Scapegoats
Remember, it's the media's fault:
Shameful.
Several Senate Republicans denounced other lawmakers and the news media on Thursday for unfavorable depictions of the Iraq war and the Pentagon urged members of Congress to talk up military service to help ease a recruiting shortfall.When in doubt, see #14 on this list. Any questions?
Families are discouraging young men and women from enlisting "because of all the negative media that's out there," Sen. James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, said at a U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
Inhofe also said that other senators' criticism of the war contributed to the propaganda of U.S. enemies. He did not name the senators.
Shameful.
posted by The Cunning Realist at Thursday, June 30, 2005
30 Comments:
shameful is just one of the words for it.
The ground-work is being laid to blame the loss on liberals and other critics at home. Just like they did with Vietnam.
I wonder if Senator Inhofe is encouraging his children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, or children of family friends to head down to the local recruiting station to sign up.
Probably not.
(That said, I'll cut Inhofe a little slack since he did serve as a Pfc in the Army from 1957-1958. But just a little.)
These are the take responsibility people!
If I only listen to Rush Limbaugh and watch Fox News and they are saying it stinks in Iraq, what now?
When our government comes out with propaganda regarding Pat Tillman, Jessica Lynch, and they bring in their own news guy, Jeff Gannon, and those fake news report that stations were showing --- they went as far as having an actor pretend to be a reporter... well, it is a slap to the face to the American public. Those fake news report had no disclaimer and were meant to deceive us. What credibility do these guys have?
They are the ones that want media consolidation. They are the ones that want PBS to be an extension of the White House. They are the ones that embedded the journalists in the war machine.
They should be straight and just say what they mean, they want us to belly over and not think or speak. Great example of democracy guys.
Karl Rove has a philosophy if something is said 5 times it must be true. So they'll just keep repeating it over and over; never mind the real problems.
"because of all the negative media that's out there,"
Well, as a wise man once said, "you can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit." If they are so worried about missing recruitment goals they should be pissed off at those responsible for the piss-poor planning/implementation of the war and post-war occupation. It's a lot easier to send your child off to defend your country when you have full faith in the motivations, skills, and charater of those responsible for sending your child into harm's way. You want to fix the enlistment gap, work on those issues, don't worry about the media (everyone's favorite boogeyman)...
Umm, call me crazy but I don't want my kids helping to form naked Iraqi's into pyramids; I don't want them driving in poorly armoured cars; I don't want them coming home with an arm or leg missing -- for a cause I don't believe in.
If Bush is so hell bent on this war how come he didn't send Jenna and her sister?
Well! is it not about time that we make some noise about recruiting Jenna and Barbara? let's see what they will have to say about that., or do they think these girls are priviledged? Their father was saying that enlisting is an honourable thing to do. why this would not be applied to his daughters, as well as all the young men and women of these senators
who only know how to scold the public?
Let's make a big fuss about this, may be they will shut up and start having a little understanding as to why it has been so difficult to recruit.
Agree with the person who said the pubs are trying to set up a "liberals lost us Iraq" scenario.
Libs didn't plan it, didn't have anything to do with managing it- but dagnabbit, if it wasn't for liberals the sunni insurgents and AQ crazies would have stopped planting bombs by now.
Logical? No. But this is the right wing we're talking about.
What is significant is that it is the Army (and, to a lesser extent, the Marines) that have recruiting shorfalls. The Air Force and Navy are having no trouble getting people to join. Might it have something to do with which service is most likely to get you killed?
Forget Jenna & Barbara. G.W. should be forced back into duty and be made to finish his national guard service driving a less than fully armored Hum-Vee in Iraq. Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rove, and the other neocons should be forced to drive the other vehicles in the convoy. They should be forced to stay on active duty until all other American forces have been withdrawn.
Should they survive, they should be forced to live in exile for the remainder of their lives for the disgrace they have brought upon the memory of those who perished on 9/11.
The Air Force and Navy are having no trouble getting
I don't know about the Navy, but during Vietnam if your number was close you joined the Air Force or National Guard, so you could have some semblance of control over life and a greater probability to live. Of course being in the National Guard these days appears to be the same as being a foot soldier.
