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POPSRepublicans Use Fake Troops for RNC Video One of the actors, Perry Denton of Chicago, IL also confirmed that he was hired on a day-rate as an actor for the shoot and told CBS News he was surprised to learn the footage was shown at the convention.
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POPSGOP Campaign Themes They also find it Very Easy to Condemn those that give Service to Their Lives and Freedoms! Last election cycle they Laughed at and Mocked the Military Service of one of the Presidential Candidates who Served This Country In Vietnam, just as I Did, and being in the same service branch, the U.S. Navy, they Spit on my Service, All my brother and sister Naval personal who served In-Country, and All the other Service Personal, but most of All, All Those Who Have Served This Country and Received It's Highest Honor For That Service, The Purple Heart!!! I was waiting to see how they would Slam their Fellow Americans this year. Well they started early, peppering their talking points with the words needed, leading up to their Convention, and Let Both Barrels Go, Loud and Clear!!
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POPSU.S. Forces Conduct Offensive in Pakistani Border Region This is, however, a sensitive issue. It is assumable that the moderates within the Pakistani government want the Taliban removed from Southern Waziristan. The problem is the more hardline elements of the Pakistani citizenry are sure to be unhappy about this. The unrest amongst the fundamentalists combined with the corrupt officials and Taliban sympathizers within the Pakistani government creates a unique situation that must be handled delicately. But this does not discount the need for military action in Southern Waziristan.
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POPSMcCain v Obama; Iraq Policy I can see if Obama were to become president, he would quite likely acquiesce to Iraq's original demands of a full withdrawal by 2010. But if McCain were to be elected, I don't see how he would convince the Iraqi government to allow us to stay beyond 2011.
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POPS60 Days To Judge a Commander in Chief? I've been able to watch his thought process in action, and have seen him been proven right on Iraq, right on Afghanistan, right on talking to Iran, and right on the war on terror. He's shown an incredible ability to think in much larger strategic terms than this president, to the point that I'm supremely confident he is ready to lead our Armed Forces.
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POPSJohn McCain Needs to Lay Off the POW Talk The fact is, John McCain's service during Vietnam was honorable and he sacrificed a great deal. But his service to the country carries no more weight than that of any other POW. Likewise, while McCain has given so much to his country, thousands of veterans--past and present--have given as much or more. In this war alone, thousands of troops have lost limbs, been paralyzed, and been burned beyond recognition. So to see McCain resort to playing the POW card when answering legitimate questions, in my mind, cheapens that experience. And by cheapening his own experience in war, he degrades all of our experiences in war. He turns the horrific incidents we've all seen, touched, smelled, and felt into a lame excuse to earn political points. And it dishonors us all. And while Spencer Ackerman is not a veteran himself, I think he sums up what many combat vets are feeling today after hearing the campaign's statement:
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POPSMoldy Barracks Open Thread There are 18 comments made by the troops who have fought for their country. They deserve to be read. If you don't want to hear from the ones who are fighting this war. Then don't start these wars.
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POPS10 Weeks of Hell: Afghanistan Death Rate Exceeding Highest of Iraq War in an ambush, with four of them being captured and subsequently executed. Around the same time, Afghan insurgents launched a coordinated attack on a major U.S. base. The fatality rate in Afghanistan during the past 10 weeks would be equivalent to 353 deaths in Iraq at the same time--a rate not even seen during the bloody crescendo of 2007. This is a crisis.
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POPSMcCain Doesn't Disagree that We Might Need a Draft
Jon Soltz, Iraq War Veteran and Chairman of VoteVets.org said, "At least Senator McCain is being honest. A vote for him is a vote for the draft. Period. Unless Senator McCain radically changes his worldview, there would be a draft to implement his plans." Soltz added, "When you take into account his indefinite military commitment to Iraq, his desire to send more troops to Afghanistan, record lows in recruiting and retention, and possibly more wars he is looking to get into, like "Bomb Bomb Bomb" Iran, his numbers don't add up without a draft. Whether America likes it or not isn't relevant - a draft is the only way to do everything Senator McCain wants to do. I give him points for being honest and upfront, though, that we're going to need a draft if he is elected." This isn't the first time that Senator McCain has hinted at a reinstitution of the draft if he is elected. Asked on September 29, 2007 in New Hampshire about the draft, McCain said he would "consider it."
