Iraq Veteran Criticizes Bush on Radio

NewsMax.com ^ | 01 May 2004 | NewsMax Wires

[txradioguy]

WASHINGTON -- An Iraq war veteran expressed disappointment with President Bush on Saturday, saying the nation's leaders refuse to acknowledge the seriousness of continuing violence in Iraq.

"I don't expect our leaders to be free of mistakes. I expect our leaders to own up to them," said Army National Guard 1st Lt. Paul Rieckhoff, who was a platoon leader in Iraq.

Rieckhoff's comments, distributed by Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign, were the Democratic response to the president's weekly radio address. Usually, a public official gives the response.

[txradioguy]

There are rules against members of the military making political statements like this. WOnder if he'll be fried like the officers who spoke out against Clinton? Somehow I doubt it.

[Dan from Michigan]

There's always some who disagree. He's from Amherst and that I'm sure is an influence.

Every Iraq soldier I know is going to vote for Bush.

[Bommer]

Rieckhoff's comments, distributed by Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign

Good to see Kerry still favors the Anti-War traitors who come home to stab their commrades in the back.

[Teplukin]

To be honest, I somewhat doubt this fellow served in the military.

Probably a DNC troll. No need for anyone to pay any further attention to this fellow. He has been thus been exposed.

[txradioguy]

The story says that he's in a National Guard unit and until recently he was on active duty. Somehow he is under the belief that because he's not on active duty right now that he's protected.

He's about to get a VERY rude awakening on that point.

[Hotdog]

Does this guy rep the Dem GI's?...if so...watch out who you jump into a fox hole with...might find Kerry in there!

[x1stcav]

Rieckhoff can eat sh!t.

[Bronzewound]

Rieckhoff called his comrades in Iraq "men and women of extraordinary courage and incredible capability. But it's time we had leadership in Washington to match that courage and match that capability."

I guess he's referring to the kind of courage and capability John "Three and Out" Kerry demonstrated a few decades back.

[txradioguy]

LOL! I'd be VERY surprised if I ever found John F'n Kerry in a Foxhole with me! He'd be back at the battalion Admin office trying to get his Silver Star Award re-written...again!

What we're dealing with here is a disgrtuntled NG Officer who IMHO was mad that his "one weekend a month two weeks a year" commitment ran a tad bit longer this year.

Isn't amazing how the RATS are always finding disgruntled folks that they can use to their advantage?

[thoughtomator]

I heard him speak, and it was basically a litany of talking points, and this super-weak campaign to get Bush to "admit problems" with our Iraq policy - that are unspecified, because they have no alternatives that could stand a moment in the light of day.

An absolutely shameful performance.

[dufekin]

Besides the obvious violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, it appears that this officer is a self-described incompetent pessimist. I recognize that service in Iraq is not easy, but he seems to have passed much of his time there waiting. Waiting for what? Probably for someone from Washington to rescue him and do his job. He doesn't have an easy job, but his ability to carry out his immense responsibilities is compromised severely by that mental illness called liberalism, rampant in his Massachusetts home city of Amherst. Only the heroic service of his underlings helped him avoid disaster thusfar.

[gunnedah]

Kerry was in the reserve when he was protesting the war and in on the planning of killing US Senators and nothing was done. It is OK if you are a liberal or a Democrat.

[mrsmith]

Closed down (defunded) a conservative college paper for not being PC enough while he was at Amherst College.
"Spectator Defunding" (third letter).

That was probably why he was chosen to be interviewed by the media before.

He's a nazi liberal to the core.

You'd think NewsMax would do a google on the guy before they wrote their piece.

[BibChr]

I guess that is what Bush gets for CONSTANTLY going around, since 9/11, crowing "This is going to be a cake-walk! Simple! Stroll in the park! I figure two, three weeks tops, and we'll be all done — no terrorists, no bad guys, and all without the loss of a single American life!"

< /scathing, withering sarcasm >

Idiot. Idiots.

Dan

[Pikamax]

bttt

[Teplukin]

Mrs. Smith

Do you have a website reference for this? Thanks a lot & excellent job exposing this fraud.

[GulfWar1Vet]

I agree with you 100% on RATS finding disgruntled service members!

Had one of those type of folks here in Columbia today! Whine and grumble, whine and grumble. Woe is me. Please.

[Right Wing Puppy]

Does this clown remind you of anybody? Ah yes, the young Mr. Kerry Vietnam vet, the pained warrior returned. Pleease!

[txradioguy]

I hadn't thought of it that way until you said it but by golly you're RIGHT!

This is John F'n Kerry redux circa 2004.

And I think if enough research was done, you'd find that MOST of the grumbling about what's going on over there is done by the NG. They constituted 99% of the whining "this place stinks I wanna go home" letters we read in Stars and Stripes over there.

Make me almost embarassed to say I used to be a member of the Guard.

[mrsmith]

"have a website reference for this? "

The underlined link in the reply you read above: ""Spectator Defunding" (third letter)".
(if it's not there let me know.)

I thought that was covered on Free Republic, but maybe I have it confused with one of the other closings of conservative college newspapers- since I can't find anything in the FR archives.