Posted on 07/26/2004 1:52:58 PM PDT by BushisTheMan
Soldier Says "Young and Impressionable" Soldiers Just Returned from Iraq Deployments Are "Being Made to Feel Ashamed" of Their Service
The National Center for Public Policy Research has posted online an e-mail received from a soldier, Spc. Joe Roche of the 1st Armored Division, who says Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11 is "making the rounds" among soldiers at U.S. military bases overseas and is "shocking and crushing soldiers, making them feel ashamed" of their service in Iraq. The letter has been published online by The National Center without abridgment. The full text can be found here. Some excerpts:
"Michael Moore's film, Fahrenheit 9/11, is making the rounds here at U.S. bases in Kuwait. Some soldiers have received it already and are passing is around. The impact is devastating. Here we are, soldiers of the 1st Armored Division, just days from finally returning home after over a year serving in Iraq, and Moore's film is shocking and crushing soldiers, making them feel ashamed. Moore has abused the First Amendment and is hurting us worse than the enemy has. There are the young and impressionable soldiers, like those who joined the Army right out of high school. They aren't familiar w/ the college-type political debate environment, and they haven't been schooled in the full range of issues involved. They are vulnerable to being hurt by a vicious film like Moore's."
"Specialist Janecek, who is feeling depressed because a close family member is nearing the end of her life, just saw the film today. I saw him in the DFAC. He is devastated. 'I feel shitty, ashamed, like this was all a lie.' Not only is he looking at going straight to a funeral when he returns home, but now whatever pride he felt for serving here has been crushed by Moore's film. Specialist Everett earlier after seeing the film: 'You'll be mad at shit for ever having come here.' And there are others. Mostly the comments are absolute shock at the close connections Moore makes between the Bush family and the Bin Laden family in Saudi Arabia. 'Bush looks really really REALLY corrupt in this film. I just don't know what to think anymore,' is a common comment to hear. Some of these soldiers are darn right ashamed tonight to be American soldiers, to have been apart of this whole mission in Iraq, and are angry over all that Moore has presented in his film."
"Right now, just days away from what should be a proud and happy return from 15 months of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom, your U.S. soldiers are coming back ashamed and hurt because of Moore's work."
"I sometimes want to be mad at my fellow soldiers for being susceptible to Moore's distortions, but I can't really blame them. These are good Americans, who have volunteered to serve our country. Nothing says they all have to be experts in Middle Eastern issues and history and politics to serve. That would be silly. ...But this is, of course, the vulnerability that Moore has exploited."
"I wonder how damaging and shocking a Moore project would have been in the 1940s making such a video of Franklin Roosevelt."
Spc. Joe Roche serves with the 16th Engineering Battalion of the 1st Armored Division. He and his unit were deployed in Iraq for 15 months. An archive of his e-mails can be accessed at www.nationalcenter.org/RochePage.html online.
The National Center for Public Policy Research is a non-partisan, conservative/free-market think-tank established in 1982 and located on Capitol Hill. It can be visited at http://www.nationalcenter.org online.
Is Michael/Commie/Moore going to burn in hell? I think so.
Michael Moore is a fat, lying piece of garbage.
Gee, what a shock. There was a time when hollywood didn't try and destory the nation from within during wartime and I can't say I didn't see this coming.
I hope that fat fu@# is proud of himself!
I don't understand why those people who have seen Iraq with their own eyes can't see Moore's propoganda for the bs that it is.
I don't believe this is how most of our troops view Moore's film.
Civil wars have been fought for less. Is that what Moore is angling for?
And the Democrats are embracing this guy? What gives?
When is somebody going to do a real documentary on this documentary and take item for item down. Making Bush look really, really, REALLY corrupt..... next to Reagan he's the most honorable man we've had in the Whitehouse in the past 70 years and all they can do is lie about him, because the truth is too difficult for the hate mongers to fight.
Isn't that what Moore intended?
Frankly, if I were Moore, I would not be sleeping too soundly at night. Not a good idea to make 120,000 guys who carry machine guns mad at you. With that many of them, one of them is bound to be unbalanced.
Exactly. It doesn't wash. They know some of it isn't true, so wouldn't they find it easier to believe the rest of it isn't?
I suspect he would've been jailed.
My son is heading for the Air Force boot camp one week from today. And he is heading off with the knowledge that the vast majority of people in this country, the ones that matter, have a true appreciation for the sacrifice of our Armed Forces. He refuses to listen to the national media except for a laugh. He gets his news from his own sources, primary on the list is FreeRepublic!
There is something brewing out there that will rupture this Bush-hating movement. And I think it will be the prevalence of stories that will come home with our soldiers as we begin to rotate out our forces and reduce the troops in Iraq. The truth is already out there in the WMD assessment from the 9/11 commission, the Sandy Burglar memo cover up and the lack of a platform for the Dems, which will be painfully evident this week if they don't do their usual bash fest. What else do they have?
Any time you see a soldier, just say thanks! You'll love the feeling! Moore be damned!!
Such is Moore's goal.
The Left is really the terrorist's 5th column in America. Why do we tolerate them? Why do we let the ACLU (and Supereme Court) rot out our culture? Why is John Kerry allowed to walk down the street without being spit on? Why is the media allowed to degrade the USA every chance it gets? Why are Democrats allowed to commit massive voter fraud?
Why? Becasue we, the people, don't have the guts and sense to stop them.
I know quite a few soldiers and Marines deployed or returned from the middle east (combat and non-combat). The consensus I'm getting is that most could care less of what Moore or any anti-war nut has to say. They feel that what they are doing is justified and good.
The few who felt ashamed are the ones who were always ashamed, but needed a reason to complain about it.
My own cousin in the Marines tells me that the majority of non-combat military (cooks, mechanics, medics) are the ones whining the most.
I also know Marines who do not feel the war is justified, BUT they signed up knowing full well going to war was part of the job.
For the record: I'm did not like "F 9/11"... It was pure anti-war, liberal propoganda.
Already done. See David Kopel for the Independence Institute "Fifty-Nine Deceits in Farenheit 911." http://www.davekopel.com/Terror/Fiftysix-Deceits-in-Fahrenheit-911.htm
Seems to me he's crossed the line into sedition.
Give your son a big hug for me and tell him he and all of our military are appreciated and in our prayers. My husband spent 30 years in the AF and if he wasn't 67 years old he would still be there. And I would be right with him. May God bless your son and keep him safe.
isn't the public policy institute a left wing group.
I do believe soldiers are pissed at the movie.
I do not believe it is so devastating to moral HOWEVER if it is lowering moral it is getting people killed. (more dead soldiers, a stated Moore goal)
Perhaps we can finally make Rush for the FULL THREE hours in order to improve moral for the troops.
Another thing to improve solder moral, vote for Bush.
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