The turkey has landed: (the Brits take on Bush upstaging Hillary)

[papau]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=467982



The turkey has landed:

how Bush cooked up a secret mission to give thanks to his troops

By Phil Reeves in Baghdad and David Usborne in New York
28 November 2003

<snip>

The extraordinary mission no American president has visited a war zone since Richard Nixon flew to Vietnam in 1969 was clearly calculated to burnish Mr Bush's image as he prepares for a re-election campaign that will be overshadowed by violence in Iraq and the rising toll of American casualties. It was spent with 600 soldiers at a turkey and sweet potato dinner in a mess hall at Baghdad airport and lasted a mere two and a half hours.Yet it was enough to secure valuable prime-time television coverage on Thanksgiving Day, featuring pictures of a determined president rallying his troops after a grim month in which 70 lives have been lost.<snip>

News of the visit only broke in the US after Air Force One had taken off from Baghdad and was on its way home. And no sooner was the visit made public in Baghdad, than the city was shaken by the sounds of conflict repeated loud explosions, gunfire and ambulance sirens. The administration will be hoping that the video images will help erase memories of a not dissimilar staged event on 1 May in which the President landed on an American aircraft carrier to announce that the war in Iraq had been won. As the violence has worsened, that day has come to haunt the White House. This time, wearing a US army jacket, he told the troops that America "stands solidly" behind them, and to whoops of approval that the US military was doing a "fantastic job". <snip>

More than 60 US troops were killed by hostile fire in November, more than any other month since the end of major combat. But it was a bold and meticulously orchestrated gesture that will have no political downside. Mr Bush will also have artfully upstaged Senator Hillary Clinton who is due to visit the Iraq capital this morning. "You are defending the American people from danger and we are grateful," he told the soldiers. <snip>

[Dimsdale]

1. Defending us from danger?

Yeah, right. If we need defending from anything, it's from Chimpo and the repuke Congress who are keen to fuck us all over quite thoroughly.

[impeach the gop]

2. Thank God

Lord knows merikan press sure as hell won't be covering the views on the other side. What a load of crap. And expensive to boot. This coward is cold blooded killer. And doesn't give a damn bout nobody but self.

[Fovea]

3. Ok NOW can he be forced to report to Bethesda

This was a hot combat zone, and no CinC has any freakin business being there. It is not only dangerous for him, but for any troops that were on duty or off near the airport.

what a phenominally stupid idea. To quote a character from Jurassic Park "that was the worst idea in the long sad history of bad ideas."
He needs to be immediately sent to Bethesda for a Psychological eval.

Stat!

[Cocoa]

4. great headline

and great British understatement at the very end with the quote from the Iraqi:

Some Iraqis were unimpressed. "To hell with Bush," said Mohammed al-Jubouri. "He is another Mongol in a line of invaders who have destroyed Iraq."