Wiesbaden, 1st Armored Division set for President Bush's visit to Germany

[lebkuchen]

Bush, who will be in Europe next week to meet with European officials, will make a stop at Wiesbaden Army Airfield on Wednesday afternoon, according to a 1st Armored Division news release.

It will be the second time that Bush has visited 1st AD troops. In 2003, he made a surprise visit to Baghdad to have Thanksgiving dinner with the soldiers.

“We are honored that the president and Mrs. Bush have chosen Wiesbaden to visit soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and family members of the U.S. European Command,” Maj. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, 1st AD commander, stated in a news release.

“I’m sure many Iron soldiers still remember with great pride the visit the commander-in-chief made to Baghdad to spend Thanksgiving with us during our deployment,” Dempsey stated.

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=27274



**They remember alright, General**


Thanksgiving visit

So the boss came to visit us on Thanksgiving, under wraps and under the American flag. Thanks for coming. Oh thank you, kind leader, merciful leader, for taking one day out of your busy schedule to visit us. The shepherd looking over his flock. Thanks for making the sacrifice. God knows we’re making one. Re-election is coming up, but that had nothing to do with it, now did it?

I remember your victorious landing on the ship. Oh how all those then alive, and now dead, would love to sit down next to you, cutting their families’ turkeys and filling the empty seats at the tables. Leader of the free world, be our guest at the head of our table. Or would you like to sit in one of the many empty seats left by the war? There’s plenty of room. Enough turkey and stuffing to go around. Fat and happy, delirious and exhausted. That’s how I feel.

In a hurry? Going so soon? Have time for questions? You sure do have time for compliments. Do you ever feel responsible? I’m tired of this. Go back home to the ranch and tell them how happy and fulfilling the trip made you feel.

Spc. Damian Torres
Iraq

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=125&article=18888&archive=true



Bush visit disrupted dining

As a soldier deployed in Iraq, I hear all the complaints from individuals who think they have it worse than the next guy. I’m lucky enough to be with soldiers who often complain among themselves, but all they expect are good leadership and three square meals a day.

As part of the main push during major combat, our battalion was scattered all over the battlefield. We supported other units and paved the way (and roads) that others would use to get to the front lines. Our D9 teams helped push units as famous as the 101st Airborne Division from Kuwait to as far as Mosul. We took mine blasts and got shot at as we breached obstacles and cleared roads. Again, all we asked for was leadership and three squares a day.

During the war, Meals, Ready to Eat were naturally the way to go. They were appreciated, even by the vegetarians who had only crackers and cheese after the veggie meals were gone. Now that we’re stationed at Baghdad International Airport almost 10 months later, my soldiers believe that several comforts have finally arrived for them, like the post exchange and dining facility. But imagine their dismay when they walked 15 minutes to the Bob Hope Dining Facility, only to find that they were turned away from their evening meal because they were in the wrong unit.

The one thing that they find a requirement was denied to them. They understand that President Bush ate there and that upgraded security was required. But why were only certain units turned away? Why wasn’t there a special meal for President Bush and that unit in the new dance hall adjoining the 1st Armored Division’s band building? And all of this happened on Thanksgiving, the best meal of the year when soldiers get a taste of home cooking.

Were the local national servers also kept out of the building because of security reasons? Regardless, my soldiers chose to complain among themselves and eat MREs, even after the chow hall was reopened for “usual business” at 9 p.m. As a leader myself, I’d guess that other measures could have been taken to allow for proper security and still let the soldiers have their meal.

Sgt. Loren Russell
Iraq

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=125&article=18886&archive=true

[MyDogSpot]

1. Amazing--they're closing down parts of Autobahn 3, at Frankfurt Airport

What happens if somebody needs to get to the airport?

I used to live in Germany. That section of Autobahn 3 is the most well traveled roadway in the country. What a mess Bush's visit will create. Interesting how messes seem to follow him wherever he goes.

[neweurope]

3. They are closing down FOUR Autobahnen! All around Mainz.

Right in the middle of Germany/in the middle of Europe. Almost all day. Not to speak of other things like AMERICAN snipers on GERMAN balconies.