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POPSMcCain's Elitist Response to Military Donor Story But aside from the fact that the McCain campaign lied is confused, does anyone catch a whiff of elitism here? Is support from within the ranks somehow more credible if it comes in the form of a general officer or an admiral? If so, that would be strange. . .since flag officers aren't the ones fighting the insurgencies in Iraq or Afghanistan. This comes as no surprise--and it reinforces the message: It's clear that McCain values the opinions of flashier, high-ranking, inside-the-wire types over the views of the grunts, the medics, and the lieutenants who wade waist-deep through the muck and blood and shrapnel of insurgency, day in and day out. And while he may easily dismiss the actual combatants of these wars in a moment of political self-defense, those same troops will not so easily forget his bellicosity, his foreign policy ignorance, and his general lack of respect for them when it comes time to vote in November.
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POPSYour 6:1 Open Thread The comments from these troops is pretty compelling. And these guys are the ones fighting for us. Too bad we don't give a shit.
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POPSJohn McCain is in New Jersey Today. Half of NJ's National Guard Isn't When John McCain is in New Jersey today, we urge him to address the thousands of families that have been affected by this deployment and describe the relief he would provide them as President. In addition, VFA had been repeatedly contacted by NJ Guard members and other servicemembers from New Jersey who want to know Senator McCain's position on compensating members of our armed forces who have been stop-lossed. Recently, Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey introduced a bill calling for compensation to provided to those who affected by this regrettable policy. VFA calls on Senator McCain to clearly state if he supports Senator Lautenberg's "Stop Loss Compensation Act." Our servicemembers deserve answers, especially after considerable questions were raised regarding Senator McCain's support for our troops' well being when he opposed the successful effort to expand the GI Bill, as called for in a bill that Senator Lautenberg also co-sponsored.
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POPSMcCain, America's Security Is No Joke Using less Middle East puts us in a stronger position to demand security in the region and fight terrorist organizations which often get much of their funding through oil profits. Using less Middle East oil could also keep us out of future wars, and save the lives of those Americans serving in uniform. According to TIME magazine, John McCain's sole idea to "drill here and drill now" won't produce oil until the year 2030, and then it will only be 200,000 barrels per day. In comparison, the government estimates that if everyone made sure their car tires were fully inflated, we could start to reduce our oil consumption by 800,000 barrels per day, right now.
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POPSBait and Switch Something is wrong if news like this doesn't anger you. The President has "reduced" tours in Iraq. Never mind that he will not be the President when the time comes to determine whether the situation on the ground allows for redeployment. All the while, the situation in Afghanistan is rapidly deteriorating. Deployment timelines are being pushed to the right repeatedly, much as we saw during the crescendo of violence in Iraq. The sole solution presented is one that the Administration and its endorsed candidate have fought against tooth and nail: redeployment of a significant number of troops from the waste of time, money and American lives that is the occupation of Iraq.
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POPSI never thought I would see an anti-soldier veterans group comments from article. * Should have added (4.00 / 1) 'gathering of eagles' and now this offshoot 'eagles up' were formed mostly to continue the blantant Spitting on Kerry, Cleland, and Us 'Nam Vets that don't tow the bushy doctrine, most aren't conflict veterans, many aren't even veterans, though they'll wear colors, patches, etc.. Their main claims of support, if you visit their sites, is doing 'battle' with 'code pink' and crowing about it' mostly false bullshit, I've caught them on a number of times putting up crap of incidents with ''code pink' and 'pro peace' activists they're crowing about and I was witness to. And Boy do they Hate OIF and OEF soldiers that don't tow the same bushy doctrine, reason they're big supporters of VFF and the mercs!!!!!!
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POPSBloggers Pushing Wes Clark Back to the Forefront What Clark said - that McCain has no experience in national security decision-making - is absolutely true, and it's a point that needs emphasis repeatedly and effectively by someone who can deliver it. Clark has a 34 year service record, has won a war, commanded troops all over the world, and nearly died of his injuries in Vietnam. He has run for President and been a surrogate for hundreds of Democrats all over the country, including Ned Lamont. He was against the war in Iraq, and knows the military bureaucracy inside and out. This is someone who would make an insanely good Vice President, and someone who has deep connections to the newly formed progressive communities that emerged from 2002-2006. Senator Obama would do well to choose Clark as his running mate.
