Posted on 07/07/2006 6:33:43 AM PDT by aculeus
Loving tender and holding tight are about more than Elvis for Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi . Beneath the spontaneity and flamboyance that his countrymen sum up as Koizumi Theater lies heartfelt compassion.
On Thursday last week, the day before he went to Graceland, Koizumi spent some quality time with U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq and recovering at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Koizumi, boyish with a bohemian hair flip, chatted with several patients and posed for pictures with them and their families on the hospital's fifth floor, the Japanese Embassy's minister for public affairs, Mitsuru Kitano , said after the visit.
"Since the wounded soldiers could not move about freely, the prime minister got close to each soldier on their beds to pose for a commemorative photo," Kitano said.
Spec. Maxwell Ramsey , 36, of the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, greeted Koizumi with: " Konnichi-wa. Hajime-mashite. Ogenki desuka ?" -- Japanese for "Hello, how do you do? Are you well?"
A surprised Koizumi, who usually chats through an interpreter, replied in English, "Your Japanese is very good."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Japan, India, AND Australia, don't forget Australia.
Thank you for the ping. I haven't seen any pic of them at Walter Reed either.
Did they know? Were they allowed to cover the visit?
...AND Poland, our brothers in Christ.
Right!
Three countries the Euro-snob-jerks consider inferior.
Wow-worthy indeed.
The word is "rappels" - descending a rope. On a more important note, the only thing discernable for certain from the available evidence is that the article is riddled with errors relating to military unit and MOS minutia. There is no evidence that the Prime Minister's visit to Walter Reed Hospital did not occur - the fact is, it did.
Yet you pronounce it a "fraud". The word fraud connotes a deliberate intent to deceive - there is absolutely no evidence of this. An accurate statement would be that the premise of the article is truthful, but the article is somewhat flawed by the carelessness of the author. So, why did you use the word?
I'm sorry that I implied that as a whole the article was a fraud.
I did not dismiss the PM, rather the information the reporter put out was inaccurate, or was fiction.
I'm glad the PM visited, but I'm disturbed that the author could not get basic Military facts correct. And, I find that anything she will report and has reported is not accurate.
LOL! Great graphic!
You didn't "imply" it, you stated flat out "the article is a fraud". That statement is semantically equivalent to stating "the article is a lie".
re:I'm glad the PM visited, but I'm disturbed that the author could not get basic Military facts correct. And, I find that anything she will report and has reported is not accurate.
If you had just said this there'd be no problem with your statement. However, your use of the word "fraud" was simply incorrect in both a definitional and in a contextual sense. I notice you're in Indonesia, so perhaps English is not your native language. If so, this makes your mistake more understandable. "Fraud" is one of those loaded words that carries much more serious implications and consequences than merely being mistaken, however. Please try to use it more carefully.
As the article mentions on page 2 ("The prime minister also visited Arlington National Cemetery, where he laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns."), Prime Minister Koizumi also visited Arlington.
Agreed. W bringing India into the fold is probably his most unrecognized accomplishment-and it's huge.
Koizumi, Berlusconi, and Aznar were steadfast allies. Thank God Howard will still be in office.
That's why he and our classy, honorable President get along so very well.
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They are both men of honor, just like Will Kane. And our European "allies" are the townspeople who turned their backs on us in Iraq. Of course, continuing the analogy, that makes Tony Blair out to be Grace Kelly, which is really disturbing...
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