:grr:

----------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[tabasco]

4. German girlfriend told me the whole area is being locked down

Even the trains are being stopped for three hours. She can't believe it. Never seen anything like it. Prince George, the most hated man on the planet, takes an enormous security detail everywhere he goes. What an embarassment to have a cowardly leader who cannot go into public. I hope the Germans have some massive protests planned.

[lebkuchen]

5. I don't understand why he wants to visit the 1AD again

The first meeting, with the turkey, had to be screened for "Bush supporters only," it earned negative letters from soldiers in Stars and Stripes, AND the 1AD was told three weeks ago that it would be redeploying for a second 12 - 18 month tour of Iraq in November 05.

The 1AD was the division that was due back after its first 12 month tour, having sent back a planeload of soldiers plus the division marching band to welcome them home, only to have the division extended, at the last minute, for another 3-4 months, w/those already deployed home having to return to Iraq, including the marching band, despite a general's response to the media that that those already home wouldn't have to return.

Several of the division soldiers were subsequently killed during their extension.

Gen. Dempsey can put a happy face on that debacle, but this division is not a happy camper.

[mare]

10. It doesn't matter...

because the airport is closed, too, while he is visiting. No incoming or outcoming flights at all.

Besides that:
Having visitors during his stay without telling the police about them, giving them their name, date of birth and address: not allowed.
Hanging (peace) flags from your windows: not allowed.
etc.

All of my friends in the Frankfurt/Mainz/Wiesbaden area are furious.

[lebkuchen]

16. I hear Hahn is still open

At least Ryan Air will be functioning.

The 1AD does not want to see that pugnacious little twit. Neither does the 1ID. He should take his white trash ass to Landstuhl with his pretentious "teacher/librarian" wife and view the carnage that will be his legacy.

[rasputin1952]

2. Small world...I was stationed at Weisbaden in 70-80...I could give a tour

I was with HHC 1/60AR 4thBde(FWD) 4th ID...Greatt unit, great area!

Our job was to plug the hole in the Fulda Gap the Soviets/E. Germans would come streaming through...Life Expectancy: 30-45 min's in the Gap. We had Artillery and Infantry inherent to our unit...we were technically under USAEUR and 8th ID Command, but we were a free wheeling BDE.

By far, the best place I was ever stationed in the Army. Carter flew in to the Airbase, an old Luftwaffe Areodrome from WWII, in the Old AF One.

Ah...the memories....:D

[rasputin1952]

14. oops...that should have read 79-80...

:spank:

[kineneb]

6. speaks to his paranoia

shutting down the autobahns, geez...ya' think he might be a little afraid? Solch' einen Scheisskopf!

[neweurope]

7. At first the Americans wanted to have the trains shut down, too.

Now it will be possible to reach Mainz by train, they assure us, it just might take all day. Leaving or reaching the town by car is impossible. They have also closed down the most important bridges. Air space is closed. No ships on Rhine and Main allowed that day.

Several factories won't be able to produce that day. Schools and kindergarten closed. Garages have to be emptied and left open. Sewer tops have been soldered shut, mailboxes removed. University clinic is shut down all day in case the mass murderer needs it. People forbidden to step out on their balconies.

And I would very much like to know on which legal basis there will be US snipers on German balconies. That pisses me off most.

Several hundred of Bushistas have been in town for 4 weeks demanding this and insisting on that. Bush will bring another thousand over. I shudder to think of the costs (which I'm sure the Germans will have to pay). One way to bankrupt Europe: Just visit'em often enough!

There will be protests all over Germany that day, in most towns. We'll greet the mass murderer in Mainz. SOMEHOW we'll get there.

--------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[tabasco]

12. Thank you !

Let the criminal know how much Germany hates him !

[lebkuchen]

17. I remember when the Queen visited Christchurch w/her two grandsons

and went shopping in the mall accompanied by a couple of bodyguards. Ah, to be a Brit~.

Actually, when Clinton visited Christchurch toward the end of his presidency, he too brought sharpshooters. They were positioned on top of the Antarctica Museum, freaking everybody out. Security was immense, but when he entered the museum with Chelsea, everyone in the museum gave them a standing ovation. Clinton then went to the center of the city and shook hands with an estimated 1/4 of the population. Kiwis would tell each other proudly, "I shook hands with Clinton," only to hear, "So did I."