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POPSDiscuss :: (6 Comments) ANDREA MITCHELL Were you ready with an advertisement, as some have suggested, in case he had visited the troops to criticize him for doing it while on a political trip? DAVIS No, I mean, frankly, we learned about the trip from the media. We, like many people in the media, weren't very well informed on what the details of Barack Obama's trip were going to be. But when we learned about it, it was disappointing to us, because I am very confident that the soldiers at Landstuhl would have enjoyed a trip and a visit by Barack Obama. Does this guy have a crush on Barack Obama or what? Until now, listening to the McCain campaign all week, you would have thought the troops despised Obama. Oh well. Maybe now we're all in agreement that Barack Obama's popularity is derived in large part from his policy positions on the war, the military, and veterans' affairs--positions that are clearly supported by those whose countries we occupy and by those who've served there.
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POPSThe Ironic Destruction Of Our National Guard Under President "Do Not Volunteer For Overseas Of all the statistics and stories I have read on this issue, many from the work I do with Veterans For America, one sticks out. This fall, half of New Jersey's National Guard will be in Iraq, half. What happens if there is another attack this fall at the end of the election cycle and half of New Jersey's National Guard is gone? What happens if a hurricane strikes the Jersey Shore? What happens if the National Guard is needed and they simply aren't there? Other issues with Iraq get more attention, but the silent destruction of our National Guard and the impact of this administration's policies on the future of the guard are often over-looked. As this administration breaks with long-standing Guard policy, like the fact that the Guard used to give five times as much time at home as deployed, morale and enrollment in the Guard will surely decline.
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POPSFrom Fallujah To Diyala, The Target Has Shifted As I have recently mentioned, many of the Sunni Awakening groups are holding out for more money, and threatening to rejoin the ranks of their previous insurgent groups, including AQI and the 1920's Revolutionary Brigade. Our own Alex Horton wrote an insightful post about this here. http://armyofdude.blogspot.com/2008/07/enemies-with-benefits.html It seems now that this unrest may be a sign of more to come in Diyala. The province is predominantly Arab Sunni but sizeable communities of Sunni Kurds and Arab and Kurdish Shiites live there.
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POPSDoD Can't Find Troops for Afghanistan; Institutes Catch-22 as Official TACSOP WASHINGTON, July 29, 2008 - Defense Department planners continue to look for capabilities to send to Afghanistan, a senior Pentagon spokesman said today. ... ?Efforts to identify additional assets for Afghanistan continue, Morrell said. "Progress is being made toward that end, but I don't have anything definitive to stand here before you today and relay," he said.
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POPSEx-insurgents Want More Money, or Else To get a real idea of how this surge is not working. Read the rest of the story. Then read the comments. The comments are from real soldiers. You know. The troops we pretend to support.
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POPSMcCain's Double Standard on Campaign Visits to Military Bases With Department of Defense rules prohibiting political campaigning on military bases, it was determined that in some cases McCain could visit the installations as a senator but could not engage in any political activity or have news media present. McCain campaign officials said Thursday they intentionally did not campaign on military property. "We follow the rules," said senior McCain adviser Steve Schmidt. Because all three presidential candidates are sitting senators, DoD officials have privately noted for some weeks that the whole matter of drawing the line between Senate business and campaigning is sensitive. A U.S. Army official told CNN there are no pending requests from any of the campaigns to visit Army bases at this time. He noted that Sen. Barack Obama recently visited Fayetteville, North Carolina, but did not go to Fort Bragg; and Sen. Hillary Clinton visited Killeen, Texas, but did not go to Fort Hood.
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POPSIraq Vet Congressman Patrick Murphy Slams DADT Don't ask, don't tell is a ridiculous, outdated policy that will likely be gone within a year. Most troops don't support it, and those who do are just going to have to deal with it. When the military was de-segregated, obviously there were racists that opposed that, too.
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POPSMilitants Kill Nine U.S. Troops in Afghanistan The difference in tactics is telling (4.00 / 1) In Iraq we are fighting a guerilla insurgency made up of numerous different groups, most of which are also fighting each other. It is a hit-and-run type of fighting made up of IED's and random attacks on moving groups. What you are talking about in Afghanistan is an organized assault directly on a military encampment. This type of structure and cohesion on the part of the enemy should have been annhialated several years ago. "The wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy" - General Omar Bradley
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POPSMcCain Does Best Bush Imitation And for a guy who claims to support the troops more than anyone, I'm always astonished that McCain would make these kinds of statements while we have troops in the field. It's a funny joke to the old guy who gets to sleep in a nice bed tonight; it's less funny to the soldier who has to deal with angry young Muslims who think America wants to destroy them.
