By JOHN McCALLUM
Editor

Phil Kiver is not for the faint-hearted – and neither is his book.

The Cheney High School and Eastern Washington University graduate has penned a memoir, "182 Days in Iraq," a story of his experiences as an Army broadcast journalist in the war-torn country.

Kiver, assigned to the III Corps public affairs office out of Fort Hood, Tex., had a unique opportunity to sample and witness a variety of aspects and conditions of the Iraq War as part of the Multi-National Corps Iraq Public Affairs office.
----
And where Kiver is remains the main topic of the book – a war zone. Kiver provides gripping descriptions of missions to combat hot spots such as Fallujah and Najaf, patrols in Baghdad and places like Camp Anaconda, a U.S. base 50 miles north of Baghdad. And it’s not only patrols or cross-country missions that bring him within a mortar round of death. Indeed, life at his home base of Camp Victory is often one of daily attacks – descriptions of which bear a striking resemblance to the war experiences of Vietnam-era veterans.

More at the link.

[Generic Other]

17. Why are all the nutcases from Washington state?

Sheesh.

[antigone382]

8. Well, I think he's misguided, but I won't denigrate his service.

He's certainly earned the right to have an opinion on the Iraq war...however I think it's interesting, and very telling, that so far he's the only veteran willing to go down to Crawford to show support for the war; yet there's an entire organization of veterans down there who are against it--and this is in Texas, no less. Based on the media characterization of the troops, you'd think there would be truckloads of vets and off-duty military personnel, both from TX and surrounding states, rallying to support Bush. The fact that there aren't is something to ponder.

[pointblank]

10. HE IS NOT ALONE!!!..he has millions of enlisted members

of the 101st KEYBAORDDIST DIVISION behind him!!

[Bluerthanblue]

11. PERFECT 'title'-

i'd forgotton that song-

and the stuff buried under the mountain is not gold- it's oil-

".... Go ahead and hate your neighbor, go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of heaven, justify it in the end
There won't be any trumpets blowing, come the judgment day
On the bloody morning after - one tin soldier rides away.

So the people of the valley sent a message up the hill
Asking for the buried treasure, tons of gold for which they'd kill
Came an answer from the kingdom: "With our brothers we will share
All the secrets of our mountain, all the riches buried there.

Chorus

Now the valley cried with anger, mount your horses, draw your sword!
And they killed the mountain people, so they won their just reward
Now they stood beside the treasure on the mountain dark and red
Turned the stone and looked beneath it -
"Peace on Earth" was all it said."

The BillyJack Anthem

[orleans]

12. isn't he on public property? shouldn't he be removed?

he's in the street and the secret service pointed out at least ten times to cindy that cars drive down that road pretty fast.......

[riverwalker]

16. that reminds me

I watched Billy Jack the other night, and out of curiousity I Googled it to see what he (Tom Laughlin) was up these days. Lo and behold, he has a vehemently anti-war web site (he married the blond lady who played Jean). Says he is neither dem or repug and hates both parties. Supposedly has a new anti war movie coming out. http://www.billyjack.com/

[JHB]

20. Just think: The Bush motorcade probably counted him as one of...

the protestors.

What's that thing at his feet? A microphone or a jump rope?