Posted on 12/23/2004 6:45:45 PM PST by KMC1
LEADING THE ARMY YOU HAVE: The networks are just reporting that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is visiting the troops in Mosul, Iraq for Christmas.
It comes only three days after the second deadliest day in Iraq - in Mosul.
FOX NEWS' Bret Baier is reporting that Rumsfeld just landed and is meeting with the troops who were most affected by the bombing. This particular base is the most "forward" base in Iraq.
Baier is reporting that this trip was long scheduled but even after the bombing the resolution to cheer the troops became even more important.
More details here - as they get reported...
MOSUL, Iraq – U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld visited wounded soldiers and brought holiday greetings on Christmas Eve amid tight security at an air base in northern Iraq where an insurgent's attack killed 14 U.S. troops and eight other people earlier this week.
Hoping to demonstrate compassion for soldiers' sacrifices, Rumsfeld landed in darkness and walked immediately from his plane to a combat surgical hospital where many of the bombing victims were treated after Tuesday's lunchtime attack on a mess tent. The most seriously wounded already have been transferred to a U.S. military hospital in Germany.
Link to the rest of the story:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/iraq/20041223-1843-rumsfeld-iraq.html
Rumsfeld has visited the troops before. He has always demonstrated compassion for the soldiers sacrifices.
A Soldier's Christmas by Michael Marks
The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
my daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree, I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep
in perfect contentment, or so it would seem.
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eye when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
and I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
"What are you doing?" I asked without fear
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts,
to the window that danced with a warm fire's light
then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night"
"Its my duty to stand at the front of the line,
that separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red white and blue... an American flag.
"I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home,
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat,
I can carry the weight of killing another
or lay down my life with my sisters and brothers
who stand at the front against any and all,
to insure for all time that this flag will not fall."
"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone.
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
to know you remember we fought and we bled
is payment enough, and with that we will trust.
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.
The media didn’t do its job again. When Sec Rumsfeld was here at Camp Freedom Christmas Eve morning he gave a good talk about what how he believes this is a pivotal point in history and thanked us for the job we are doing… The media also mentions that he took questions from soldiers and CNN says that one soldier asked about deployment lengths. Well to set the record straight there were exactly 3 questions asked, the first was a soldier asking about getting out of here around the time frame for elections in 2006… (The soldiers are looking that far ahead, even if the media isn’t) Sec Rumsfeld said that the plan was to keep deployment lengths to no more than one year. The second question was more of statement, a soldier said that he is one of the people affected by the stop loss and he just wanted to let Sec Rumsfeld know that he understands why it is happening and supports it. The third question is the one I personally asked. I said “Sir what are we doing to win the propaganda war, We are getting killed in the media, the media is helping the insurgents by showing every victory they have but they ignore everything good that we do, what are you on higher levels doing to help us win the war in the media?” His first response was “Well you know that wasn’t a question planted by the media” Then he went on to talk about some positive things we are doing and the fact that his office sees the negative reporting in the media and that the media is hurting us especially in this part of the world with people who would be our allies… He went on to talk about other things but I don’t remember exactly so I won’t try to quote him. Anyway just thought I would let you know what happened this morning.
Rumsfield should be jailed for the crime of not being prepared for battle. I bet ya he wasn't even a Weabloo...
Bastard he is, people have died because of his pompusnous (sp)!!! I really hate that guy...
Thanks for the first hand report- the media didn't tell us the things you just did.
From an AFP report:
“How do we win the war with the media?” asked one soldier.
“That does not sound like a question planted by the press ... It happens sometimes,” joked a smiling Rumsfeld, in an apparent reference to an incident in Kuwait when a soldier asked a question after being encouraged by a journalist.
Rumsfeld accused the press of reporting mainly bad news most of the time from Iraq, charging the local media “report vicious inaccuracies in a consistent and persistent manner”.
From an AP report:
Rumsfeld answers troops on Christmas Eve
Published Friday, December 24, 2004
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) - Troops’ questions for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld were considerably more friendly on his Christmas Eve visit to Iraq than they were on his previous trip to the region a couple of weeks ago. "How do we win the war in the media?" asked one soldier in Mosul. Another soldier in Tikrit wondered why there is not more coverage of reconstruction efforts going on in the country.