Good luck to you, Neweurope. Report back when it's over. Try to be near a storefront door during the protests so that if teargas is used, or the crowd starts to run, you can activate the automatic door opener, or, if businesses are closed, stand near a bank and use your bank card to open up the door and get away from the potential danger.

That's what I was conscious of doing in Munich, anyway, though I've never been to a German protest where teargas was used. The polizei will be prepared, however, and you never know who might lose their cool.

[neweurope]

21. Oh, they're pretty quick with tear gas here, too, and will be all jittery

with Bush around. That's some good tips with the store and bank doors!

I'll take a pot and make some extra noise for you :hi:

----------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[ausiedownunderground]

8. Will The AWOL Chimp be visiting Landstuhl with the media???

[nookiemonster]

9. Most likely

and they will paint him as the all caring, compassionate one.

The MSM whores will try to make a certain "salacious and treasonous" issue go away. Count on it.

[neweurope]

15. No he won't. Pickles might.

-----------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[SaveAmerica]

11. Can you imagine the uproar if another country's president came to DC

and made ANY of those demands? I can't believe the audacity of this man, if he's that afraid to get around in public without all the demands he should stay at home. Come on swaggering cowboy, walk the streets of Europe without your posse, or stay back at the ranch.

[neweurope]

13. DC? Imagine the uproar if Schröder said: "Hey man, I can't stand DC,

if you wanna talk to me come to Reno" or where ever... AND then make all these demands. Our capital is BERLIN and that's where he's supposed to go. Schröder probably was glad to hear that he was NOT going to Berlin, though, because shutting down a city the size of Berlin is a little more difficult than Mainz. I have not been so angry in my whole life.

He'll also have a "town hall meeting" (the ...German media even use the English words) with "German citizens". I'd like to slap those German citizens personally every step from here to Baghdad.

Also there will be a PRO BUSH demonstration. Some German nitwits will go (not many, I'm sure). It's being organized by an US guy (who put up a terrible website:

http://medienkritik.typepad.com/

"Politically incorrect observations on reporting in the German media. By David Kaspar & Ray D." ..."our position is pro-American, pro-Israeli and pro-capitalist. As a rule we compose our postings in English because we want to inform our English-speaking audience as to the situation in the German media and where possible, also fill them in on German politics.
We welcome comments as an addition, but the main purpose of our blog is the publication of our postings along the lines of the above-described blog philosophy. Davids Medienkritik was not created to serve primarily as a discussion forum or chat room."

That Kaspar asshole must have been posting on Free Republic, that much I was able to find out. Can anybody give me some background on these guys?
The site has been up for a year. And - surprise! - this January an exact mirror of the site has sprung up, only in German. Only topic this far: the pro-Bush demonstration.

The website is ultra-right... And people who go to the pro-Bush demonstration don't even have to take their own banners and whatnot - everything will be supplied. Like all the orange bullshit in Ukraine where the people "spontaneously" demonstrated. There goes some more of your tax money...

-----------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[lebkuchen]

19. Nobody is going to notice Kaspar et al at the demonstrations

The everpresent Anarchists will surround them in short order and drown them out.

[neweurope]

20. I hope they surround them before FOX get to them. :)

:hi:

-----------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[lebkuchen]

18. Do you remember the photos of Bush in Berlin during his last visit?

He was staying at the Adlon Hotel on Unter den Linden (where Michael Jackson *gasp* "dangled" the baby), right next to the Brandenburg Gate and near the Reichstag. This is one of the most touristed areas in Berlin, yet there wasn't a soul in sight other than Bush and his entourage.

When Clinton had visited Berlin during his presidency, granted, there was plenty of security, but he was able to go to coffeeshops and visit with locals. Bush could never do that....

on edit: without creating a riot.

[evolvenow]

22. When will the WAR CRIME trial against B*sh/Ch*ney Club begin? Germany, yes

[neweurope]

24. It won't. It's been said that the court won't go ahead. One argument was

that they COULD be indicted in the USA and that this hasn't even been tried.

------------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[Gyre]

23. That will be one large

Gay Pride gathering! (Not that there's anything wrong with it.)

Gyre