Posted on 02/23/2008 7:54:08 AM PST by jdm
CY did a great job with this story here. I have just the following to add:
Barack Obama is, quite simply, doing at least one of three things here (and, with credit to Lileks, I fully expect the Left to shut up and reverently honor my acting out of the highest form of patriotism with regard to Mr. Obama and dissenting against him):
(1) He is lying his ArmaniGucci pants off, on purpose.
(2) He is blowing smoke out his fourth point of contact just to be able to appease his base more
(3) He is so mind-blowingly ignorant of the military and its status in the GWOT that he either heard this story and believed it, or thought that nobody less mind-numbingly vacuous and stupid than him would see through it.
Though these options are not mutually exclusive, the two parts of option (3) are the least exclusive of all.
The spinning after the fact makes all the difference in the world to this story, too.
Obama originally said:
They were actually capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief.
Now, in the AP factcheck (never thought I'd be stringing those two words together without a "that never happened" tacked onto the end), the story says:
The captain said, however, that the unit did not go after the Taliban for the purpose of getting their weapons, but sometimes used those weapons when some were captured.
The former -- Obama's original, so-stupid-and-false-that-it's-almost-impossible-to-respond-to story -- is absolutely ridiculous, and is (in keeping with the options listed above) either a bold-faced lie, a made-up story that the teller didn't expected to be called on (and, given that the Left's knowledge of the different types and uses of cannabis typically tends to be vastly superior to its knowledge of anything military or warfare-related, why would he ever expect to be questioned or caught?), or (and this likely goes along with the above two options) a sign of a frightening level of military ignorance on the part of a common citizen -- LET ALONE on the part of a SITTING UNITED STATES SENATOR.
The second version? Believable, for some obvious reasons. See this picture? That's me -- as a journalist, not as an operator -- firing an AK-47 on the shooting range at Patrol Base Olson in Samarra, Iraq. The AK-47 is one of several in the Company Arms Room there. They are not taken out on missions (or, if they ever are, it is because a replacement part is needed in a pinch, and a resupply convoy might not be scheduled to come until later that day or perhaps the next), but are novelty/"cool-guy" weapons taken as the spoils of battle, which are cleaned and taken care of by the Company's soldiers and are fired, for fun, familiarity, and proficiency -- on the Patrol Base firing range. This is a normal activity for combat units.
Now, can anybody here spot the difference between the Obama debate story and the revised, AP-written one? That's right -- the absolute-crap, made-up-to-get-attention, show-of-unbelivable-ignorance Obamariginal story tells of those events in the context of President Bush and SecDef Gates so underequipping soldiers that they have to go capture enemy weapons to fight (no word on how they would do that if they aren't able to be armed themselves due to a lack of supplies -- guess we really do have a force of Rambos in the conventional Army); the AP story makes clear that what this really was was units taking "war trophies" they had earned in combat, and using them for various purposes outside of their official duties, which they performed while using standard-issue, in-stock, plentifully-supplied American weapons, and occasionally using them as spot-replacements for broken gear (imagine that, gear getting broken in war!) while awaiting a regularly-scheduled resupply.
The lying has gotten beyond ridiculous here. It's time for Obama the Messiah-in-Waiting to stop breaking the 9th Commandment, or to officially declare that in the religion for which he serves as Godhead, we can all disregard fact and truth in the name of spinning a good yarn.
After all, it's "for the greater good" -- and it's all about compromise.
Nice rip!
He’s not stupid so that leaves the other two to ponder.
It’s no secret that under certain conditions one armed force will use a weapon with a sound signature that would mislead the enemy....
There is more to this story and I am not sure that it is good - having to use toyotas pickups because humvees were scarce and more.
Lets face it - this war is going on longer than WWII and I am not surprised there are reports of major shortages.
We need to do something.
Bill Clinton, at least, grew up in red-neck, bubba-land, governed a fairly normal, red-blooded state. Obama has spent his adult life at Harvard?!, being a lawyer/community organizer in the corrupt/Democrat-tainted confines of Chicago?! My "Lost in Space" robot warning signal is going off for Democrats here: "Danger, Will Robinson!" "Liberal fantasy world about to collide with reality!"
I’ll go with all 3.
Like establishing the facts instead of leaping to conclusions.
Maybe we should not be assuming a political PR statement, make to prop up an particular partisan political agenda, is factual simply because a political canidate made the statement?
Maybe, just maybe, Barry Obama is misquoting or misstating what his anonymous source told him? Maybe, a situations that the anonymous source is claiming took place in 2003, should not be being used, 5 years later, for partisan political reasons by a candidate in the 2008 Presidential Elections?
Jeff's story is very misleading. Barack Hussein (AKA Algonquin J.) Obama is more than a candidate in the primaries against Mr. B.J. Clinton and his wife. He is an Oracle.
Whatever the young, Golden-Tongued Annointed One says is true to his believers because it confirms whatever it is they believe, or soon will believe if they don't already. See wwhat I'm saying?
If Algonquin J. Obama, in the course of uniting our sadly fractured country says an anonymous captain violated the Geneva Convention by throwing an MRE containing Pork at followers of Muhammed (May Peas Be Upon Him) he is using poetic metaphor (or aphorism? simile?) to drive home his point that anyone voting against him in either the primary or the main election is a racist SOB.
You two can tie pork chops around Barack (means "Good Luck" in Arabic)Hussein Obama's neck, but I am still voting for this young miracle worker, who I am told turned water into Kool-Aid at the rally I attended, and fed 20,000 people with one Mickey D Fish Sandwich (with fries). I could give you a better report, but I fainted.
He is the liberals golden calf they worship and they simply won't stand for you disrespecting their demigod.
Moonbats heads will explode and who is going to clean that mess up, though, it is a rather small mess. :)
Good point, that Special Forces are the ones using that deception tactic. It is reported though, that some regulars get a taste of firing AK’s in combat training. I can’t say why. I hasten to add that I have no direct knowledge here beyond what I read.
Some other guy posted this. But it's true. However, if any Democrat has sex with anything, under any circumstances, it is a life-enriching experience for the partner ... animal, vegetable, or mineral, willing or not.
Whether this will hold true for one Larry Sinclair remains to be seen.
I do know that if a Republican even has a sexual thought or e-mail, it is far worse than any crime committed by Adof Hitler or GWB.
“Like establishing the facts instead of leaping to conclusions.”
I’m tired of talk and argument.
Where are our Pattons?
You Sir or Ma'am are a comic genius. I bow to your superior intellect.
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