Amid Iraq-Bound Guardsmen, Bush Acts to Blunt Foes' Barbs

[kskiska]

FORT POLK, La., Feb. 17 — President Bush on Tuesday defended the war in Iraq to cheering troops here and then had lunch with a National Guard unit on its way to Baghdad, a visit that combined Mr. Bush's role as commander in chief with his political need to rebut attacks on his own service record and foreign policy.

(snip)

The White House press secretary, Scott McClellan, told reporters en route here that the trip to Fort Polk had been arranged "several weeks" ago, before Democrats raised questions about whether Mr. Bush had fulfilled all his duties as a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. On Friday night, the White House released hundreds of pages from Mr. Bush's military files in an effort to settle the matter, which Democrats have used to draw a contrast with their front-runner, Senator John Kerry, who was decorated for bravery in Vietnam around the same time Mr. Bush was at home serving in the Guard.

Mr. Bush did not directly address the issue here. But the White House arranged for him to have lunch under a tent here with about 500 members of the 39th Brigade Combat Team, a National Guard unit that is about to leave for a yearlong tour in Iraq. Mr. Bush ate an M.R.E. — meal ready to eat — with the troops, many of whom were not born when he was a Guard member from 1969 to 1973. Several members of the 39th Brigade said in brief interviews after the president's speech that they were not aware of the controversy over Mr. Bush's record.

But by producing pictures of Mr. Bush with Guard members who are heading into harm's way, the White House was clearly seeking to repair any damage done to the president's election-year prospects. And in offering a robust defense of his decision to invade Iraq, Mr. Bush seemed eager to get back on the offensive after weeks in which he has had to parry questions about whether he exaggerated the threat from Mr. Hussein's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs.

more…
http://nytimes.com/2004/02/18/national/18BUSH.html

[alcuno]

1. It will be interesting to see what the WH press corps does tomorrow.

Has the administration, in fact, kept the story going with *'s comment at the Daytona 500 and going to speak before members of the Guard?

[Mari333]

2. From my stepson in Iraq to your ears

"I was told by my unit commander I cant say anything bad about that asshole Bu$h or I would lose my promotion."
Nuff said.

[kodi]

3. would that he were as eager to see them as they return in "transfer tubes"

this one's for you mr. president.

john brown

John brown went off to war to fight on a foreign shore.
His mama sure was proud of him!
He stood straight and tall in his uniform and all.
His mama’s face broke out all in a grin.

"oh son, you look so fine, I’m glad you’re a son of mine,
You make me proud to know you hold a gun.
Do what the captain says, lots of medals you will get,
And we’ll put them on the wall when you come home."

As that old train pulled out, john’s ma began to shout,
Tellin’ ev’ryone in the neighborhood:
"that’s my son that’s about to go, he’s a soldier now, you know."
She made well sure her neighbors understood.

She got a letter once in a while and her face broke into a smile
As she showed them to the people from next door.
And she bragged about her son with his uniform and gun,
And these things you called a good old-fashioned war.

Oh! good old-fashioned war!

Then the letters ceased to come, for a long time they did not come.
They ceased to come for about ten months or more.
Then a letter finally came saying, "go down and meet the train.
Your son’s a-coming home from the war."

She smiled and went right down, she looked everywhere around
But she could not see her soldier son in sight.
But as all the people passed, she saw her son at last,
When she did she could hardly believe her eyes.

Oh his face was all shot up and his hand was all blown off
And he wore a metal brace around his waist.
He whispered kind of slow, in a voice she did not know,
While she couldn’t even recognize his face!

Oh! lord! not even recognize his face.

"oh tell me, my darling son, pray tell me what they done.
How is it you come to be this way? "
He tried his best to talk but his mouth could hardly move
And the mother had to turn her face away.

"don’t you remember, ma, when I went off to war
You thought it was the best thing I could do?
I was on the battleground, you were home . . . acting proud.
You wasn’t there standing in my shoes."

"oh, and I thought when I was there, god, what am I doing here?
I’m a-tryin’ to kill somebody or die tryin’.
But the thing that scared me most was when my enemy came close
And I saw that his face looked just like mine."

Oh! lord! just like mine!

"and I couldn’t help but think, through the thunder rolling and stink,
That I was just a puppet in a play.
And through the roar and smoke, this string is finally broke,
And a cannon ball blew my eyes away."

As he turned away to walk, his ma was still in shock
At seein’ the metal brace that helped him stand.
But as he turned to go, he called his mother close
And he dropped his medals down into her hand.

b dylan

[0007]

5. Thank you Bobby Dylan - That was beautiful

Now lets sing a song to junior.

"It's All Over Now Baby Blue"

[Voltaire99]

6. One good verse deserves another

Nice to read that Dylan.

Here's one from the British WW I poet, Siegfried Sassoon, a soldier whose disgust over the slaughter led him to hurl his medal into the Thames. They put him in a looney bin for that; he went on to write some brilliant antiwar poetry. I appreciate how he levels as much ferocious blame at foolish citizens -- the people who swallow the Bush speeches, the media who trumpet them -- as at murderous politicians and generals.


Suicide in the Trenches

I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.

In winter trenches, cowed and glum
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you'll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.

February 1918

[0007]

4. This lying scummy piece of slime is still twisting the truth

When one looks like an ape talks like an ape, he'll act like an ape.

Listen to what this worthless dickhead ape said today;

"In discussing Iraq and its weapons programs, Mr. Bush noted that he was not alone in judging Mr. Hussein to be a threat to the world. "My administration looked at the intelligence information and we saw danger," he said. "Members of Congress looked at the same intelligence, and they saw danger. The United Nations Security Council looked at the intelligence, and it saw danger."

Some Democrats in Congress say the intelligence they were shown by the administration had been stripped of caveats or ignored dissenting views about the threats it purported to document. The United States was unable to get the votes it needed in the United Nations Security Council to win explicit authorization to invade Iraq just before the war."