Posted on 10/17/2004 6:56:37 AM PDT by Phsstpok
I wouldn't be surprised if they contacted their families, feigning distress over consequences, PRIOR to refusing the mission. It sounds completely planned and contrived!
It's possible but one would think that would be expensive.
Either that, or they were never "confined" at all--just an added detail to make the story more juicy. I'm with Phsstpok on this one: there's just something not right about the story as it's being reported. My first red flag was the recorded phone call--that didn't sound like a scared woman. It sounded like a ticked off woman.
News Conference on FNC now in Baghdad about the incident.
Like peform the job you enlisted for! Courtmarshal that b!tch and the rest of her gutless cowards!
Steve Isael-D, NY on FNC just said that the team did not handle situation properly should have gone up COC. Have we found an honest Dem?
As far as I know, my post was the only one in that thread to suggest this possibility. Call me paranoid but I haven't seen anything yet that the dimos won't do....including falsely screaming FIRE in a crowded theater. You have certainly put some dots on the board - now to connect them.
This story won't go anywhere, no matter how much the Dems push it. The average American will see these mutinous soldiers as the cowards they are. Other soldiers in their unit completed the mission and didn't chicken out.
The original article has been pulled, but this is still in the Google Cache:
Command Sgt. Maj. Dan Elder might raise some eyebrows with his personal view on the Army’s current promotion system. For those noncommissioned officers who’ve debated about staying in or getting out, Command Sgt. Maj. James Clifford offers a word of advice in his feature on The Meaning of an Indefinite Reenlistment.
Does the Command Sgt Major have an axe to grind? I haven't found the referenced "personal views," but I have found some intriguing connections.
Command Sgt Maj. Dan Elder appears to be a primary authority in the 13th Support Division that the "mutiny platoon" is from. He was involved in the just ordered a full stand down of all of their vehicles, and has released a statement which said that "they raised valid concerns."
Googling about the Command Sgt. Major finds some intriguing connections that may (or may not) mean anything.
He spent nearly 18 months researching and authoring a book about "The Sergeants Major of the Army, a book chronicling the history of the office of Sergeant Major of the Army and those who’ve held it." He authored this book at the suggestion of Dr. Andrew J. Birtle, "a senior historian from the Center of Military History in Washington, D.C." So, why would this matter? Well, Dr. Birtle seems to be one of the Pentagon insiders who thrived during the Clinton years. I can't tell yet, but it looks like he may be an anti-military military historian.
The most concrete thing I've found to push me this way is a course that he taught at the Army War College, "History and Analysis of Operations Other Than War." This course appears to be built around notions such as "the increasingly conservative and republican nature of the armed forces." That phrase is from an Asia Times article about Charles J Dunlap Jr, who is one of the authors used by Birtle as the basis for his course. And what did Dunlap author that was worthy of study? The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012.
Other authors sited in Birtle's course appear to be part of the Democrat "suspect the military" military hierarchy. Richard E. Neustadt, Max Boot, Ken Allard (big alarm bells) and others.
Guys, this may be a hugh and series conspiracy, or it could just be their "good old boy network" asserting and spinning their "conventional wisdom." If it were anything but 2 weeks before the election I would just treat it as competing world views. The timing on this, however, is suspicious.
I'm continuing my search.
Fox covering it now.
Why would the MSM pick it up?
Kiran Chetry's line of questioning on this matter clearly showed which side she is on, and that she is siding with the soldiers who refused their mission.
Just another liberal carrying water for the anti-war Kerry campaign.
Several of my favortie quotes come to mind:
Are you paranoid if they really are out ot get you?
"Even paranoid have real enemies." - Henry Kissinger speaking about Richard Nixon
"The question is not 'are you paranoid?' The question is 'are you paranoid enough?'" - Tome Sizemore's character is Strange Days.
Worth watching.
If I find the transcript (and it hasn't already been posted) I'll post it here, or at least provide a link.
I'm going to start assembling a "six degrees of John Kery" list of names about this story.
Good investigative reporting! Thanks.
Are you in your pajamas? :-)
The 120-member 343rd is based in Rock Hill, S.C., but has members from Mississippi, including a sergeant in Thompson's district. The refueling mission, the Army's statement said, was later conducted by other members of the same unit.
"There was nobody arrested," Lt. Col. Christopher Rodney said late Friday. "They've been interviewed. There's going to be what we call a 'safety stand down' just to look at the issues."
He added: "We can't tolerate breakdowns in discipline."
Thompson's office received a letter from Patricia McCook of Jackson, Miss., on Thursday, relating concerns about her husband, Sgt. Larry McCook, and 16 others "being detained or possibly arrested in Iraq," said the congressman's legislative assistant, Karis T. Gutter. The office had received earlier correspondence concerning "ill-equipped vehicles," he said.
Looks like this has been in the pipeline for a while, and McCook is the likely conduit.
The bit about the fuel oil this platoon was charged to deliver being contaminated with water is also suspicious. It was refused at one destination due to contamination, and yet they were ordered to deliver it to another destination. I guess that makes sense if the reason was for disposal, but how did it get contaminated in the first place?
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