"I guess what’s news has to be bad news to get on the press," Rumsfeld responded to the first question - after supposing, with a big grin, "that does not sound like a question that was planted by the press."
"I think the American people get it," he responded to the second. " ... I wish it was possible that more of the good works you’re doing here ... were considered newsworthy and were reported in a way that people would understand the progress that is being made, and it is being made because of you," he told the woman in Tikrit.
And finally, from Rush Limbaugh:
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Everything we do good, no matter whether it's helping a little kid or building a new school, the public affairs sends out the message that the media doesn't pick up on. How do we win the propaganda war?
RUMSFELD: That does not sound like a question that was planted by the press. That happens sometimes. (Uproarious Laughter.)
RUSH: And the raucous uproarious laughter and applause continued. When it died down, the secretary answered question.
RUMSFELD: Everything we do here is harder because of television stations like Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabia and the constant negative approach. You don't hear about the schools that are open, and the hospitals that are open, and the clinics that are open, and the fact that the stock market is open and the Iraqi currency is steady and the fact that there have been something like 140,000 refugees coming from other countries back into this country. They're voting with their feet because they believe this is a country of the future. You don't read about that. You read about every single negative thing that anyone can find to report. I was talking to a group of congressmen and senators the other day, and there were a couple of them who had negative things to say and they were in the press in five minutes. There were 15 or 20 that had positive things to say about what's going on in Iraq and they couldn't get on television. Television just said we're not interested. That's just -- sorry. So it is, I guess, what's news has to be bad news.
I got to see you on Fox News today. Good job. Let us know if there is anything you need.
I saw that...
Good job.
Thanks for your service.
God bless you, sconnelly89, and Merry Christmas to you and your fellow troops.
The troops seem to be pretty recptive to the MAN. I trust their judgment.....
5 - Merry Christmas, and many thanks for your service, sconnelly89.
With people like you and technology like this, identifying media lies the same day they are published., perhaps we can yet win this war the media has on our country,
Let's Roll !!!
4 - "A Soldier's Christmas by Michael Marks "
Most touching. Many thanks.
Donald Rumsfeld (born 1932) became the United States 21st Secretary of Defense on January 20, 2001. Before assuming that position, he was a Navy pilot, President Gerald Ford's Secretary of Defense, President Ford's White House Chief of Staff, U.S. Ambassador to NATO under President Richard Nixon, a U.S. Congressman from Illinois, and chief executive officer at two Fortune 500 companies.
Rumsfeld attended Princeton University on academic and NROTC scholarships (A.B., 1954) and served in the U.S. Navy (1954-57) as an aviator and flight instructor. In 1957, he transferred to the Ready Reserve and continued his Naval service in flying and administrative assignments as a drilling reservist until 1975. He transferred to the Standby Reserve when he became Secretary of Defense in 1975 and to the Retired Reserve with the rank of Captain in 1989.
http://www.thebantyrooster.com/imported-data/2004/12/24/a-must-read-email-from-an-american-soldier.html
A Must Read Email From an American Soldier!
This is from Rumsfeld's visit.
To quote you:
"Being fanatical is worrisome !!! See a shrink..."
Remember - here on FreeRepublic your lies do not work. We are not idiots like your cohorts believe we are.
We, here, understand what is going on in the world. We also understand that for some reason there are supposed-Americans who want America to be hated worldwide, who want defeat in any and all efforts by Republicans (even if it means harm to their own children in schools, in their child's freedoms, in their beliefs and in their safety).
Your inane hate speech is immediately noticed here because, you see, we don't waste time on hate speech. We are able to see through media propaganda (that you buy hook, line and sinker), we can recognize good men who would never think of doing the things you accuse them of. We know your hate filled claims are pure lies that you believed from your "party".
Please don't display your stupidity here by claiming such inane things as Rumsfeld's pompousity, Bush's ignorance, Bush and his oil buddies and on and on.
All you do is show exactly how your party would lead if in control of our country. You believe all the worst of our leaders because you know full well - those are the traits of your leaders.
We do not elect those kind of people to run our country period.
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