What is this?  Have we got ourselves a "Baghdad Bob" now in place of
Hanoi Hannah?!?
LOL!  How pathetic!

--Bruno


 

-----Original Message-----
From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Denys Beauchemin
Sent: Friday, July 07, 2006 12:48 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] OT: Enjoying the 4th

You are absolutely correct, I believe the message you posted is probably
a fake.  The main reason for believing that is that it is full of
Democratic Talking Points.  Let's fisk the message that appeared in the
Washington Post on Wednesday, 5 July, the same day it was purportedly
written in Iraq.

"Forgotten Sacrifice         By F. John Duresky
A few days ago, as I do every day in Iraq, I listened to the commander's
battle update. The briefer calmly and professionally described the day's
events. Somewhere in Iraq, on some forgotten, dusty road, an insurgent
fighting an occupying army detonated an improvised explosive device
(IED) under a Humvee, killing an American soldier. The briefer fielded a
question from the general and moved to the next item in the update."

There is no need to qualify the insurgent as someone "fighting an
occupying army", the word insurgent by itself is enough, unless someone
wants to make a point about "occupiers" as if the US military should not
be there in the first place.  So, adding the bit about occupying army
denotes an agenda and it is also high on the list of Democratic Talking
Points, a trait that is very visible in this message.

"The day before that, in America, a 15-year-old's incredibly rich
parents planned the biggest sweet 16 party ever. They will spend more
than $200,000 on an opulent event marking a single year in an otherwise
unremarkable life.
The soon-to-be-16 girl doesn't know where Iraq is and doesn't care.
 
That same day an American soldier died in Iraq."

An "Air Force captain" uses the word "opulent"?  This story is a few
years old.  There was indeed a father whose company had just gone
public, who threw a lavish bat mitzvah for his daughter.  What made the
story "sordid"
is the company has a subsidiary that was manufacturing bullet-proof
vests.
Many people were saying the man had gotten huge amounts of no-bid
contracts and had ripped off the government.  10 seconds of digging on
the web showed that was not the case.

I wonder where the "Air Force captain" got the story, if this is a new
one.
Then again, this type of stuff occurs frequently, with the roaring
economy and virtually full employment, lots of people are getting rich.
And if the
15 year old girl doesn't know where Iraq is, (if that is truly the
case,) that is a failure of the educational system and the teachers.

"Two days earlier, a 35-year-old man went shopping for home
entertainment equipment. He had the toughest time selecting the correct
plasma screen; he could afford the biggest and best of everything. In
the end, he had it installed by a specialty store. He spent about
$50,000 on the whole system. 
He has never met anybody serving in the military nor served himself, but
thinks we should "turn the whole place into a parking lot." That day,
another American soldier died in Iraq."

One wonders where the "Air Force captain" gets all this information, but
even if it's true and it may very well be, what's the point of this
comment?
See my earlier paragraph about the economy and employment.  However, one
of the Democratic Talking Points is that the president has not asked
people to make sacrifices in this time of war.  According to the
Democrats, the economy should come to a halt and everybody should be
roughing it out.  Just like in WWII, we should be under strict
rationing, not buying plasma TVs.
The Democrats simply cannot fathom the size of the economy. The war
itself is a small portion of it.

We also see the beginnings of another favorite Democratic Talking Point
here, when the "Air Force Captain" starts mentioning that the person in
the story was not in the military.

"Three days earlier, some college students had a great kegger. There
were tons of babes at the party, the music was awesome. Everybody got
totally blitzed, and many missed class the next day. The young men all
registered for the draft when they were 18, but even though our nation
is at war, they aren't the least bit worried about the draft. It is
politically impossible to conscript young people today, we are told.
That day, another American "volunteer" died in Iraq."

Now we are finally getting somewhere.  If I add the days listed here and
backup from when the article appeared, it's end of June.  Classes have
let out long before that especially for the college folks mentioned
here.  You will notice that this is aimed solely at men, ("tons of
babes"), the writer seems to forget there are lots of women in the
military; could it be because the writer is not in the military?

