Some actual, you know, stuff from Iraq: lefties please ignore

You're right, Bill. If we were anything like the wingnuts, we'd be screaming about him not actually being a soldier, or being in Iraq, or actually having any of those experiences. We'd engage the 101st Keyboard Brigade to smear the guy, just like Michelle Malkin tried to smear Scott Thomas (Beauchamp) when his blog appeared in the New Republic.

 

Whoa, Bill, what set you off today? Did the Commies TP your yard again?

 

Scott Thomas will be making little rocks out of big rocks in Leavenworth pretty soon. And not because of his elegant prose, either.

 

I subscribe to Michael Yon’s imbedded dispatches…great stuff.

We live far better on base here in Baqubah than many people who are living downtown (though there are some very nice homes), and it’s not all about money. Not at all and not in the least. When Americans move into Iraqi buildings, the buildings start improving from the first day. And then, the buildings near the buildings start to improve. It’s not about the money, but the mindset. The Greatest Generation called it “the can-do mentality.” It’s a wealth measured not only in dollars, but also in knowledge. The burning curiosity that launched the Hubble, flows from that mentality, and so does the revenue stream of taxpayer dollars that funded it. Iraq is very rich in resources, but philosophically it is impoverished. The truest separation between cultures is in the collective dreams of their people.

 

I only know a little about the controversy, so I have no idea whether Thomas is in trouble for whatever he wrote. However, it's worth noting that this is the *second time* this year that Malkin and the right-wing blogging community have claimed that a particular person doesn't really exist, only to be proven wrong by the week's end.

She must have hired Stephen Glass as a fact-checker.

 

a little OT here, but an honest question.


Apparently after winning the Asian Cup, the Iraqi captain said the U.S. should leave Iraq and expressed anger/whatever that the U.S. ever invaded.

Didn't the Iraqi's either not have a team or team players were killed/tortured/imprisoned for losing or some such before the U.S. liberation of Iraq?

 

Yes indeed. Hussein's sons loved to torture athletes.

However, I think this underscores the fact that even though the Iraqis are now free to play soccer (and win), they still want the US out.

 

Well, the cup final was in Jakarta, Indonesia, so the captain said this while he wasn't even in Iraq. Had he actually been in Iraq, like the blogger above, he would have noticed how awesome everything actually was.

 

Actually I think it really underscores one person’s opinion and that’s it.

 

It is always worthwhile to verify sources and that is the general intent here with these exercises in verification, whether the result ends in questions or authentication. You see, the left has run amuck in the last decade using sources that were either mis-identified or mis-represented: standard procedure in BigSoccer's P&CE board and quite widespread in the liberal media... Verifying sources is an exercise Dan Rather's stooges and the New York Times wishes they employed more often. So we conservatives - who put a great premium on things like the truth - don't mind at all... these little exercises in verification and authentication by Malkin et al. I gather that you leftist liberals hate doing that! And if they end up verifying a source well we can go from there... more often than not, however, they reveal holes where there should be no holes; i.e., with the New Republic's pinning their entire war reporting criticism on the antics of one rather loony Scott Thomas Beauchamp, then we owe a debt of gratitute to Malkin and others for reporting what the New Republic failed to mention.

 

Wrong:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/26/AR2006092601721_pf.html

And this is from last year. I'll dig around to find a link to something more current, but the numbers are still in favor of a US pullout.

 

I'm not sure she ever wrote for sure whether he was really a soldier or not. But his writings themselves leave him open to at least a good talking to from his CO, or possible discharge.

His first problem was writing about his deployment in detail on his blog. A violation of operational security.

His next problem will be the 'incidents' he 'witnessed' while in Iraq. If they did happen, his CO will investigate and bring charges against the perps. If not, Beauchamp has a lot of explaining to do.

But a few of his stories don't make sense:

1) 'Changing a tire in waist deep sewage'. The only wheeled vehicles the US has are the Humvees and Strykers. Both have run-flat wheels, so there's no need to change the tires immediately.
2) The 'skull-cap' story. a) Your helmet fits pretty snug, and wearing anything under it gets pretty uncomfortable pretty fast b) any mass grave found is investigated and documented for Saddam's pretty long record. There would be independent confirmation of this, and no one can find any.
3) The half-melted face incident would result in Scotty having at least a fat lip and probably a matching black eye.
4) Running over dogs would have the driver reprimanded by the vehicle commander. But the fact that the driver can't see anything up against the right side of his vehicle, let alone put the rest of his crew at risk put some doubt on this story as well.

