LOGO: Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines. A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.Best Political Blog Winner, 2007 Webby Awards, People's Voice and Jury.   On the Campaign Trail : Bill Boyarsky Reports on the Election
 
October 15, 2008
Log in / Register

 Choose a size
Text Size

Most Read

America’s Political Cannibalism

McCain’s Mob

Keep This ‘First Dude’ Out of the White House

Retirees Wake Up to a Swindle

The House That Todd Palin’s ‘Buddies’ Built

Most Comments
Most Emailed

Reports
The Hoover-Palin Ticket
McCain’s Mob

Ear to the Ground

A/V Booth

Arts & Culture

Digs
Vetting Sarah Palin

Truthdig Bazaar more items

 
Ear to the Ground

Bush Has No Answers for Soldiers on Redeployment Questions

Email this item Email    Print this item Print   
Posted on Jul 5, 2006
Stars and Stripes reader
From amvets.org

A World War II-era soldier reads Stars and Stripes

President Bush, answering questions posed by U.S. servicemen in the military publication Stars and Stripes, said that he basically had no idea how many times servicemen could expect to be redeployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and admitted that he has yet to go to even one funeral for a soldier killed in either of those theaters.

Editor & Publisher:

When Stars and Stripes nabbed an exclusive interview with President Bush on July 4—aboard Air Force One—it devoted most of the questions to ones submitted by service members.

One, put to the commander-in-chief by the newspaper’s Jeff Schogol: Has he attended even one funeral for a fallen soldier from Iraq? No, he replied. “Because which funeral do you go to? In my judgment, I think if I go to one I should go to all. How do you honor one person but not another?” he said.

A soldier now serving in Iraq asked how many times he would have to return to the war zone in the next five years. Bush said he did not know. “The conditions on the ground will determine our troop levels, and one of the main conditions on the ground is the capacity for the Iraqis to take the fight to the enemy, and therefore it is very difficult for me to predict with certainty how many times this particular person would be sent back to Iraq,” Bush said, in the article published on Wednesday.

Link

Jump to Comments

Advertisement


Elsewhere: .

Comments

Are you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig.

By Vietnam Vet, July 6, 2006 at 1:02 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Comment #13104 by cyr on 7/06 at 7:08 am
-------------------------------------------
Nice try! But the question was how many funerals had he attended. The answer is still zero, no matter how HE tried to talk around a legitimate response. One or even a couple of symbolic attendances at a funeral would not take a secret service carnival, as you call it. He has made many speeches, in front of selected audiences of course, without a “dang secret service carnival.” And that elongated response to how many more tours would that fellow have to complete, well, he didn’t answer that question either. And, neither did your attempt to rewrite and justify his response. The serviceman’s question was about HIMSELF, not what the leadership recommends. An honest answer would have been something like: “Son, I just don’t know; I have predicted that the next administration will probably have to make that decision, so guess we will just have to wait and see.” But, I give you credit for a good spin try anyway. It’s damn hard to provide an honest answer when it does not make one look good!

Report this

By cyr, July 6, 2006 at 6:08 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

E&P;and their selective quoting of the S&S;article rule.  One might even call it lying.

Lets look at the whole quotes, shall we?

Quote 1:

“Because which funeral do you go to? In my judgment, I think if I go to one I should go to all. How do you honor one person but not another?” he said.

The appropriate way to express his appreciation to the family members of fallen troops is to meet with them in private, he said.

--End quote--

Significantly different.  Plus from a logical perspective, if I’m a grieving family, the last thing I want at my kid’s funeral is a dang secret service carnival. 

Addition to selective Quote 2:

“In asking that question through the chain of command, the response I get is that it’s important to manage the Army flows in such a way that we can sustain our efforts, and they believe — they being the planners in the Army itself — the best way to do it is for a year. And therefore … my answer to the troop is that really depends on what the leadership recommends.”

Ok, so Bush is deferring to what the boots on the ground say they need instead of what the politicos think they need.  Wow, incredibly bad logic there, indeed. Not.

Instead of the filtered, slanted E&P;article, why not give a link to the interview itself?

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&art icle=38408

Report this

Add Your Comment

Posts by unregistered readers are moderated. Posts by members
are published immediately. Why wait? Register today!






Notify you when others comment on this article?


Are you a human?
Retype the word you see here.


Please read and abide by our comment policy.
By submitting this comment, you agree to this site's terms and conditions.

Newsletter

Get Truthdig in your inbox

Privacy Policy

 
Click here to advertise with Truthdig
 

 
Join the Liberal Blog Advertising Network
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
Copyright © 2008 Truthdig, L.L.C. All rights reserved.