We also encounter a very favorite Democratic Talking Point, the issue of
conscription, the draft.  At least it as now evolved away from "When
Bushy is reelected, he will reinstitute the draft."  Only Congress can
do that.
So now, the point has evolved to "it is politically impossible."  Could
it be the writer knows nothing about the US government?

The US military is made up exclusively of volunteers and that irks the
Democrats, big time.  No one in the military would put the word
volunteer in quotation marks in such an article.  This further
underlines the probability this piece was not written by an "Air Force
captain".

"Four days earlier, a harried housewife looked all over town for the
perfect accessory for her daughter's upcoming recital. Her numerous
chores wore her out, but she still found herself preoccupied. Her oldest
son is having trouble in his first year of college, and he has been
talking of enlisting in the Army. She is terrified that her child will
go off to that horrible war she sees on TV. She and her husband decide
to give their son more money so he doesn't have to work part-time; maybe
that will help with his studies.
That day, another soldier died."

Yet another Democratic Talking Point, only losers enlist in the
military.  I also notice this "Air Force captain" has a problem with
Americans living their lives as usual.  And he uses the word "harried"?

"Yesterday millions of Americans celebrated Independence Day. They
attended parties and barbecues. Families came together from all across
the country to celebrate the big day. Millions of dollars were spent on
fireworks. At public events, there were speeches honoring the people who
served and those who made the ultimate sacrifice. These words mostly
fell on bored ears. 

While the country celebrated its own greatness, other Americans were
still fighting in Iraq."

Well we now know for sure when this message was written, it definitely
was on Wednesday, July 5th.  Perhaps the writer never attended college,
which makes him ineligible to be an "Air Force captain".  Again we have
here an example of someone who has a problem with Americans being
Americans.

And as for the bored ears thing, let me tell you that was not the case
at the outdoor concert we attended on Monday night, with lots of
patriotic music and thunderous applause for the servicemen and women.

And what's with "its own greatness?"  Can he just say "its greatness?"
Is he questioning something here?


"Today Americans go back to their normal business. The politicians in
Washington have made sure the sacrifices of the war are borne by the
very smallest percentage of Americans. They won't even change the tax
rates to prevent deficits from running out of control. Future
generations will pay the cost of this war."

Bingo, some more Democratic Talking Points here.  Yes, the military now
makes up less than one percent of the population.  Even that small
number makes for the most powerful military on the planet and in
history.  Are the Democrats saying they want a larger military?

The next Talking Point is very telling:  "Tax rates!"  Why is an "Air
Force captain" writing about "tax rates"?  Everybody else would talk
about tax cuts, except that we now know tax cuts increase revenues to
the Treasury.
So now we go after "tax rates".  This single line is for me the telling
point about this article.  This mythical "Air Force captain" was too
clever by half.

"Many Americans feel strongly about the war one way or another, but they
aren't signing up their children for service or taking the protest to
the streets. What can they do? It is they whom we in the military trust
to influence our leaders in Washington."

Now that the cat is out of the bag, there is no reason to hold back.
The "Air Force captain" clearly doesn't understand about volunteering;
parents do not sign up their children for service.  One now wonders in
which country the writer lives.

"Today, as on every other day in Iraq, American servicemen are in very
real danger. Our country is at war. Mothers, fathers, wives, husbands
and children are worrying about their loved ones in a faraway land. They
all hope he or she isn't the one whose luck runs out today.

The writer is an Air Force captain stationed in Iraq."

And now we get to the end.  Again, I draw your attention to the use of
the word "servicemen", are the servicewomen not in danger there?  Is the
writer not aware there are many women in the military, in Iraq?  Maybe
the writer has never been to Iraq. The mythical "Air Force captain" does
try to recognize that at the end, but it's rather clumsy.

On the other hand, all the real messages and letters that I have seen
from real servicemen and women will have their name and rank and most
times, their unit and place of assignment in Iraq.

Until such time as it is confirmed that F. John Duresky is indeed a CPT
USAF, a pilot, and that we know which unit he is with and where he is
assigned in Iraq, I do not believe this message was written by any
member of the US military currently serving anywhere.

The media has been making stories up for way too long, I fear this yet
another example of media fabrication.


Denys

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *