Former vets with deep GOP ties lie to get others killed in Iraq

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060625/1066005.asp

Former vets with GOP ties boost war effort in blogs

WASHINGTON - A former spokesman for President Bush recently offered to several newspapers supposedly objective freelance stories from Iraq by two combat veterans who lead a pro-war group with deep Republican ties. snip

Gross' pitch to The News said the two highly decorated veterans could serve as embedded correspondents and "offer balanced and credible viewpoints gained directly from those closest to and most affected by the Iraq War." One of the reporters, former Marine Lt. Wade Zirkle, helped run Republican Jerry Kilgore's 2005 campaign for governor of Virginia.

Zirkle and the other reporter, David Bellavia of Batavia, are top leaders of Vets for Freedom, a new group with a highly polished Web site hosted by a firm that previously worked for the 2004 Bush-Cheney re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee.

No mainstream paper accepted Gross' offer. Several major papers did, however, publish opinion pieces by Vets for Freedom leaders this spring. And last week, Bellavia and Zirkle returned to Iraq and embedded with military units. Their blog, at www.vetsforfreedom.org, paints a largely positive picture of the war effort.

"Baghdad is absolutely beautiful," Bellavia wrote last Sunday, a day after a series of explosions around the city killed 23 people. "I mean shockingly majestic. This is a city for years we have been told is unsalvageable and I was amazed to see this level of cleanliness." snip

At the time, Gross never mentioned that he worked as a Bush spokesman under Press Secretary Scott McClellan until last year. He and two other Republican operatives, Matt Well and Doug McGinn, formed the Herald Group last September and tout their GOP background on their Web site. Gross' written proposal does note that Zirkle is executive director of Vets for Freedom, which is described as "a nonpartisan organization representing veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."

[acmejack]

1. They have to live with their consciences.

This makes one hope their is a God, so that they may have too explain this to a higher power when their time comes. I am comfortable with my (mis)deeds. Certainly these lying fucks can never be. May there be rounds of 7.62x39 with their names upon them, it is the only suitable end for war glorifying sickos such as these individuals.

[unhappycamper]

2. What a bunch of doo doo.

War builds character. War is patriotic. War is good. doo doo.

[rfranklin]

3. Republican veterans...now that's a rarity.

Especially in elected positions in Congress. I guess these operatives are the exception that proves the rule.

[Solly Mack]

4. A few years ago my childhood home was demolished by a tornado

The view at sunset, while looking over the damage, was spectacular. It was always a pretty area, with mountains, hills, and trees all around. I sure did appreciate that sunset in all it's glory...but once I got my head out of the clouds, I saw a lot of wreckage, lives damaged, and dreams shattered.

I can spend all day describing the natural beauty of the area...but it was the unnatural silence of destruction that made it "news"

My husband used to love the sunsets in Iraq. He cherished every single one of them...but when he took his head out of the clouds....he saw death and destruction all around him. He saw the reality.

Don't sell me sunsets when death lives next to me.

[zbdent]

5. Wonder how much of the $100 MILLION they got

for being the blue dress for Bush's war stain . . .