I saw the news the other night and they were again blaming the adults in the kids lives, parents, coaches, teachers. I thought that was hilarious. You mean parents actually care about their kids and watch over them; that seems like a very "family values" thing to do. I wonder if the recruiters are only tracking public school kids, or also kids in private schools; what about boarding schools. It is sad, the economic draft we have.
My father came home from college one day in 1953 and saw a letter from the Army waiting for him. He turned around and went directly to the Navy recruiting center. He always was a smart guy . . . .
As I read an opinion in USA Today (see snippet below), I got thinking. This man is a WWII veteran. He knows war is hell, absolutely necessary sometimes, and we need to support our troops (because war is hell). Yet, war is not the only patriotic action. Certainly demonstrating is, making voices heard, and having our press people be unbiased and report the facts on all sides.
Yet this veteran (who happens to have found the paper) looks to others in the media to speak up, to report the truth, or at least give a voice to alternative views. Are we so afraid to say the President took us to war on a lie, that no good man or wowan can speak. Is fighting for our country worth it? And that means holding the President accountable. If the war was so right, why can't the President tell us the truth? I know there are a lot of people that value truth because they were very vocal about Clinton lying about sex in White House. My neighbor tells me this all the time. So I know truth matters. Bush lied, where is the outrage about truth now. I don't get it.
I'm not a huge (just a little) fan of Senator Lindsey Graham, but I respect him immensely because he appears to have consistent principles and values, and he is a gentleman. The exact opposite is true for Cheney, Delay, Rove, Frist, Bush...
snippet:
"The crucial difference between Vietnam and Iraq is that there is no Cronkite to call Bush's bluff. Without a strong, trusted, non-political voice, too many of us remain Bush-blinded. Bush tried keeping the wool over our eyes again Tuesday on national TV by repeatedly tying Iraq to 9/11. That charge is as phony as his discredited prewar claim that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction."
Well, the analagy to 'Nam is playing out in this instance quite well unfortunately.
Iraq is not Vietnam. There are many comparisons to find in every
war. During the Vietnam era, we
always compared our own revolution
to the Vietnamese fight to get rid
of us. Vietnam was never a threat
to the U.S., while radical Islamists are a real threat. Ho
Che Minh never promised to destroy
America.
while radical Islamists are a real threat
I forget, what was Timothy McVeigh again...
Cunning Realist did an excellent blog History's Rhyme about the similarities.
I just finished the book “Losing Iraq: Inside the Postwar Reconstruction Fiasco.” and it was just really interesting to read about things that were known that were simply ignored (i.e., Bremmer terminating the military, so you had unemployed Iraqi's with weapons or the order was given that the only building to secure would be the oil ministry which added fuel to the impression that we were there for the oil. They say there were plans for the peace and exit strategy, but there is a certain faction in control that ignored them.).
Report today that indicates the Army desertion rate for 2005 is already equal to all of 2004 (2,723).
I suspect having your tour of duty changed and extended multiple times under that stop-loss policy doesn't help. Also don't you think, that soldiers that are coming home are talking to their friends and neighbors. I know the admin try to hide the injured and dead, but when there are so many, in so many communities, people talk.
I think the Republicans should stop blaming others and fix the problems and be honest with the public.
What if our goal is to own, at least have a very big foot in the door, the Middle East because of oil? Does that justify the war, and why can't the President tell us that? What was Cheney keeping secret in those energy task force meetings. If journalists aren't above the law, either should Vice Presidents.
This is a Holy War, you dumbasses.
Hey Dumbass!
Hope you're posting that comment from Iraq! And I hope you have all your dumbass brethern with you. Make sure you exterminate every last one of those unholy islamists -- 'cause that's what Jesus would want you to do!
And when you come back home without a leg or an arm don't be expecting anything except a shitty little medal from the US gov't for doing your "patriotic" duty.
Thanks in advance.
Yikes. Who brainwashed that guy.
while radical Islamists are a real threat
You are quite right--however, the number of radical Islamists who were inside of Iraq has increased exponentially since we got there, not before...or did you miss that part?
Not a Christian. Not an atheist. Not brainwashed. Not surprised.
Get a clue. Or wait until France is felled from within by Islamists. Then there will be clues in abundance.
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