Posted on 10/17/2004 6:56:37 AM PDT by Phsstpok
The earlier thread about the October Surprise "Mutiny" hit piece on this mornings Today show prompted me to do some Googling to try to see if there were any connections of note. I felt that even the little evidence I found warranted a quick heads up and (forgive me) a separate thread as a call to action. I have no particular standing to do this, but this concerned me enough to fire off a flare.
It looks like the extreme left is orchestrating an October Surprise propaganda campaign against the war in Iraq and President Bush by staging a "mutiny" of reserve troops (appears to be 5 of 'em, when you get down to it) and playing it the way they played Abu Gharib.
First, the basic story. Reports surfaced on Friday, the 15th, that troops in Iraq had refused a "suicide mission" and were under arrest and held in close guard. A small handful of "frantic" family members began reporting "unfair practices" and "unsafe conditions," desperately calling on (the usual suspects) politicians to save their loved ones from cruel fate.
Some excerpts:
Daily News, October 17, 2004:
Calls, E-mails explain troops' alleged mutiny
The military has begun punishing some of the 19 Army reservists who balked at what they called a "suicide mission" and a "death sentence" in Iraq last week.
Some members of the South Carolina-based 343rd Quartermaster Company refused to transport fuel between the Iraqi cities of Tallil and Taji Wednesday morning, saying they had no protection for the dangerous trip.
now here's the kicker from the Daily News piece:
Citizen Soldier, a New York-based, nonprofit military rights group, has offered ... its help.
Citizen Soldier is not a "military rights group." It is a virulently anti-American and anti-Military extreme left front group. Their motto on their web site is: "Prepared to Challenge U.S. Militarism in the New Millenium."
Citizen Soldier also has close ties to John Kerry, as it's director Tod Ensign, was one of the organizers of Kerry's discredited Winter Soldier propaganda event in 1969, along with Jeremy Rifkin. This connection is the one that set off my alarm bells.
I couldn't figure the Mississippi angle till I found this in The Clarion-Ledger of Hattiesberg, Mississippi:
Platoon with Mississippi soldiers defies orders 17 soldiers placed under arrest in Iraq
A 17-member Army Reserve platoon with troops from Jackson and around the Southeast deployed to Iraq is under arrest for refusing a "suicide mission" to deliver fuel, the troops' relatives said Thursday. The soldiers refused an order on Wednesday to go to Taji, Iraq - north of Baghdad - because their vehicles were considered "deadlined" or extremely unsafe, said Patricia McCook of Jackson, wife of Sgt. Larry O. McCook.
and again, buried in the piece, is the clue to the source and spin:
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson said he plans to submit a congressional inquiry today on behalf of the Mississippi soldiers to launch an investigation into whether they are being treated improperly.
Bennie Thompson is one of the more radical members of the Black Caucus. He is a leader in the "fair play for Fidel Castro" movement in Congress. He is often the designated "hit man" in attacking minority members of the Bush Administration, particularly Dr. Condoleezza Rice. He was a rabid Deaniac, but shifted his loyalty to Kerry when Dean fell on his own scream.
The Salon hit piece ties this squarely to the Washington/DNC/Carville slime machine:
The inside story of the Army platoon that refused to carry out a "death sentence" mission.
is by Mary Jocoby, Salon's Washington Correspondent. Jacoby is one of Salon's "reliable" writers who can always be counted on to spew hate at George Bush, in particular, and Republicans in general. She rates Seymour Hersh as a "crack investigative reporter" and has authored anti-Bush hit pieces such as "The Dunce," "George W. Bush's Missing Year" and "Swaggering toward Election Day."
What is truly amazing about these pieces on the "mutiny" is that they appear to have been ready to go before the incident took place. These folks had their stories straight and remarkably consistent in record time, even before the news had reached the regular news cycle on CNN, who jumped on this in record time.
Folks, this is a set up. But it's a set up that, like many of the Kerry camps dirty tricks, they've had to fire off prematurely to try to distract the news media from a Kerry gaffe. Pulling the trigger on this was timed to try and keep the disastrous Mary Cheney attack off of the Sunday morning talk shows. These soldiers are pawns who were told that they would be used to unseat a sitting President (with undoubted hints of vast rewards from a Kerry administration) but they are being sacrificed, just like pushing a pawn, to protect the dims' king.
Thank you. I didn't want to jump to any conclusions. For me, the devil is in the details. Those who tried to promote the contaminated fuel aspect of the story become my primary suspects. Why tell a little lie when a big one is better?
From Phsstpok's chart, Spc. Scott Shealey, Amber McClenny, Spec. Joseph Dobbs & Sgt. Justin Rogers are on the top of my list, especially Amber. Amber seems to have made the most claims & we had her "relative" bringing the news to the masses at a church.
Don't the college kids understand it is part of their obligation?
Yes, they do, by and large.
---
Huh...?
Sorry to say that most college-aged kids are pretty dumb, as I was also back then.
I sure was NEVER stupid enough to to agree with Kerry! Figure it out if you can. Born on date is July 1951.
My son just signed his Marine Corps contract for his final two years at Texas A&M. At least at THAT school they understand. My son understands.
I just came back from a welcome home party for our next door neighbors son on his return from Fallujah. He'd spent nearly a year there in the Marines. He understands.
Remember who is reporting this crap, and how they cherry pick the "facts" that fit their premise.
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