BUSH Has ABANDONED A U.S. Soldier Behind Enemy Lines

[kpete]

A more important topic: Bush abandoned a U.S. soldier behind enemy lines
by VirginiaDem
Wed Nov 01, 2006

.....what they are afraid of is what conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan noticed. George Bush just abandoned a U.S. soldier behind enemy lines on the order of Iraq's government http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/31/AR2006103100452.html. I'll let conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan explain why this is what we should be screaming about right now:

The U.S. military does not have a traditional of abandoning its own soldiers to foreign militias, or of taking orders from foreign governments. No commander-in-chief who actually walks the walk, rather than swaggering the swagger, would acquiesce to such a thing.... And where, by the way, is McCain on this? ... Silent recently on Iraq. But vocal - oh, how vocal - on Kerry. http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/2006/11/abandoning_an_a.html

Even worse, Bush has the gall to attack Kerry about supporting our troops while Bush literally abandons them on the battlefield.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/1/93019/6178

[spanone]

1. K & R

[Dems Will Win]

29. Here is a photo of soldier and wife:

ABANDONED US SOLDIER AHMED QUSAI AL-TAEI

[BR_Parkway]

2. K&R - this is exactly what America needs to hear right now -

[Beetwasher]

3. But Kerry Insulted The Troops

:sarcasm:

I hate the fucking "liberal" media w/ the heat of a billion burning suns.

[Aviation Pro]

4. Bush the AWOL Deserter...

...and Cheney the Five Deferment Asshole are showing their true color, yellow. To all my fellow service brethen and especially to the operators who lurk here (you know who you are) how can you reconcile this against the creed and the code?

[MADem]

5. Like FATHER, Like SON

And I will NEVER 'get over' this treatment of a fellow servicemember: http://www.nationalalliance.org/gulf/spike01.htm

[bobbieinok]

6. this is the context for those of us who missed this story

(from source in OP)

...But the essential fact is clear. In a showdown for control of Baghdad, the Iraqi prime minister took orders from Moqtada al-Sadr, and instructed the U.S. military to withdraw from Sadr City. The American forces were trying both to stabilize the city but also to find a missing American serviceman. He is still missing. Money quote from the WaPo:

"The move lifted a near siege that had stood at least since last Wednesday. U.S. military police imposed the blockade after the kidnapping of an American soldier of Iraqi descent. The soldier's Iraqi in-laws said they believed he had been abducted by the Mahdi Army as he visited his wife at her home in the Karrada area of Baghdad, where U.S. military checkpoints were also removed as a result of Maliki's action."

[knitter4democracy]

14. How awful!

How can that monster sleep at night? He's left a man behind enemy lines for no damn good reason! WTF!!!

[sinkingfeeling]

7. That was my exact thoughts last night when the news said the US

military had pulled back. Wonder why the MSM hasn't brought it up?

[maddiejoan]

8. So instead of Saving Private Ryan...

it's Saving Bush's privates.

[Coexist]

9. knr

[OzarkDem]

10. K & R

[AzDar]

11. Support the Troops, eh Bushie? Gawd, I LOATHE these traitors.

:mad:
edited to add: way to frame the issue, kpete!

[Coexist]

12. Firedoglake has more on this: Please read

http://www.firedoglake.com/

I am shaking with rage at the moment. American soliders do not abandon their own. Unless, of course, someone orders them to do so. Which is exactly what happened when the Bush Administration — via it's envoy Zalmay Khalilzad — agreed to lift the eight day long blockade and search and rescue mission for the captured American soldier…on the demand and order of the Iraqi government.

You read me correctly, the US envoy in Iraq has decided that our US military personnel should take orders from the Iraqi government and abandon one of our soldiers to the Mahdi Army. That this decision occurred abruptly after Stephen Hadley's visit to Baghdad yesterday raises a whole host of questions in my mind — and the press had better damn well be asking for some answers from the Bush Administration today.

The move lifted a near siege that had stood at least since last Wednesday. U.S. military police imposed the blockade after the kidnapping of an American soldier of Iraqi descent. The soldier's Iraqi in-laws said they believed he had been abducted by the Mahdi Army as he visited his wife at her home in the Karrada area of Baghdad, where U.S. military checkpoints were also removed as a result of Maliki's action.

<snip>
The Bush Administration has been encouraging Iraqi-Americans to become more involved in the "liberation" of Iraq. The American military needs more soldiers with regional language fluency, and Iraqi Americans have an understandable interest and personal stake — with many relatives still living in the war torn nation — in working to make things better. The American soldier who was captured is of Iraqi-American descent, he was wearing the uniform of the United States…and we have abandoned him to Moqtada Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army and Sadr City's rage as of yesterday.

We do not abandon our own.

Unless, of course, you are the Bush Administration — which, apparently, has decided to let the Iraqi government start calling the shots for the US military. I hear George Bush will be on Limbaugh's show today — wonder if he'll be asked about his decision to abandon a US soldier to Al-Sadr's militia, with their penchant for torture, on the orders of the Iraqi head of state?

[Atman]

13. knr

:mad:

.

[bobbieinok]

15. let's make this THE story for the pre-election weekkend

From an early comment to the dailykos diary--

What is the strategy to make this a story today? .

The reason TV commercials on Thursday night cost so much is that they are really the last chance to get to your audience before the weekend. The messages that are planted on Thursday are the ones that bounce around inside of people's skulls all weekend.

So what do we do:

--Front page the story in exactly the frame you laid out. Bush abondoned one of our boys behind enemy lines.

--Raise the emotional level. One of our boys is a hostage of Iraqi thugs RIGHT NOW. He is sitting in some hellhole while Bush plays dress-up as the commander in cheif.

--Highlight it on talk Radio. Send The Al Franken Show an Email Aand ask them to lead the news with this.

--Use whatever media cconnections you have to ask to get this story highlighted. From calling your local newspaper to calling in your best connection.

Seriously, if we can plant this story in the nation's mind today and tomorrow we are talkingg game, set, match on this election.

Thanks for the excellent diary.

Just another American against the war.

by dbratl on Wed Nov 01, 2006 at 07:10:53 AM PST

[stevietheman]

16. Agreed. This story can be used to eclipse RW attacks on Kerry.

In fact, we need to try harder to get other more important news stories out there, front and center. This story is a good candidate.

[puerco-bellies]

17. K & R

[Nicole]

18. K & R

:mad:

[Theduckno2]

19. K&R. Gee George, isn't that a some sort of flip-flop? n/t

[chill_wind]

20. The troops know who value them vs "disrespects" them.

Even though the state-owned media doesn't seem to be to0 focused on this outrage.

This needs pushed hard.

K&R.

[ljm2002]

21. For some reason...

...there has been no firestorm of controversy concerning this egregious breach of our historical commitment to our own troops.

Wonder why that could be.

[Disturbed]

22. It is strange that nothing has been heard from the group

that has captured this soldier. Usually, some sort of ransom demand is issued in a kidnapping.

[robertpaulsen]

23. K & R! Important story!

:kick:

[kpete]

24. Thanks

I thought so too

[robertpaulsen]

26. Your welcome!

Where MSM is asleep, you are the wake-up call! Keep up the good work!

[MiniMe]

25. Kerry needs to grab this story and run with it`

The attention is on him right now. Bring this story up. Ask if it is supporting the troops. Ask how we can sacrifice one of our soldiers on the request of the Iraqi government. Right now, today, I think Kerry can drive this home most effectively.

Something like "While the Bush administration has been busy attacking me for doing a poor job of telling a joke, this is what they were actually doing for our troops"

[Straight Shooter]

27. Senator "Craven" McCain, have you anything to say about this?

Maybe Craven McCain can step forward and demand that we rescue the current prisoner of war.

Oh. Wait a minute. That was another McCain, another era. Sorry. I was thinking of a McCain with principles. I think he's gone now.

[SlipperySlope]

28. K&R

No Democrat president would ever take orders from some frigging foreigner. Screw B*SH!

[Disturbed]

30. This poor guy is probably already dead.

It seems that he was captured because he was in an American uniform and married to an Iraq. The family is in danger, as well. They better move elsewhere.The US Regime will stay silent on this one.

[John Gauger]

37. That's what I thought.

People who work in the American Embassy tell no one - not even their spouses - where they are employed, because they know that knowledge of their association with America is a death sentence. It is well known in Baghdad that if you care about your life and those of your family, you don't even talk to the Americans. This guy was a member of our military. I say he died immediately after being cought. Their is nothing we can do to help him.

[Leopolds Ghost]

42. Doesn't matter. "People are fungible"

America, like most nations (and tribes) thruout history, used to negotiate or sacrifice lives to recover the BODIES of slain soldiers. I guess that's not important to Bush.

After all, "people are fungible." Especially when they're dead.

[Senator]

31. kick

[Terri S]

32. Sullivan is right on with this!!

I agree this should be front and center until the election... and beyond. Lord knows, there's so much MORE that the Repubs should be hung for, but this so clearly shows exactly what Kerry was saying and highlights the utter hypocrisy of the administration.

a HUGE K/R!

[SeattleGirl]

33. This makes it even clearer that the people running this show

don't have a clue about the mindset of the military. They fight for their buddies, and they want to bring all of them home. But to these chickenhawks, it's perfectly fine to leave a soldier behind.

:nuke: :nuke: :nuke:

[itsmesgd]

34. this is something that we do not do

We do not leave a man behind. This is horribly wrong. This should be an immediate alarm for all military members active and inactive to demand change at the highest levels.

[John Gauger]

36. They don't now nor have they ever

cared about the lives of anyone. They don't care whether we live or die - not even their own men. If they did, they would not have started this war.

[John Gauger]

35. I was just thinking about this.

I don't think we will ever find him. I can gaurantee that he is dead. He is an Iraqi aiding America, which in Baghdad means instant death. They found him, which means they killed him. In all likelihood he is at the bottom of a pit with 80 other corpses, stripped of any form of identification. We will never know even if we find him. So many bodies are found every day in Baghdad. He was an Arab so there is no way of differentiating him from any of the other victims in the mass grave du jour. What's more, he was in Sadr City, which is an extremely dangerous place for our soldiers to be. How many more of our men are we willing to lose combing through a hostile neighborhood looking for someone we will never find? Like every other mission we undertake in that country, it was both futile and pointless.

I am not surprised that McCain would think nothing of abandoning one of his own, however. He killed legislation in the '80s that would have attempted to rescue POW/MIAs from Vietnam. He never really had any integrity.

But seriously, what could we have done to help this guy? We aren't going to find him any more than we are going to find WMD.

[upi402]

38. Republicans abandoned a U.S. soldier behind enemy lines

Republicans have allowed Iraqi politicians to abandon one of our own, one of our heroes.
Republicans have done this.

[Maraya1969]

39. "No one's coming"

:cry: This is so sad.

[Tom Joad]

40. Iraqis are not the enemy. There are no "enemy lines"

Bush has placed people in danger by sending them to fight a war of agression.

[Land Shark]

41. Kpete &R

[PuppyBismark]

43. Israel just went to war on the loss of one soldier

Bush on the other hand, just abandons our soldier. What is wrong with this picture? So who is it that "supports" the troups?