Let's go to the tape, shall we?

[CatWoman]

These soldiers (onlooking in background) don't look so "grateful" and "happy" to me.
what say you???

[Alpharetta]

1. Congrats, troops. You got used by * again.

.

[Syncronaut Seven]

27. Do you remember the film shot by the North Vietnamese

Of our POW's Happy & well treated, And flying the bird? Kind of has that feel to it.

[demnan]

2. No they don't

looks like forced joviality. The tall blond guy in the crew cut looks like he'd like to kill him.

[grannylib]

3. Don't suppose fragging the Commander in Thief would be a good thing

but it sure looks as though they'd like to...
Hope this backfires on Chimpy big-time...too little, too late, and an obviously desperate effort to show that famous 'compassionate' conservativism...what a joke.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

6. too little too late is right

Bush is on the ropes, people. What a jackass, so out of touch. I've often wondered why he doesn't do anymore Post Sept11 visits to NY. Think it's because he's not a big fan of rotten fruit.

[opihimoimoi]

5. They were photo PROPS and they knew it. But still, the Prez made the right

decision to go cheer the boyz up, after all, das was his ole job, cheer leading.

He coulda done a better job of it tho instead of the couple of hour thingy.

As usual he fucked it up by doing a half ass job. The visit should been longer and see more troops/ Iraqi People. Invite them to the freaking bird feast for gods sake. At least a token few hundred.

[Kanary]

28. The tall blond guy in the crew cut

I have a hunch he's secret service.

Kanary

[shanti]

4. the woman in the second picture

is smiling so hard it looks painful! good grief.

[opihimoimoi]

8. Maybe they were nervous because of the proximity to the BIG TARGET

If the resistance got One hint of his presence they woulda send all their motars, etc in the general direction of Bush..

[shanti]

20. could be....

but i say her smile looks phony as hell.

[Cocoa]

7. exhausted probably

their nerves are no doubt shot, and some will need mental health treatment when they come home.

[louis-t]

9. He's also picked out what looks like...

the only black woman in the room to hug. Reminds me of the story of the Republican convention where they had Armstrong Williams running around trying to get on camera as much as possible. Of course, we all know how much the Reptilicans do for minorities.

[jfxgillis]

10. Hate to bust your bubble....

... But do you guess his Secret Service detail would've continued to wear their charateristic suit and tie in that environment?

[CatWoman]

12. and your point is???????

so now the SS is going around impersonating military personnel?? :shrug:

[Philostopher]

18. They aren't ALL SS people, though.

I agree with you that some of them probably are part of the Secret Service detail -- a couple of those guys would be seriously up the pipe because they'd be out of 35-10 if they actually were serving in the military, no question. The top pic, especially -- that guy with the gray hair just over $hrub's shoulder has got too way much hair.

But the only ones who are smiling are the ones who are right next to the Dim Son. So far, all the photos from the photo-op I'd seen were cropped to include only the smiling faces in his periphery. It is interesting to see how disgusted some of them look when you see the whole photo, not the campaign crops.

After what these people have been through, they'd have to be too crazy to serve at all to be enthralled that their figurehead swooped in for one day to get re-election campaign photos.

[Rex]

26. And you know which ones are SS...how?

Miss Cleo?

[laura888]

11. they're upset because they have to be in this photo op

instead of home with their loved ones.

bring em home!

[DinahMoeHum]

13. Well, I saw the UK headline this today: "The Turkey Has Landed"

which says it all:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=467982

I mean, Big F**king Deal: two and a half hours!! He spent more time on the plane than on Iraqi soil.

And Hilary Clinton has just one-upped * anyway. She's traveling through BOTH Iraq AND Afghanistan !!

:kick:

[radfringe]

14. It's a FIRST for Bush*

first time he "saw" a combat zone

He'll probably be awarded a few medals for this

if he got a paper cut while in Baghdad will he be awarded a purple heart ---- just asking....

[Zomby Woof]

15. some of them do

In that last pic, lots of smiling soldiers, some with cameras. All of the pics yesterday showed nothing but smiling soldiers in the background. Yours are the first where I see many who are not.

I think the conclusion should be, many were happy to see him, and some were not. They are largely indoctrinated to think the "president" is swell, being Republican and all.

[frylock]

16. damn.. that one dude looks like timothy mcveigh!

am I alone here? That guy is staring daggers into the shrub's back! Speaking of which, didn't anybody have a shank handy?! I'm joking of course, Mr. Ashcroft!!

[MoAWO]

17. Well

They would prob. like to be at home with family than there.
I was sad at that time when I didn't get to spend it with the
family.

[CatWoman]

21. I'm having troubling finding validity in your statement

I'm quite sure ALL of them would rather be at home with their families.

[camero]

19. I wonder how many groaned

When Bush said they were there til the 'job' was finished? Which means never. Welcome to your new home troops. I wish you would come back.

[Solomon]

22. Wouldn't You be pissed too if were taking assasins bullets

and some idiot comes over talking shit about how "we" aren't gonna back down just because of a group of thugs? He gets to fly back out and leave you holding the bag. It's no different than the "bring 'em on" tripe that he did. It's like picking a fight but letting someone else do the damn fighting for you.

Why don't he put on one of them uniforms with the 90 pounds of equipment hanging off of him, get embedded with a platoon so we can watch him duck and run for a while. Then he can act like he put himself in harms way.

[oasis]

23. Many had cameras ready for his "surprise" visit. The real story will come

out when one of these brave troops returns to civilian life. Hopefully there are more than hand picked, career personnel present.

[Kahuna]

24. The black lady he's hugging kinda looks like Condi...

Hmmmmmmm. What was condi doing yesterday? :tinfoilhat:

[Scott Lee]

25. "Sir, could you hug the Black soldier?...Yes...perfect!"

"We need this 'Abraham Lincoln Father" stuff going on. The press will eat it up!"

[MUAD_DIB]

29. Did * leave the banner behind this time,

or did the troops not ask for one?