A Marine's 3rd tour in Iraq

Check this post out. There seems to be a chasm too wide to bridge.


http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=697229#697229

That's a great story, thanks for posting it. On Tony Snow's radio show this morning one of the callers was the father of two soldiers who had just returned home. He said that in the very near future there will be tens of thousands of soldiers coming back to the US with stories about what's really happening over there. And I've heard several times that the soldiers are surprised and dismayed to hear what the press is saying over here, because most of it does not relate to what's really happening over there.

I'm not an expert on very many issues, but when I see the news media talking about an area where I have some expertise, I'm often surprised at how inaccurate or wrong their stories are. And that's just for items in the local news, where the reporter can go talk to the participants. It must be much more difficult when the news is being made thousands of miles away, and the people involved speak a foreign language. Maybe it will help the media when they can talk to the soldiers who have returned, so they can get the real story.

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Awesome story perception, thanks for posting it.

This is the kind of report that I have heard from our New Mexico men and women who are returning home from Iraq. They are horrified at the negative news reporting and are disgusted at the photos from Abu Ghraib and resulting media firestorm when they had witnessed nothing but goodness and nobility among the troops they served with. They wonder why the good things things the majority of the troops are doing get so little press.

Thanks for the post Perception.

UR welcome-----I get very tired of the slop put out by the Deaniacs now on this forum. I try to even it out every chance I get but I am so outnumbered by both the numbers of Deaniacs and the tons of bilge water put out by them.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. helicopter fired on a wedding party early Wednesday in western Iraq (news - web sites), killing more than 40 people, Iraqi officials said. The U.S. military said it could not confirm the report and was investigating.

Yeah Yeah, things are just peachy for the Iraqui civilians. Or so semper fi would have us believe.

Don't feel a little "queasy" now that you've said that?????

Forgive me Panzade, but I think you might be looking through that soda straw the Marine mentioned. If you only listen to what the press had to say about West Palm Beach, you'd think I was living in a city resembling John Carpenter's "Escape from New York". And you know that is simply untrue.

Some want to feel good about the mission, some want to feel bad about it, the former because they disagree with the mission, the latter because they disagree with it.

A smaller portion don't much care about the "feel" of the war and do not marry their feelings to their opinion on the war's justification.

I like to count myself in that group (disclaimer, I have an obvious bias toward doing so ;-) ). I do not agree with the mission and do not think it was justified but have always (since the beginning of the "bogged down" statements) thought it was going very well.

OK Bill , you know you always have a fair and balanced opinion and I respect that. But IMO the grunts are looking through the soda straw not us. I'll admit I don't have a TV so I don't get the TV slant. I read The Palm Beach Post which I'll admit is pretty liberal and The New Yorker for Hersch's reporting and Woodward excerpts. From those sources I'd say the truth lies somewhere between re-up 3rd time ....and Pistoff...lol

After having listened to many of your thousands of posts it seems to me you are a man without a country and without a conviction to match.

Colon abuse is a terrible thing to behold.

Try pullin your head outta there...the symptoms will disappear!

The soldier in the article identifies himself as an "Intelligence officer". Isn't this a desk job?

It may be that his perspective is a might bit different than the poor grunts who have to go out on patrols...

perc, that's low of you. My convictions merely differ from yours. This is not indicative of an absence of conviction, just a rejection of many of yours.

Craven

Oh really? Then I'm completely confused--please enlighten me of any convictions you have that correspond to your country. I've noticed you have many convictions but many seem self serving and others could be confused with just trying to be controversial. Maybe you can clear this up for me.

I have no doubt that's true. Seriously though; statistically speaking, can you even imagine an invasion and occupation going smoother? In that environment? I'm not saying it's going smooth, but I don't recall anyone saying it would. Despite some heavy collateral damage; compared to most initiatives... I'd say our troops are performing with a surgeon's precision. We all know what would happen if we really didn't care.

Point well taken Bill.

We're not at the beginning of the end of this initiative, we're at the end of the beginning. After the June 30 deadline comes and goes I'll reasses my thoughts on this Marine's view.