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Capt Nick's Email from Iraq about the President’s Speech Subject: Bush in Iraq for Thanksgiving Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2003 09:45:28 -0600 We knew there was a dinner planned with Ambassador Bremer and LTG Sanchez. There were 600 seats available and all the units in the division were tasked with filling a few tables. Naturally, the 501st MI battalion got our table. Soldiers were grumbling about having to sit through another dog-and-pony show, so we had to pick soldiers to attend. I chose not to go. But, about 1500 the G2, LTC Devan, came up to me and with a...

<p>Yes, I was there.</p> <p>It was totally insane. Let me start from the beginning in the hope that I can catch my breath. Several days ago I received an All Hands email asking anyone who wanted to go to a ‘Thanksgiving Dinner with the Troops’ to respond with badge number and some other information. The email said there would be a lottery drawing for the few seats available. This morning I received notice that I had won (!!) and to go to a meeting point at 1500. Anyway long story short, I arrived at the airport with about 15-20 others, and was escorted into the huge chow hall where several hundred soldiers were sitting. I found an empty spot at one of the tables and started chatting with the men and women in uniform. They were shy at first, thinking I was some kind of VIP (hardly!). We talked about home and what we are doing here- and slowly they relaxed. And so did I. Time ticked on- and we were there over an hour, waiting for something…anything. Bremer and Sanchez came in- still nothing. What were we waiting for, I wondered? The guys were more patient than I- just shrugging their shoulders and looking more and more unimpressed.</p>

Bush's gesture politics suggest a man seriously worried about his career The 1980s movie The Ploughman's Lunch took its title from an early example of what we have now come to know as spin. Ian McEwan's script took its central image from the fact that the bread-and-cheese snack that claimed to link yuppies in pubs to their ancestors who toiled on the soil was an invention of the contemporary advertising and catering trades. In Richard Eyre's film, this fraudulent food became a metaphor for political lying and pretence at the time of the Falklands war. If anyone makes a similar...

Troops Demoralized by Bush Turkeygate Scandal (2003-12-04) -- American military morale hit an all-time low this week in the wake of revelations that President George Bush didn't serve a display turkey to hungry troops during his surprise visit to Baghdad last week. Political experts have already dubbed the episode 'turkeygate', and predict that the effect of this latest Bush administration scandal will be even more devastating than the outing of Valerie Plame. "When I went home after dinner that night, I wrote a letter to my wife about how proud I was to fight for liberty," said an unnamed Army...

President Bush's Baghdad turkey was for looking, not for eating. In the most widely published image from his Thanksgiving day trip to Baghdad, the beaming president is wearing an Army workout jacket and surrounded by soldiers as he cradles a huge platter laden with a golden-brown turkey. The bird is so perfect it looks as if it came from a food magazine, with bunches of grapes and other trimmings completing a Norman Rockwell image that evokes bounty and security in one of the most dangerous parts of the world. But as a small sign of the many ways the White...

Media Matters December 3, 2003 How the White House Fooled NPR By Jeffrey A. Dvorkin Ombudsman National Public Radio While most journalists were enjoying a few days respite over Thanksgiving, the White House managed to stage an impressive photo-op with the president in Baghdad. Astonishingly, it occurred without the usual presence of the White House press corps. More astonishing was the lamb-like response of many in the media to the White House sleight-of-hand. Collusion seemed to be the order of the day, as reporters were assured that the usual "pool coverage" of the president would be in force over the...

Subject: Did Bush Visit Iraq? George. W. Bush did not visit Iraq last week. Or did he? Many speculate that what we saw on our screens was nothing but a staging that actually took place within the US.. Nothing we've seen proves that AirForce-1 ever left US airspace.. Nevertheless, something was really wrong about this (alleged) visit.. As big as the lie may have been, one BIG question stands out: Are there no people in Iraq? Isn't there an American Ruler? Isn't there the Iraqi leadership the US had appointed? .. Or is Iraq just US troops in a Thanksgiving...

For two years now, it's been apparent that increasing numbers of us are living in entirely self-created realities. For example, when I switched on the TV last Thursday, I saw President Bush being warmly received at Thanksgiving Dinner in Baghdad. By contrast, Wayne Madsen, co-author of America's Nightmare: The Presidency Of George Bush II, saw a phoney stunt that took place not at dinner time but at the crack of dawn. "Our military men and women," he insisted, "were downing turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and non-alcoholic beer at a time when most people would be eating eggs, bacon,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - British Airways said on Monday that none of its pilots made contact with President Bush's plane during its secret flight to Baghdad, contradicting White House reports of a mid-air exchange that nearly prompted Bush to call off his trip. Honor Verrier, a spokeswoman for British Airways in North America, said two BA aircraft were in the area at the time and neither radioed the president's plane to ask if it was Air Force One. "We have spoken to the British Airways captains who were in the area at the time and neither made comments to Air Force...

President Bush’s historic surprise visit to war-torn Baghdad on Thanksgiving was much more than just a morale boost for the troops or an election year campaign stunt. Bush’s dramatic trip vividly underscored America's commitment to promoting democracy and fighting terrorism in Iraq. Braving portable surface-to-air missiles that had recently downed military helicopters and a civilian transport jet -- the president showed remarkable courage and provided a needed assurance to the Iraqis – both friends and enemies -- that despite the challenges and casualties America will stay the course and finish the job. Bush, the first US president to visit...

<p>President Bush's determination to win the war on terrorism and establish democracy in Iraq was powerfully illustrated by his surprise Thanksgiving Day visit to American troops in that country. While pundits and politicians at home may be divided over the conduct of the war, that certainly can't be said for the 600 stunned soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division and the 1st Armored Division who greeted Mr. Bush at the mess hall at Baghdad International Airport on Thursday. Once they got over their initial shock at the fact the president was visiting, they stood on chairs and cheered wildly. "I'm proud to have him as the commander in chief," one soldier said. "You can't beat it."</p>

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A day after President Bush ‘s surprise visit to Baghdad, a U.S. soldier was killed Friday when guerrillas shelled a military base in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Meanwhile, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jack Reed arrived in Baghdad on Friday, saying it isn’t too late to bring the United Nations back to Iraq. Clinton and Reed said the expense and political burden in administering Iraq would be made easier with the U.N.’s stamp of legitimacy and help in transferring power to Iraqis. “I’m a big believer that we ought to internationalize this, but it will...

President Bush secretly landed an hour ago and is currently eating Thanksgiving dinner at my undisclosed location. Anticipate a press release after he takes off. ChiefKujo