The real issue is NOT whether he existed. But rather what he is saying is true.

Looks like the veracity of his experiences will be put to the test. In the meantime, I hope he likes cleaning out the port-a-potties alone. No one in his unit will trust him, so his commander will put him in charge of a suitable task.

 

Underscores one person's inability to fully grasp the freedom he currently has and didn't have 5 years ago. It would be one thing to say the U.S. should leave, but saying it never should have come in the first place? Perhaps the U.S. should send him to one of those secret torture prisons we supposidly have in Europe next time the Iraqi national team loses to remind him of what he's missing.

 

ESPN stepped over the Line I feel, When after they show the Highlights of The Iragi win they report on the players comments.

Did ESPN evem care about the Victory or did they did they do thier own politcal grand standing?

When I saw the Highlights I was excited for the Irag players and People and was excited to see Espn continue to cover soccer.Then they go ahead and read that statement ..." but we still want the US out.."

What was that? Is the cost of invasion worth the the results of a Football match? No, but it sure is nice not getting tortured for losing.

 

Irony bus coming through.

 

Most are in favor of the US pulling out, but most also understand that it is not the right time to do so. Security must be established consistently and from the Iraq police and military alone.

What they need is unity from all corners of the country. Signs are positive that things improve on a daily basis because of the hard work of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers. Maybe this Asian cup win will show all Iraqi people what they will achieve when they come together as a country.

 

At the risk of wading into quicksand...

Wasn't the post hoc point of invading Iraq to spread "freedom" to the Middle East, which would include "freedom of speech" and/or "freedom of thought"? (I'm assuming that the pre hoc point was removing WMDs, although that is, of course, a matter for some debate.)

And now that we have, arguably, spread this freedom through the removal of a dictator, a theoretically suppressed individual expresses his free thought through free speech. And if you disagree with it, your reaction is "suppress the thought through torture"?

You do know, of course, that this sort of apparent contradiction is precisely why a huge portion of the globe finds US foreign policy distasteful, dishonest and morally repugnant, right? We don't have a very good track record of spreading "freedom" since we have the unfortunate tendency to dictate what form that freedom should take and kill those that express a form of freedom that doesn't match that.

I say this without discussing whether I think the war is good or bad, whether the US should pull out or not, but point out how silly and, ultimately, disturbing your statement was.

 

This is great. The captain of the Iraqi team, who actually - you know - lives in Iraq, thinks that things aren't so rosy back in his home country and that the US should leave, and you guys start up with the "oh no, things are great" and "what an ungrateful SOB" memes.

Incredible.

 

If said Iraqi soccer captain wishes to bemoan and castigate the nation that freed his people from a dictator in his 15 minutes of orgasmic glory who are we to deny him? Personally I wish he would speak to that what he knows: soccer! However open discourse and comment is part and parcel of freedom as said Iraqi soccer caption surely now knows, him being denied freedom for so very long under Saddam & Sons! But I personally would be more inclined to listen to ground Army commanders on the situation in Iraq over an ungreatful soccer team captain. Actually, said soccer capation should be down on his knees in thanks to every American that either financed and fought this war on his behalf; but since he's going to just criticize us, I'll take his win over the Saudia Arabia as thanks enough...

 

Yeah, well we did have a few of our beloved soldiers give their lives over there so he could play and win and actually express his opinions on US television.

How incredible that someone would point this out!

 

I think it underscores the fact that the Arab language has no word for "graditude".

 

Is anyone saying the Iraqi or US government should stiffle his criticisms? That's the only place where your "freedom of speech" meme should come in.

 

Actually he plays for a team outside of Iraq. And he's not returning to Iraq for the celebrations, so he doesn't really live there. Says he's worried about physical harm, not sure from whom.

And I never said things were great. Just that, from his perspective as a member of the Iraqi national soccer team, better than they were 5 years ago. Assuming he wouldn't want to be tortured for losing anyway.

 

Wait, what is "the left" supposed to take from this article?