www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1543165/posts
woofie Facing tough questions from battle-weary troops, Vice President Dick Chen ey on Sunday cited signs of progress in Iraq and signaled that force cha nges could come in 2006. Cheney rode the wave of last week's parliamentary elections during a 10-h our surprise visit to Iraq that aimed to highlight progress at a time wh en Americans question the mission. Military commanders and top governmen t officials offered glowing reports, but the rank-and-file troops Cheney met did not seem to share their enthusiasm. "From our perspective, we don't see much as far as gains," said Marine Cp l Bradley Warren, the first to question Cheney in a round-table discuss ion with about 30 military members. I was wondering what it looks like from the big side of the mountain how Iraq's looking." Cheney replied that remarkable progress has been made in the last year an d a half. "I think when we look back from 10 years hence, we'll see that the year ' 05 was in fact a watershed year here in Iraq," the vice president said. But I guess we don't pay that much attention to the news." RP Zapella, asked, "Sir, what are the benefits of doing all this work to get Iraq on its feet?"
View Replies To: woofie The skepticism that Cheney faced reflects opinions back home, where most Americans say they do not approve of President Bush's handling of the wa r It was unique coming from a military audience, which typically receiv es administration officials more enthusiastically.
View Replies To: woofie They played bait-and-switch with the troop questions with Rumsfeld last y ear, they're playing bait-and-switch with the troop questions with Chene y this year.
View Replies To: woofie Either this is more MSM spin, or some of these troops need to be "counsel ed" about what's expected of them when they meet someone like the Vice P resident. Or maybe some junior officer with RAT sympathies sabotaged the whole thing by rounding up a bunch of malcontents. You don't ask questions like this, no matter what the "official" reason f or the meeting is. Anything else is disrespectful and plays into the hands of the enemy and their leftis t supporters at home.
View Replies To: woofie The supporting documentation offered for the writers premise that "the ra nk-and-file troops Cheney met did not seem to share their enthusiasm" bo rders on professional negligence.
View Replies To: balch3 You smile, shake his hand, and shut up. Anything else is disrespectful an d plays into the hands of the enemy and their leftist supporters at home .
View Replies To: Windsong No, I just know that when you meet the VP, it's not because he needs your advice, or so he can justify himself to you. YOU are there for HIS purp oses, and not the other way around. if it really did happen this way and not just MSM hokum.
View Replies To: woofie Sounds like some of the questions were spoonfed to the troops beforehand (which happens - happened when I was in, I assume it still happens now). There were two questions I saw, one about gains and what the big pictur e looks like, and the other about benefits of getting Iraq back on its f eet. Both of those gave Cheney a chance for broad soundbites to be carri ed out to the troops, back home and to the Iraqi people. It very well could be that some Marine doesn't see the big picture and wa s curious, and it could very well be that another was curious how the VP would respond to a "what's the point?" type of question, but it would h ave been hard for Cheney to get questions any better than that.
View Replies To: balch3 It was a round-table discussion. Those TWO questions the author chose to highlight weren't at all terrible. I wa s wondering what it looks like from the big side of the mountain how I raq's looking?" RP Zapella: "Sir, what are the benefits of doing all this w ork to get Iraq on its feet?"
View Replies To: woofie All the Marines at that round table were chosen for the fact that they ha d done heroic acts while in Iraq. NONE were briefed or coached as they w ere instructed to speak freely as the visitor had requested. Seems the V P is more able to take the junior Marines asking hard questions than tho se on here.
View Replies To: af_vet_rr I would expect my soldiers, or any service member putting his or her life on the line to ask any question of those putting them at risk.
View Replies To: Hurtgen From your handle, I would expect you understand the nature of the questio n better than the reporter. I would think the case of todays military man is not much different in so me respects of that man who fought in the Hurtgen Forest, where your vie w of the big picture and what goes on 20 miles away is formed by what yo u hear from other military or your superiors, when you hear it at all. The military view of the situation is often seen "through a straw" by the man in the trenches, although I am unsure what the access to news by to days troops is like.
View Replies To: balch3 You don't ask questions like this, no matter what the "official" reason f or the meeting is. Anything else is disrespectful and plays into the hands of the enemy and their leftis t supporters at home. If you are then think about the conseque nces of the etiquette that you are demanding. If troops act the way that you suggest, everyone will scoff any time a soldier says anything posit ive about the war effort to the Pres. They get to blow off a little bit of steam while not doing so in the direction of a military superior. Cheney did a good job of pointing out the positives that are going on. It is like the one soldier asked, the soldiers on the ground only see th e little picture, Cheney explained how the big picture is improving ever yday because of their efforts. One of the greatest aspects of US democracy is the freedom to bitch at ou r elected officials. If I have that right here in the middle of Georgia, our soldiers definitely have that right in the middle of Iraq.
View Replies To: woofie Like the military ALWAYS agrees with the President. It's not like they ge t 100% of the military vote--they get 70-75%. Of coarse you're going to find people with those opinions. I don't know how many troops I've heard on talk radio who call in and are frustrated with the reporting and say things are going very WELL over there.
View Replies To: endthematrix Those were two questions that the average American Mom and Dad wanted to ask because their kids are the ones fighting for the answers. I never worry about an execs ego when I have a question. I'm polite and r efuse to be embarrassed when someone is spending my money.
View Replies To: Cessna182 From my contact with former Marines I have been led to believe that input from subordinates is fostered in the Corps. One of the fellows I teach with recounted how during an exercise his Battalion CO brought the group together, down to fire team leaders and presented the problem and staff solution. He opened it up for comments to the assembled NCOs, and imple mented several of their suggestions into the operational plan. It would seem that when given an order, a Marine says Yes Sir, but before the order is finalized and after it has been implemented a Marine is fa r more than the unthinking warrior he is too often made out to be.
View Replies To: B4Ranch "I never worry about an execs ego when I have a question. I'm polite and refuse to be embarrassed when someone is spending my money." Especially when the 'exec' in this case is the elected-by-the -people VP and the money being spent is also ours. Why 'accountability' is such a fearful word to so many supporters of the Admin, I do not know.
View Replies To: Lumper20 Is she the only so called reporter that covered the VP's visit. I find it hard to believe that the troops only responded with one whistle when th e VP said words to the effect that we are here to win! that is another outright lie from the left leaning AP....
View Replies To: Lumper20 I guess I was just lucky that my CO would answer almost any question that a guy could throw at him. We knew what we were fighting for and better yet we knew where the BS came from.
but the point is that the man at the point of the spear often on ly sees what is in front of h...
|
http://csua.com/feed/