Posted on 05/20/2004 12:11:09 PM PDT by UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide
A soldier "Jeff, from Morehead OK" calling in to Rush Limbaugh explained that in Iraq wedding parties and funerals are full of people with guns who often fire on American troops that happen by. The self-identified soldier who spent 356 days in Iraq reported in response to a question from Rush that when he first went to Iraq the troops "took care of business" when fired upon. But by the time he left Iraq, soldiers literally had to take incoming mortar rounds without responding or actually have someone shot before returning fire. He said that every Iraqi is permitted to keep an AK-47 or pistol. And while most Iraqis accept U.S. presence, many are clearly hostile. The problem, according to him, is largely the media. There are cameras everywhere. And the Iraqis "know the media is in their pocket" and they can't respond in any way that might be recorded and sent CNN or Al-Jazeera. In his opinion the politician are impeding the troops and their fear of the media may lead to our defeat.
Being home for a month he did say, as most other returning troops have, that it is better than the media portrays. The news reports in Oklahoma are more frightening than being there. But he described in detail the difference in the intensity of dealing with Sunnis, Shiites and Wahabbis and that the difficulty of dealing with them was strictly related to the individual's and group's religious zeal with "Wahabbis being the worst." He said, "They hate us." solely "because we are not them", that is not Muslims. "I've never felt as hated anywhere before." "They need freedom of religion more than anything else" in order to reduce the threat they pose to the world.
Additionally, he said the Arab fighters are "cowards" in their tactics and that we could "win this war fairly quickly" if the military were allowed to get back to doing its job.
I have not seen or heard one thing to cause me to waver as to whether we are doing as well as we can. My God, Bush has defeated three terrorist regimes in 3 yrs. (one without firing a shot in its direction) and people "wonder?"
I wonder what the hell they expect.
Sorry, but I find this extremely hard to believe.
EVERYONE HERE ON FR NEEDS TO FIGURE THIS OUT: we are in a new age, and for better or worse the media is a part of the equation. The "embeds" was a brilliant end-run around the media, and it can't be the only strategy. But censorship in the age of satellite phones and the internet is NO LONGER AN OPTION.
We need to look forward, not backward to WW II, to figure out NEW ways of circumventing the leftist press.
On FR, I have been referred to as "racist bigot", "tothless white trash", "wannabe troopie", "National Guard Imitation Soldier Boy", and other things I don't care to hear.
And those are just by the famous, sleep-at-JimRob's-feet paleo-FReepers.
Does that all sound like "bitchy, nit pick disagreements", to you?
I'm okay with that.
And which of those isn't true? (Just kidding!)
That is b.s. and the call probably is too. Anyone can claim to be anything on a radio call. I don't believe any of it sounds like Rush got snookered and the rabid here fall for it.
Been called Francis yet?
I heard it. It was a compelling call.
o The media is killing us - deliberately.
o The politicians and field commanders are buckling to the pressure from the reported images.
o The people in America are virtually clueless as to what we are fighting for or the threat they pose due to their hate.
The people are clueless because the media and the educators have never told them the truth. Anyone who has grown up in America in the past 50 years or so has been told: "Saladin good -- Crusaders bad." The media suppress the facts in the Middle East and the facts about Islam.
As for the second point, the Republican politicians are caving. The Democrat politicians have helped organize the media blackout and are working closely with the press to demonize Bush.
Apparently the only way to get the word out to people is for them to see for themselves. A few nuked cities maybe. I don't know what else will do it. And even that will be spun by the press as far as they can.
They are looking for everything they can to turn the American people against the war.
That's not exactly what he said...
Those are some of my better qualities....
Makes it almost sound like the Iraqi's take mortar's to wedding parties to celebrate.
I understand how you drew that inference. A bit clumsy on my part. But in my defense, I did not say "Rules of Engagement". In fact, I suspect the "official" rules haven't changed. But I drew the inferrence that there is pressure from the top to not respond unless absolutely necessary for fear of media playing up every dead body. Thus the "Rules" have changed in fact if not on paper.
"Soldiers in Iraq Cannot Respond to Incoming Mortar Fire
That's not exactly what he said..."
True. He had said that they've TAKEN incoming mortar fire and did nothing about it, due to having to think and re-think and triple-think, instead of just doing their job, doing what they are there for.
Well, THAT'S bs. Have a look at the new Iraqi Constitution.....
I believe that we can locate the location of the firing mortar using radar. There is no need to visually spot the piece.
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