Posted on 09/28/2004 11:52:45 AM PDT by areafiftyone
U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq are "terrified" at the prospect that Americans back home might elect John Kerry president, a Marine and Iraq veteran who is on his way back to the front lines said Monday.
Asked how Kerry's election would affect troop morale in the combat zone, Lance Cpl. Lawrence Romack told KWEL Midland, Texas, radio host Craig Anderson, "It would destroy it."
"We're pretty terrified of a John Kerry presidency," added Romack, who served with the 1st Marine Tank Battalion in Iraq.
The Iraq war vet said he fears that most of the news coverage is being skewed to make the mission look like a failure in order to give the Kerry campaign a boost.
"What they're trying to do is get Kerry into the White House, because they know he doesn't want us to stay [in Iraq]," he told Anderson.
Asked if Americans back home were getting an accurate picture of what's happening in the war, the Marine corporal said: "No, they're not. It's not even close. All the press wants to report is casualty counts. They don't want to report the progress we're making over there."
Romack noted that in the southern part of the country, Iraqis welcomed U.S. troops when they set up an immunization programs for children, opened schools and began distributing food.
"Almost immediately people were lining up to get their kids shots," he told Anderson.
Contrary to reports that the general population was too afraid to help ferret out insurgents, Romack said, "We had Iraqis pointing out former Baath Party members for us to arrest."
When the KWEL host opened up the phone lines, a member of the 82nd Airborne who had returned from Iraq in March was first on the line.
He agreed with Cpl. Romack that media reports coming out of Iraq were often inaccurate – and sometimes even dangerous.
"The news media – sometimes I felt like I had as much to fear from them as I did the Iraqis," he complained.
I have a friend that was thinking about joining the national guard....to help earn some extra money. He's a multi-degree black belt...but he and his family won't until after the election and only if Bush is re-elected.
That is why we have to work as though we are 20 points behind
The Dems and the Unions will pull every trick up their sleave in this election
And while some people think it isn't news to report that kids went to school and the electricity was on, when Europe was being rebuilt after the war every step forward (that we invested in heavily) was widely reported and cheered.
The good news in Iraq SHOULD be reported for the same reasons. We are all invested over there and as a basically optimistic country we would welcome hearing about the good things our money and our soldiers are doing.
bttt
That's because you do. Oh not (most of) the embeds, but rather the perfumed princes in their offices in New York, Washington, LA and of course Atlanta. Guys like Dan Blather, Ted Kopple and others. One of them, I forget which, stated on a PBS round table in '76 or '77 that he would report detailed tactical and/or strategic plans of American forces, even though it would mean losing the element of surprise and result in many more American (or allied) casualties. He stated that he was a reporter first, an American second. Wish I could remember which MSM traitor that was, maybe Rather or Donaldson, but I do remember watching him say it.
Of course you can. Just not in uniform. Best not to appear to speak for the military either, even if only by identifying yourself as a member. You can't speak contemptuously of the POTUS, but you can politely argue your side of an issue.
There once was a tradition that military did not get involved in politics at all, not even to vote. That day is long gone. There are limits, but they are fairly broad.
The Troops Know!
Very good!
I'll never forget the look in his face as he said that.
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