Posted on 12/17/2004 7:51:54 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
An Iraq war veteran who was part of the original invasion force went public yesterday with allegations that Sen. John McCain snubbed the troops when he visited the front lines during the early days of the occupation - while noting that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld routinely met with GIs during repeated visits to the war zone.
Identified only by his first name, Iraq GI Dan described the McCain visit during an unsolicited call to Sean Hannity's ABC Radio Network broadcast - saying he was upset that the Arizona Republican was accusing Rumsfeld of being oblivious to the concerns of troops on the ground.
"I had to let you know about this because I really don't think too many people know," the GI caller told Hannity. "McCain comes over and we do this whole big reception thing. It's 140-something degrees out. Soldiers are standing at attention outside, waiting for this guy to come."
The Iraq vet said that when McCain finally arrived, he "[didn't] say a single word to any of the soldiers."
Instead, said GI Dan, McCain spent "about five minutes at our safehouse there. And then he leaves - he didn't talk to a single soldier that was actually there . . . He didn't ask a single one of us anything."
The Iraq GI said it's much different when Rumsfeld visits Iraq.
"Every time [he] has gone over there - whether it's Afghanistan, Iraq, wherever - he's always made a point of talking to as many soldiers as he can; from a private, a low-ranking soldier, all the way up [the chain of command]."
Here's a full transcript of GI Dan's eye-opening comments to Sean Hannity:
I just got out of the army a little while ago. I was in Northern Iraq when we first jumped in, in March of 2003. Northern Iraq is probably a third of Iraq's oil.
John McCain comes over - and this is the thing that's killing me with him right now - McCain comes over and we do this whole big reception thing. It's 140-something degrees out. Soldiers are standing at attention outside, waiting for this guy to come.
He comes in - doesn't say a single word to any of the soldiers. He spends about five minutes at our safehouse there. And then he leaves - he didn't talk to a single soldier that was actually there.
All he wanted to see were the reports from the Northern Oil company there and how the company was going to deal with terrorist attacks on the pipeline leaving there . . .
Every time Rumsfeld has gone over there - whether it's Afghanistan, Iraq, wherever - he's always made a point of talking to as many soldiers as he can; from a private, a low-ranking soldier all the way up. McCain goes over there and he didn't find out anything from my soldiers, which were in a completely unique position.
We held the area that the Northern Oil Company was located in. We dealt with all the problems with terrorist attacks there. And he didn't ask a single one of us anything.
McCain is a Jerk - BUMP
Heard it. Sean kept saying that McCain loves the troops & he (Sean) wouldn't say anything against him in the matter as he was a POW, etc.
McCain prefers conversing with members of the Vietnameses military.
I see your BUMP -- and bump it up a notch!! McQueeg is a certifiable nut job!
Doesn't surprise me one bit. McCain is into political life for his own aggrandizement. I really think any "public service" benefit that comes from his actions are a byproduct of his real goal of puffing himself up.
For example, the recent hubbub about Rummy: if McCain really had concerns, he'd voice them privately to the administration. But instead, like everything else, he has to rag on and on in front of the press.
Proabably did not have anyone filming the event. If there are no camera's McCain just acts like he really is and that is a Bush hating jerk.
"The Iraq GI said it's much different when Rumsfeld visits Iraq."
That's a part of Rumsfelds job to listen and support the troops.
My hate for McCain grows larger everyday.
Well, well. Tit for tat, eh?
I have never trusted McCain since he came home from prison in North Viet-nam.
McCain is Kerry’s “brother in arms”, he’s a Republican in name only !
We also need the government screwing up baseball. They are not doing a good enough job theirselves.
Because he's a Senator, they know EVERYTHING, just ask them, they all think THEY should be President, especially McPain.
How about a few emails to Senator McCain? That will let him know the truth is out. Having worked in politics in the past, I know that "career" politicians don't like exposure, telephone calls, and emails by the hundreds or thousands. Makes them nervous so to speak.
Yes that is true, but it is also the Senators job to talk to the troops. We have had plenty of Senators and Congressmen visit and they always visit with the troops(D OR R). McCain knows it could have boosted the troops spirits with just a few words. McCain, while honorable, was, in my opinion, very selfish on this one.
OK, but what's the Senate's job regarding Iraq? Oversight or bitching, we've had far too much of the latter and little of the former, unless the TV cameras are rolling of course.
There is no sympathetic feelings in my heart for McCain:
If he had notbeen an Admiral's Son, he would not have made ot through Flight School.
FROM
http://www.usvetdsp.com/story22.htm
McCain also thinks President Clinton, who dodged the draft rather than serve in Vietnam, is the perfect presidential role model. He recently told the press that Clinton "is the best politician I have ever seen."
McCain, however, does not think so highly of the POW/MIA families and activists who openly challenge the U.S. government's POW/MIA policy, many of whom walked the halls of Congress during the Vietnam War years demanding America's prisoners of war, including POW McCain, not be forgotten.
McCain, as a member of the 1992 Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, took the lead in demanding a U.S. Justice Department investigation of the POW/MIA activists and their organizations. He accused the activists of fraud because in some of their fund-raising literature the activists claimed the U.S. government knowingly left U.S. POWs behind after the Vietnam War and that some remain alive today.
McCain openly attacked the activists telling the press, "The people who have done these things are not zealots in a good cause. They are the most craven, most cynical and most despicable human beings to ever run a scam." The Justice Department did investigate the POW/MIA activists and their organizations and found no reason to charge any POW/MIA activist.
McCain's use of the words craven, despicable and scam are mighty powerful and poisonous words from a man who admittedly traded "military information" to his communist captors in exchange for better medical treatment--or who divorced the wife that stood by him while he was a POW, after she became crippled in an accident.
Those words are hypocritical from a man whose younger and richer wife (she's an heir to Hensley & Co., the second largest Anheuser-Busch beer distributor in the United States) got caught after stealing drugs for two years from a charitable organization of which she was president.
Must not of been any cameras around.
I just looked in my dictionary and next to the word Jerk there's a photo of John McCain.
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