Take That You TRADER....
Posted on 10/17/2003 10:53:32 AM PDT by PatrioticCowboy
US troops question presence in Iraq
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington Friday October 17, 2003 The Guardian
A sizeable portion of US forces serving in Iraq describe troop morale as low, and say they have no intention of re-enlisting, damaging the campaign by the US government to brighten up the image of the postwar occupation.
The survey of 1,935 troops, published in a series of special reports on Iraq in the Stars and Stripes newspaper, also found that a significant number of troops were confused about the purpose of their presence, and had lost faith in their mission.
Coinciding with the report, the army yesterday admitted that at least 13 US troops had committed suicide in Iraq, representing more than 10% of American non-combat deaths there, and said the army had sent a suicide-prevention expert to Iraq.
Stars and Stripes, which is funded by the Pentagon, says it embarked on the project after receiving scores of letters from disenchanted servicemen.
The mailbags belied claims last week by President Bush that increasingly negative public perceptions of Iraq were a product of media spin, and that those who had been there held different views. Not so those for serving up to 12 months in Iraq, according to Stars and Strips, which noted that the troops' views stood in sharp contrast to those of senior officials on brief visits to Iraq.
Yesterday the newspaper quoted an unidentified master sergeant as saying that the delegations of officers and Congressmen only met small groups of specially selected soldiers. "They stacked the deck," he says.
Instead, 49% of those who answered the newspaper's questionnaire rated the morale of their unit as low or very low, 49% said it was unlikely they would re-enlist, and 31% said they thought the war had not been worthwhile.
Stars and Stripes noted that soldiers who were open about morale problems had at times faces disciplinary action. Although the malaise appears to be linked to uncertainty about the length of tours of duty in Iraq, pay scales, and conditions on the ground, another significant factor appears to be the meaning of their mission. Stars and Strips said 35% of respondents complained their mission was not clearly defined. It quotes a member of the National Guard as saying: "We're in the dark."
Maybe the author would desire 1,300 non-combat deaths so that self-inflicted harm would only account for 1% of non-combat deaths.
This will be the pattern of reporting for the Quagmire Brigade for future U.S. wars ..........
It is the year 2013 and, in a 7 day blitzkrieg, the U.S. has routed every terrorist nation on the Planet Earth at the cost of one death. The follwing week, two U.S. soldiers are killed by a terrorist hold-out. The headline by the Liberal media:
"U.S. Deaths During Bungled Peace Are 200% Higher Than During Wartime"
It seems that PatrioticCowboy could not differentiate between a gay crush and documentation to justify action by the Viking Kitties.
PatrioticCowboy: This account has been banned or suspended.
Obviously not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He won't be missed.
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