President Bush is eating in my undisclosed location (UPDATE: Undisclosed location is IRAQ!)

Eyes on ^ | 271830(C)NOV03 | ChiefKujo

[ChiefKujo]

President Bush secretly landed an hour ago and is currently eating Thanksgiving dinner at my undisclosed location. Anticipate a press release after he takes off.

ChiefKujo

[Radix]

"Navy One".

I perceive that you do not pull punches.

LoL

[djreece]

Bookmarking this historic event

[2rightsleftcoast]

Thanks, I did have a wonderful Thanksgiving, made even greater by our Courageous,Honorable President.
God Bless President Bush and family. Hope your day was wonderful too.

[CyberAnt]

Speaking of a great wife .. SHE had to tell his parents when they arrived on Wed evening that Bushie had gone to Iraq. What a gal!!

[CyberAnt]

AF1 was taken to Andrews on fake out of maintenance. They went into a huge hangar and there was the other AF1 waiting to take off for Baghdad - new crew. I don't think they wanted to risk an inflight refuel at night. I presume they used the same plan on the return flight.

[IncPen]

check this out

[DefCon]

Well, chief, I see it has been a day and a half since your last post.
I hope you have not been called on the carpet for posting this.
Hopefully, not. Maybe you are just busy with more important things.
In any case, best of luck, and thanks for being there.

[RabidBartender]

I have to wonder if some of the Chief's detractors on this thread tried to report him to the Pentagon/CENTCOM, in the interest of "national security". I've seen a few threats.

[DefCon]

At the time the original post was made, the Chief's profile page had text and pictures on it about his current assignment in Iraq (it is curiously blank now).

Plus, all you had to do was look at some of his previous posting history to see lots of references to his being stationed in Iraq.

Plus the keywords in the article mentioned Iraq (but anyone can add keywords, so I don't know that Chief actually put them there).

I am sure that Chief was excited about the event and wanted to share his excitement with the forum. I am hoping he did not get in some kind of trouble with his higher-ups for violating any rule of secrecy when he posted the information.

It concerns me that he has not made any reply to any thread for a day and a half now.

[Just Lori]

I was in that play in high school!

[Brad’s Gramma]

Read the link in #1837

[CyberAnt]

Did you hear Jim Angle tell that one guy from the Washington Post was missing for a couple of days, and his office didn't know where he was .. because the admin took all the cell phones and pagers away from the media and the guy couldn't report in where he was going .. but of course you know he had to be jazzed to be going .. what a scoop!

One more time the media has MISUNDERESTIMATED our Cowboy!!

[JustPiper]

Well, Chief we are all waiting to hear the exciting firsthand 'after' report...spill it Chief -g-

[bonesmccoy]

Great Civil War story about Doubleday (is that the same Doubleday who invented baseball?).

Moving the national capital to Cheyenne Wyoming might not be a bad idea. In fact, VP Cheney would probably approve because he could go trout fishing and have a national security briefing in the same day.

After reviewing subsequent threads which publish a reporter's notes from the press pool aboard AF1, it appears that the Pentagon requested that all press correspondents withhold comment or publication of the POTUS being in Baghdad until AF1 reached 10,000 feet.

Since the POTUS and the Pentagon requested NO PRESS LEAKS, the publication of his presence in Baghdad appears to run in conflict with the WH and Pentagon requests of the professional media.

ChiefKujo probably was not briefed regarding use of the internet in this situation and probably was so excited by seeing the POTUS that he was eager to tell his stateside friends (sort of like a cell phone call to loved ones might have gone).

I can't say that I blame him for being excited seeing the C-in-C's pep talk. It was a great one and he was a bystander for history.

Also, there is the other possibility that ChiefKujo was officially a part of the press pool or part of the WH staff. That would suggest either a press correspondent who leaked prior to when the WH / Pentagon gave clearance or a WH staffer with orders to publish first on Free Republic.

At any rate, the FR staff did the correct thing (pull the thread until the POTUS was in the air).

[bonesmccoy]

thanks... though in retrospect, it is not vital to publish info first on Free Republic. Rather, the safety and security of the POTUS is the highest duty. So, Pentagon brass will probably need to review appropriate use policy for troops. That's difficult to do given the technology available to troops these days.

[bonesmccoy]

SERIOUSLY, do you actually believe that an Iraqi thug would be scanning Free Republic for intel in English and not notice that a large 747 was sitting in the dark with a gigantic US Presidential Seal on the aircraft?

You guys have got to be kidding?!?!

[CyberAnt]

I didn't notice the lack of insignia, I noticed where he was looking .. at mid-body level of the person facing the President .. about where a handgun would appear ..!

[TruthNtegrity]

I can't help but wonder if Chief Kujo's superior officers (if they've seen or heard about this) aren't ordering an Article 32 hearing on "endangering the life and wellbeing of the President of the United States" as we continue to post to this thread.

[bonesmccoy]

um... there is a BIG difference between seeing a C-5 and a 747 flying (especially when the 747 is AF-1). For one thing, the engines sound different.

[ChiefKujo]

Nope, still here and not under arrest.

For the record, the admin was correct in pulling the thread as some competent Freeper was able to piece-together a general location from previous posts. However, the specific location could not have been determined, even with the clues I left.

Additionally, the secrecy was so great that people guarding the mess hall didn't even know who was inside--even after he left and took off.

I had no prior knowledge of his visit other than the generic word given out that there would be a "special guest" attending the dinner. I was outside the building and heard a roar so loud, it shook the place. It was then that I put the clues together. When I got back to work and, after considering the implications, the timing, security situation, and the level of detail to announce, went with the post.

ChiefKujo