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POPSVoteVets Responds to Iraqi Calls for Timetable or Withdrawal Jon Soltz, Iraq War Veteran and Chair of VoteVets.org said: "It is wholly inappropriate for Vets for Freedom to be running an advertisement that advocates staying in Iraq indefinitely, given Prime Minister Maliki's request this week that the U.S. set a firm timetable to redeploy our troops. Our nation must stand firm and in lockstep to support the sovereign democratic government of Iraq, and unfortunately an ad like this only tells the Iraqis that our nation is divided on whether to support Iraq's government. "We agree with John McCain of 2004, who said that if the Iraqis asked us to leave or set a timetable to leave, we would do so. It's unfortunate, and indeed dangerous, that Senator McCain has flip-flopped on that position, and disappointing that Vets for Freedom would support that flip-flop from a sensible policy with an ad like this.
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POPSMcCain's Surge in Iraq Crippling Efforts in Afghanistan The death rate for American troops in Afghanistan last month was four times that of Iraq. The last two months have been the deadliest of the war for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan since 2001. And today, Afghanistan sustained the deadliest single terrorist attack since 9/11 when suspected Taliban militants blew up the Indian embassy in Kabul. This is directly attributable to negligent policies set forth by the Bush administration--an administration dangerously obsessed with Iraq at the expense of the Real Global War on Terror. When many were urging the U.S. to focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan in early 2007, the Bush administration--with the support of Senator John McCain--launched the "surge" of troops into Baghdad. Unfortunately, Iraq is not, as John McCain says, the "central front" in the War on Terror--and it never has been. If there is such a thing, it is in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
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POPSDeadliest Attack in Afghanistan The Afghan Interior Ministry hinted that the attack was carried out with help from Pakistan's intelligence service, saying that "terrorists have carried out this attack in coordination and consultation with some of the active intelligence circles in the region." The Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, said Pakistan condemned the attack and terrorism in all forms. Unfortunately we have no more troops to send to Afghanistan.
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POPSTours Being Extended in Afghanistan * Bush admits to 'tough month' in Afghanistan (4.00 / 1) WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush on Wednesday acknowledged that June was a difficult month for American and allied troops in Afghanistan, saying the higher death toll there was because troops are taking the fight to Taliban militants. Because they are taking the fight to the Taliban? What does he think they were doing before? Haven't they always been taking the fight to the Taliban in Afghanistan? Forty-six U.S. and allied personnel lost their lives in Afghanistan last month, the highest monthly toll since the war started. The 28 American troop deaths also marked the highest U.S. monthly death toll in Afghanistan in the conflict. In May and June, the American and allied death toll surpassed those in Iraq, where there are far more U.S.-led coalition troops.
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POPSVeterans Respond to General Clark's Comments The bottom line is this: If Democrats tuck tail and run from Republicans in this instance, we run the risk of ceding authority on military issues to John McCain for the rest of the campaign. Whether you like Clark or not, everyone has an interest in defending him vigorously in this case. We cannot allow the Right and the media to get away with trashing the first guy to come out in prime time to slam McCain's military "expertise." If our organizations don't defend Clark as being right in this case, we give in to the idea that Republicans are the parents in terms of national defense, and Democrats are the children--something those on the Right will be more than happy to reinforce. This idea that we can't question someone's expertise on military matters simply because they served could very easily become the next "whoever is against the war is unpatriotic" mantra. And that's not something I'm prepared to accept.
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POPSAdmiral Mullen is Wrong There are some soldiers that are adamantly against an activist foreign policy. They are individuals that would share the philosophy in this regard with Patrick Buchanan. Foreign policy is an area that falls completely within the purview of the Executive Branch. It would be completely inappropriate for a soldier to "campaign" for one of the candidates because that candidate is less interventionist or more interventionist. No we get to the "elephant in the living room." I am a senior Officer in the United States Army who has attended the senior service colleges. I have served in a multitude of command, instructor and staff positions over two decades.
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