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.
The Toyota 4x4 pickup has long been a favorite in Afghanistan. It can negotiate narrow passages the larger Humvee can't get through. The Afghan army contingent that commonly accompanies Coalition forces in the field use the Toyota pickups as their primary vehicles.
Furthermore, using captured enemy weapons against the enemy has always a tradition of militaries around the world. Check out this American training film from WWII on the German hand grenade Captured Potato Mashers
Hypocrisy is what the Republicans are being nailed on, not the actual acts. Just like Algore’s carbon footprint is more newsworthy than Rush Limbaugh’s because Algore is out there shooting his mouth off.
That is awesome!
LFM - ping to post #43. Check out that YouTube.
“Your “tried of the war” are you”
Where did I say that?
That is a lie - you better pick up a remedial learning course or two.
“The Korean War has gone on since 1950.”
Nonsense.
“It can negotiate narrow passages the larger Humvee can’t get through.”
What are you talking about? We are not fighting in narrow urban streets and the Toyota can NOT negotiate the rugged terrain of Afghanistan like a Humvee.
Although, I think the Seminoles won.
And be careful.
5.56mm
What is Obama’s IQ?
Ab-so-lootly. The GOP does tend to wax on a bit about God and Family, etc. so perhaps, morally speaking, more is expected of them.
By the way, give me some feedback on my tagline. I feel the two Democrat front runners are just absurd characters and that the real pols who run the Democrat Party have no intention of running either one as their Presidential Candidate. They may be crazy rats, but they can't be all that stupid. In regard to my Republican prediction, it's just the wishful thinking of a man who actually liked Duncan Hunter!
Think about it a little bit. The Toyota is considerably narrower than the Hummer and can squeeze between boulders, trees and walls the Hummer can't get through.
Gee sorry real world problems cannot be fixed in 60 minutes or less with breaks for commericals! Wander back to your TV fantasy land and leave the adults to get on with the important things. All you adult children with your whiny petulance and rabidly ignorant arrogant self-regard for your own emotion based opinions just go tune on and drop out while we adults get on with the business of saving the country for you ungrateful, whiny adult children.
Obama is scary but when I heard what his wife had in her head that slipped out of her mouth, she is #1.
You have any hard knowledge that Gen. Petraeus is a Republican?
His terrible mismanagement of Mosul strengthened the insurgents greatly, got Americans killed, and made Americans have to redo a lot, similar to Tal-Afar and Fallujah. But he seemed to have learned his lesson quickly, faster than President Bush, so I don't know.
Morton Blackwell would be good but not for electability's sake.
Beautiful cartoon
You some commie mole?
Definitely hanging around Republican livestock auctions looking for a dark horse and a brokered convention. In re Petraeus as a Republican ... I have to imagine he's at least as Republican as McCain ... of course one could say the same about Eleanor Roosevelt.
“Under Equipped Yankee troops are still occupying the Southern States to keep our people down”
And I think you are going to win this war someday!!!
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