CHALLENGE TO MEDIA: SURVEY USA TROOPS ON FRONTLINE RE: WHETHER BUSH TRIP 'SUCCESS' OR 'FAILURE'

AmericanInTokyo (Personal Editorial) ^ | 1 December 2003 | AmericanInTokyo (Personal Editorial)

[AmericanInTokyo]

Seems the American news media is groping in the dark as to whether or not the sudden Presidential visit to Iraq was nothing more than grand-standing and, at best, a dishonest, misleading adventure. However, their attempts in this effort seem to be rather subjective and clearly based on political biases.

I hereby propose the establishment of clear 'performance parameters' as to whether in fact this sudden and historic 2003 Thanksgiving Day trip by the President of the United States was a 'success' or not.

Objective parameters lie solely in whether THE TRIP HAD A POSITIVE, A NEGATIVE OR A NEUTRAL IMPACT UPON THE MORALE OF THE AMERICAN TROOPS FAR AWAY IN IRAQ.

CHALLENGE: I hereby invite the American mainstream media, which is tearing apart the Bush visit from any angle it can on a daily basis, to conduct the following poll and questions for a sample group of US troops in that part of the world.

Survey Group One: 20 US military personnel present in the tent at Baghdad International Airport, when President Bush suddenly visited them on Thursday.

Survey Group Two: 20 US military personnel current assigned to Baghdad, Iraq, who did not see the President but who learned of it through Armed Forces radio/TV, the military command and word of mouth.

Survey Group Three: 20 US military personnel currently assigned to Kabul, Afghanistan, who learned of the President Bush visit through Armed Forces radio/TV, military command and word of mouth.

We now have a sample pool of 60 US military in the Iraq/Afghaninstan War on Terror arena. And now for the questions, very simple and fair questions at that:

Q: "When you learned (or experienced) President Bush's sudden visit to Baghdad, did you feel this had a) positive impact; b) negative impact; c) neutral impact on morale for troops in the field?"

Q: "Do you feel that President Bush was a) sincere; b) insincere; c) just playing politics?"

Q: "In retrospect, from your seeing the President (or hearing of his visit) do you now feel: a) it was good that he visited; b) he should not have come; c) it doesn't matter one way or the other?"

[AmericanInTokyo]

I defy the American media, including CNN, Time, Newsweek, Washington Post, New York Times, CBS, ABC, NBC, Associated Press, or anybody else, to conduct this sample survey of 60 uniformed members of the United States in the Near East theater of operations.

Conclusion: What really matters most and seems to be ignored the most is the reactions and attitudes of the American military personnel that the President, on a surreptitious mission, went over to visit.

Will the American news media take up this challenge? Will they truthfully report the conclusions? Will, if the conclusions show this was a morale-booster for the troops, admit that the trip was a 'success'? Or will they continue to obsessively search for any coat-tail of controversy and cynicism with respect to this Thanksgiving Presidential Mission?

I'm waiting.

[LiteKeeper]

Hoo-ah!

[AmericanInTokyo]

are you stationed in iraq? please. details.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Welcome to FR. Did you sign up in the last few hours?

Plz. tell us about yourself.

[AmericanInTokyo]

I see. Post and run, huh? Hmmm...

[codercpc]

Welcome!!

[AmericanInTokyo]

scared off. long gone. (but not banned, yet)

[cake_crumb]

WOW, GREAT idea! I'll BUMP to that!

[cake_crumb]

Appears to have been banned. Didn't last long, did it?

[cake_crumb]

CHALLENGE TO MEDIA: SURVEY USA TROOPS ON FRONTLINE RE: WHETHER BUSH TRIP 'SUCCESS' OR 'FAILURE'

Someting which might interest both youselves AND your massive ping lists.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Gee, thanks.

Surely I hope a nationwide conservative talk show host takes this up and issues the challenge more widely than I have done here today.

[cake_crumb]

I certainly hope so.

[MeekOneGOP]

Hillary to Troops: Support for War Fading
(Click here or on pic)

"Good shot, Mr. President!"

"Thank you !" ...

[Steel Wolf]

I can tell you that hands down everyone that I work with thinks that Bush's trip was an excellent move. Even the sadly misguided liberal minority is hands down in favor of his holiday visit. Very classy, very balls, and it very genuine. There's simply no comparing how he interacts with troops and how Hillary does. It's night and day.

We're also impressed with his infiltration techniques, even in the face of heavy enemy (and Iraqi) presence. That's not luck, that's discipline, cunning and thinking out of the box.

[Freedom4US]

Bad Idea (tm)

Soldiers are prohibited from public political activity while in uniform, and this comes awfully close in spirit if not in letter. Secondly, it's very poor public policy to poll soldiers in order to use their feelings to set public policy. "Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do and die."

Lets keep soldiers out of partisan politics. Lets support them by keeping them out of our public squabbles.

[OrioleFan]

Good idea. The lamestream press won't go for it and the pollsters won't do it because:
a) The pollsters haven't got a list of Bush Haters for their military demographics.
b) The lamestream press is not gonna pay for a poll if they can't guarantee the outcome.
Polls today are used to influence not guage public opinion.

[tgslTakoma]

I'm waiting.

I hope you're not holding your breath while waiting...

[AmericanInTokyo]

Fine then. Poll all of their relatives back in the United States, living near various military bases. Then release the results of the polls in the Stars and Stripes, and on AFRTS, and throughout the general media.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Yep. We don't get too many Presidents like that. From time to time I suppose. And imagine, I did not support him in 2000.