Oct 10 WaPo front page article: Marines in iraq question war...

[msongs]

For Marines, a Frustrating Fight
Some in Iraq Question How and Why War Is Being Waged

By Steve Fainaru
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 10, 2004; Page A01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20794-2004Oct9.html

Msongs
Riverside CA

PS- why is it that when I leave the room for a half hour and come back I have to log in to this site (DU) again when I never left it??

[BattyDem]

1. Will the Bushies call them un-American, too?

:eyes:

[faithnotgreed]

2. when you do your login, make sure to check the little box

below it lets you stay logged in

[KelleyKramer]

3. Strong article, surprising that WP would run it

The WP was so pro-war with the rest of them, its surprising to see them even run this.

First hand articles from troops are rare (almost forbidden in the entire US media) and for good reason.. When it comes from the horses mouth its powerful.

Just saw your post, based on just the first page I would recommend everyone read this.

[USA_1]

4. "My Son, A US Marine"

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/100804V.shtml

"I am now enraged and disgusted with 'our government' ".

[CrispyQ]

16. Wow. John Kerry's office was the only one that cared enough

....to call this woman. What a bunch of selfish chickenshits we have running the govt. They make me want to puke.

[Kimber Scott]

5. I love the last line in the article...

"What are they going to do, send us to Iraq?"

It's what inmates used to say to me when I worked in the jail, "What are they going to do, throw us in jail?"

It's the end of the line. People get quite emboldened at the end of the line.

[hobbit709]

15. Same thing

That's what we used to say. What you gonna do? Sent me to Nam?

[Julien Sorel]

6. This story, and others like it, are attempts

at media payback for all the crap the Bush people have been spewing. The "important policy speech" that was just a Bush campaign rally, Helen Thomas, the lying, the ridiculously low number of press conferences, all of it. They might have to write their articles in an "objective" fashion, but they can cover a wide latitude of stories from a variety of angles. You can bet Rove and Co. knew this stuff would happen, and decided it was worth it to lie and treat the press like ugly prostitutes.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

7. WHOA.

I read that entire article out loud to Mr. Moonbeam, who was in Desert Storm. He was amazed they said the things he did, but completely agreed with the last line: what ARE they going to do, send them to Iraq?

Mr. Moonbeam commented that morale must be VERY VERY low there.

[evilqueen]

8. Everybody should blog this piece.

It shows one thing very clearly: that "All the Chimp's Men" are lying and that John Kerry knows wtf he's talking about.

[evilqueen]

11. Just BLOG IT!

*kick*

[Thrill]

9. WOW they could possibly win the election for Kerry

"Every day you read the articles in the States where it's like, 'Oh, it's getting better and better,' " said Lance Cpl. Jonathan Snyder, 22, of Gettysburg, Pa. "But when you're here, you know it's worse every day."


PLEASE KERRY CAMPAIGN USE THESE QUOTES.

[Thrill]

10. This is too good to be true

This is exactly what Kerry has been saying. What a gift?

But Perez said he came to think that war in Iraq was unrelated to his anger. "How do I put this?" he said. "First of all, this is a whole different thing. We're supposed to be looking for al Qaeda. They're the ones who are supposedly responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks. This has no connection at all to Sept. 11 because this war started just by telling us about all the nuclear warheads over here."

Snyder, who was listening, added: "Pretty much I think they just diverted the war on terrorism. I agree with the Afghanistan war and all the Sept. 11 stuff, but it feels like they left the bigger war over there to come here. And now, while we're on the ground over here, it seems like we're not even close to catching frigging bin Laden."

[bling bling]

12. Interesting piece from the article:

<snip>

The frustration of the Marines was evident one afternoon last week as members of the platoon traveled from Forward Operating Base Kalsu back to Camp Iskandariyah. An attack had reportedly taken place in the area, and members of the platoon were asked to leave their Humvees and walk up a road to look for suspicious activity.

Traffic quickly began to pile up: cars packed with families, trucks loaded with animals and vegetables. The line of vehicles would have taken hours to search. An order was suddenly passed for the Marines to search all buses for insurgents or weapons.

"This is what we call a dog-and-pony show," said Kelly, the heavyset, sharp-tongued lance corporal from Fairbanks. He said the operation was essentially a performance for American reporters who were traveling with the Marines. "This is so you can write in your paper how great our response is," he said.

Combs and another Marine boarded a small bus packed mostly with women and children. He walked up the center aisle carrying his M-16 assault rifle, then got off, disgusted. "We just scared the living out of a bunch of people," he said. "That's all we did."

[DeepModem Mom]

13. Page One! Thanks for posting, Msongs --

[Skinner]

14. Interesting story.

Thanks for posting it.

[riverwalker]

17. "Will they ever trust us again?"

is Mike Moore's new book, just released. Consists of letters to him from soldiers in Iraq. Picked it up yesterday.