NYT/Reuters: Soldiers' Families Question Rumsfeld on Deployment

[DeepModem Mom]

Soldiers' Families Question Rumsfeld on Deployment
By REUTERS
Published: August 26, 2006

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (Reuters) - The wives of soldiers whose duty in Iraq was extended to add troop strength to Baghdad peppered U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with tough questions, some that he could not answer, at a closed-door meeting in Alaska on Saturday.

Rumsfeld, who received a mixed reception from a crowd that offered more applause for the questions asked than the answers provided, praised the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. He would not commit to a date for bringing those soldiers home, but told a 12-year-old girl in the audience, "I'd bet your daddy gets home before Christmas.''...

***

Rumsfeld's meeting with family members was closed to the press, unlike other large events, such as "town hall'' sessions with troops. But some wives taped the event and one shared the recording with reporters....

***

Questions from family members ranged from personal appeals for help on securing short-time leave for soldiers to broader issues, such as whether another brigade was being trained to replace the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team -- a question that received thunderous applause from the crowd and calls for a yes or no response.

The defense secretary said he could not give them a definitive answer....

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-iraq-rumsfeld-troops.html

[grytpype]

1. They are pissing themselves with fear.

9/11 was a huge screwup. But Iraq tops them all. Even worse than Katrina.

From the article:

''In five or 10 or 15 years, you'll all be able to look back and appreciate the importance of what's being done and the value of what's being done,'' he told the crowd.

Ten or fifteen years? What happened to six weeks, probably not six months? They are pleading to put off the day of judgment for a decade or more! "It might still turn out all right, you can't prove it won't, so you can't judge us." That's what they have to resort to.

Rumsfeld's visit to Fairbanks lured curious onlookers, one of whom yelled to the defense secretary to ``get us out of Iraq.''

``I know the feeling,'' he yelled back.

Iraq was the worse decision he could have made and he can't take it back. They should put Rummy on suicide watch.

[MadMaddie]

2. yea...well I hope everyday Rummy suffers from phantom pains

that our soldiers are experiencing when they are getting blown up and maimed....I hope he see's them in his dreams...I hope they haunt him to his grave.....he gambled with their lives to play politics....may he rot in a living hell until his death and then burn in hell after his death....

[RamboLiberal]

3. Rumsfeld to GIs’ families: I’m not Santa Claus

In an interview during his flight to Fairbanks, Rumsfeld said he saw no reason for the soldiers or their families to be angry at him.

“I don’t put it in that context,” he said. “These people are all volunteers. They all signed up. They all are there doing what they’re doing because they want to do it. They’re proud of what they do. They do it very, very well.”

The brigade’s tour was extended by up to 120 days, bringing them close to a Christmas return date. Rumsfeld said he would make no promises that the full brigade would be back home by the holidays.

“I’d love to be Santa Claus. I’m not,” he said in an interview with reporters during a flight to Fairbanks.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14533814/

[wellst0nev0ter]

5. Oh I'd Just Love To Do Something So Unchristian To Him

especially after this quote:

“These people are all volunteers. They all signed up. They all are there doing what they’re doing because they want to do it. They’re proud of what they do. They do it very, very well.”

So, in other words: I OWN YOU, SUCKERS!!

God I hate these people.

[xxqqqzme]

6. I hate these people!

The day the supremes gave these criminals power was a very black day and will go down as the beginning of the end of this once great country.

[ryanmuegge]

17. Oh my God...

What a callous, arrogant thing to say. This guy knows nothing about adversity. He has lived a pampered life of Yale education and unimaginable wealth while using his authority to send real people to die in real wars. He has spent many years involved in defense policy, yet he knows nothing about the real circumstances of war.

On the other hand, I appreciate someone from the Bush administration showing their real colors and saying what they really mean.

In any case, if there is any justice in this world, he will get what he has given to others for all of these years.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

4. "I'd bet your daddy gets home before Christmas.''...

I'd have taken that bet.

[rodeodance]

9. maybe it is the October surprize? Odd he would say that to a kid if he

did not have an igling as to what was/is going on.

[tblue37]

11. Alive or dead? (eom)

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

12. Yes.

:shrug:

[BeHereNow]

7. This gives me hope: Loss of the military family support= THE END

Run Rummy, run....
They're on to you and your lies.
This is GREAT news folks.
The military families are the ones who are
going to shut this thing down.

Just wait till the sheeple are presented
with the "Universal Service" legislation...
now that they know the plan is to keep this country
waging pre emptive war and illegal occupation
of sovreign nations for the rest of our lives.

Americans are NOT going to go for it as
the neocons had thought they would all along.

Tee-hee-hee.
This is going to be fun to watch.

BHN

[radfringe]

8. admission?

The delay has also put families and the U.S. Army on what one defense official called a ``death watch'' for soldiers who otherwise would have been on their way home if not already there.

looks like an unofficial official admission that Iraq isn't a cake walk - it's a death watch.. so much for all the rosey-pie-in-the-sky-throwing-flowers-making progress predictions

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

10. Scummy Rummy is definitely no Santa Claus. He makes Scrooge

look benevolent.

Has he yet recognized his historical legacy? That he was responsible for the orchestration of an illegal invasion and occupation of another country in a manner that cost us maximum military and Iraq maximum civilian casualties, and sunk both the US and Iraq into a horrific quagmire?

Or, is he just counting his profits from Tamiflu sales? MKJ

[Breeze54]

13. Rumsfeld Tells Troops: "Shut Up And Die!"

<snark & rage warning>

Rumsfeld Tells Troops: "Shut Up And Die!"

Rumsfeld? Out Of Touch? Out To Lunch? Or Just Strung Out?

From: http://www.theassassinatedpress.com/rickles.htm

By TOM RICKLES

The Assassinated Press

Dec. 9, 2004

Secretary of State Terror Donald H. Rumsfeld, speaking in Kuwait yesterday to troops deploying
into Iraq, got an earful of complaints about poor combat equipment, personnel policies that
keep soldiers in the Army beyond their terms of enlistment, why the draft hasn't been put into
effect yet, how absurd it is to maintain the farce of chimp as Commander In Chief, Rumsfeld's
and Cheney's military outsourcing cronies that don't do shit and walk off with billions,
how to identify the enemy with private security mercs from 212 countries now guarding banks,
corporate offices and oil installations, lack of spooge zones in the Middle East, and other
issues that reflect the strains the war in the Middle East is placing on the U.S. military.

More....+ + at link...
--------------

OMFG!!! I can't post anymore past this paragraph!
I realize this is old but it's sooo relevant!
A Must read! (if you haven't already.)

"said he saw no reason for the soldiers or their families to be angry at him."

Hey Rummy??


My heart goes out to those families...gheesh! :grr:
I think there is a cruel punishment waiting for that
mutha focker when he finally shits the bed!
:nuke:

[salin]

14. with the escalating Iran talk, families should be worried about perpetual

deployment. :cry:

[roguevalley]

15. the 172nd striker brigade only had a week to go before coming

home when they got the word and moved to the worst part of Baghdad. It is UNBELIEVABLE the anger up here about this. Fuck Rumsfeld and his masters.

[lebkuchen]

18. Actually, several of them were already home

and had been for 3 - 5 weeks, from what I read. They all had to return.

Now they're in the most dangerous part of Iraq. They will have more casualties, just as the 1AD did in 2004 when that division was extended.

The public affairs office told the 1AD families to basically "suck it up."

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Breeze54]

19. kick!

:kick: