Posted on 10/13/2005 4:14:50 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
The White House found itself at the centre of another public relations disaster yesterday after a Pentagon official was seen coaching a group of handpicked US troops before a live teleconference with President George Bush.
In a cringingly wooden exchange the group of soldiers stationed in Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit told the president exactly what he wanted to hear - that Iraqis were eager to vote on a new constitution this weekend and the country's fledgling security forces were ready to meet the challenge.
But before Mr Bush entered the room Alison Barber, a senior defence department official, went through a list of topics the president would later ask them about. At her prompting, the soldiers, who were displayed on a large video screen in a room of the Eisenhower Building next to the White House, raised their hands when the topic they were to answer came up.
At one point, she said, Mr Bush would ask them specifically, "In the last 10 months, what kind of progress have we seen?" before asking who was prepared to answer the question. "Master Sgt Lombardo," one of the soldiers replied.
Minutes later Mr Bush asked the same question and Master Sgt Corine Lombardo responded: "Over the past 10 months, the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces are improving ... They continue to develop and grow into a sustainable force." Mr Bush then asked: "Do the Iraqis want to fight, and are they capable of fighting?" He was told they were.
Ms Barber insisted later the questions were not rehearsed. The military had been told ahead of time only about topics the president might want to talk about, not specific questions. "We just knew broad themes," she said. The White House spokesman Scott McClellan said: "All they were doing was talking to the troops and letting them know what to expect."
But Democrats dismissed the event as a sham. The Senate minority leader, Harry Reid, said: "The American people and our brave troops deserve better than a photo-op for the president and a pep-rally about Iraq. They deserve a plan. Unfortunately, today's event only served to highlight the fact that the president refuses to engage in a frank conversation about the realities on the ground."
Oh yes it is. It's all over the news this afternoon. I thought the ABC Newsbreak reporter was going to pee; as usual, they tried to make Bush look as bad as possible.
However, I bet the answers the troops gave were their own and not staged !
yeah Shep the Alien was screaming about it on Fox for about 4 or 5 minutes....
Big Deal..all the Dims did, was show what a bunch of sour grapes loserists they are, looking for any opportunity to
mock our President and our troops in the field.
They are rat wormy excuses for human beings.
[the following is from the segment on Shep's show]
Hot at the Pentagon for what happened just before taping of the video. Senior official is livid over the handling of the troops just before the airing of the video conference.
Military brass saying soldiers as props and that it was scripted and rehearsed.
However White House and Pentagon say it was NOT rehearsed. Pentagon official drilled them for 45 minutes prior to the airing and in her own words drilled on the likely questions and scripted responses. But the small bit they played I did not get that from the footage.
Apparent coaching outrageous, folks at the White House walking around shaking their heads thinking how badly it went.
I am sure this was well intended to boost the morale of the troops. But as some have said (from a previous thread)it did not come off very well, the delays and such.
Evidently FOX is also using the term "hand picked soldiers", as well.
I seem to remember a certain ex-president arranging rocks into a cross on a beach in France....but I forget the details because the MSM barely reported it....(sarcasm tag BIG TIME)
I couldn't believe it when I caught the tail-end of this on Fox.
I watched this earlier in the day and thought it was great, the Iraqi soldier (who, I think said I like you, or we, or something, caught it in passing), and the guy from Tennessee, who said The Volunteer State.
Talk about grasping at straws!! The left is exploding. This kind of NA NA NA NA NA crap will only turn off more normal people, and the nuts that hate Bush already are never going to change their minds.
I say let 'em speak -- like Cindy Sheehan.
check out my comment #26, perhaps that will explain things.
YES ! YES!!!!!! YES!!!!
Can we please get rid of this total as*hole Mclellan!!!!!
He should have been LONG GONE! Total incompetence. comes off like a whiny little moron! Stupid, slow on his feet and woosy-like!
(uh, just an opinion.ha.)
Brian Williams acted like there'd been a nuclear explosion somewhere as he breathlessly reported this.
It's not a story...just another excuse to bash Bush....and his administation....
Without the controversy, the MSM wouldn't have covered the event.
That's generally all any President ever sees.
I hate Shep "drama queen" Smith. I swear he and Jerry Rivers take long showers together.
I know what you mean about McClellan. But I have begun to think that this is exactly what Team Bush wants from him. He is so clueless, monotonous, and dull that he drives the MSM nuts. They look like rabid animals as they clamor to take a bite of him.
Actually quite amusing at times.
Isn't it time to bring back the SEDITION act!
Well, it was pretty poor that it was all rehearsed. It didn't come off very well. The only high point was when he said the female sgt. (?) looked familiar and she said he did as well. If he'd played it off the cuff, it would have been a home run.
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