Army recruits shortfall blamed on Iraq war critics

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N30542920.htm

Army recruits shortfall blamed on Iraq war critics
30 Jun 2005 21:03:23 GMT

Source: Reuters

By Vicki Allen

WASHINGTON, June 30 (Reuters) - Several Senate Republicans denounced other lawmakers and the news media on Thursday for unfavorable depictions of the Iraq war and the Pentagon urged members of Congress to talk up military service to help ease a recruiting shortfall.

Families are discouraging young men and women from enlisting "because of all the negative media that's out there," Sen. James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, said at a U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

Inhofe also said that other senators' criticism of the war contributed to the propaganda of U.S. enemies. He did not name the senators.

Army Chief of Staff Peter Schoomaker urged members of Congress to use "your considerable influence to explain to the American people and to those that are influencers out there how important it is for our young people to serve this nation at a time like this."

<</SNIP>>

[liveoaktx]

1. Yeah- when most Americans have a poor opinion of Congress,

especially Republicans, it's really going to work to have them push recruitment.
On the other hand, maybe those Republicans will pony up for their own family, relatives and Republicans who voted for them.

[Bleacher Creature]

43. Delete

[Name removed]

68. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[donco6]

2. Yes, the negative publicity! That's it!

If kids really knew what a cool wonderland Iraq really was, they'd be signing up in droves!

What kind of idiots does he think we are?

[Dr Fate]

3. Are they enlisting their sons? Will Fox & Rush tell viewers to sign up?

Que in "crickets" sound FX.

[TroglodyteScholar]

35. It'd make a G R E A T reality show....(n/t)

[cliss]

49. I think there is only ONE Congressman

who has a child that's even enlisted. Not one senator, though.

I forget who it was, but his son is in the military somewhere. I would be frankly surprised if the son is in Iraq.

Frankly, I doubt it.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cliss]

51. My brother-in-law's son had already signed up....

but then at the last minute, he changed his mind. He had to basically go into hiding to get out of it.

EVERY single parent I know has urged their kids not to go into the service. I can't think of a single one who is urging their children to sign up and go fight in Iraq or Afghanistan.

As for myself, I have three teenage boys who RumsFailed would be drooling for. Sorry, Don. They recently got a citizenship in another country, so you can't have 'em.

[Walt Starr]

5. give us your kids, damnit!

Or we'll have to take 'em by force!

We need cannon fodder!

[Solly Mack]

6. It couldn't possibly be all the dying and all the lying from Bush

ho hum...

[Hissyspit]

7. LOL! It couldn't be maybe "I don't want to be cannon fodder..."

for a deserter President's futile and misleading war, could it?

They are desperate little chickenhawks, ain't they?

[mbperrin]

8. So Schoomaker, where's YOUR M-16, eh?

LEAD the way! I'm sure you can get yourself deployed if it's THAT important. God knows Hannity, Limbaugh and many more will be right behind ya!!


Yippee-ki-yay! (You know the rest!)

[Doctor_J]

65. As soon as Jenna and Barb sign up,

thereby serving their country AND removing themselves from the unemployment rolls, I'll start listening.

[silverweb]

72. There you go!

That would be some interesting news, wouldn't it?

Like it would ever happen....

:eyes:

[judy]

9. Wait! Wait!

But I thought there was a new report on how enlistment soared after the drivelfest on Tuesday...
Was that really on the "news" ? Did anyone else see that? Or was it a joke from the Onion or some'n...

[TahitiNut]

10. "unfavorable depictions of the Iraq war"???? (Jeesssuuss Keeerist!)

Send your own FUCKING KIDS, you lousy hypocritical fascist FUCKS!!

:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

How the FUCK can anyone pretend a combat zone isn't already "unfavorable"??? What the freaking hell do they think it is? Club Fucking Med??

:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[brentspeak]

12. Yeah, the media should stop telling the truth

They should learn how to lie like a good Republican can.

[karlrschneider]

13. Gee, thanks a lot for reminding me that I'm stuck with TWO

insane fuckwads for senators. :grr: :eyes:

[Hissyspit]

17. Hey, my congressman is Robin Hayes!

Yesterday's Mr. "Iraq Was Behind 9/11" Dumb Ass. We should commiserate.:crazy:

[NeoConsSuck]

14. The purpose of the Chimp Speech

a few days ago was nothing more than a recruitement drive. Look at the venue, and the chimp's words at the end of the 'speech' imploring our young counrymen to take up arms against the terrists.

Of course, those damn tali-ban ruined it all by shooting down the chopper hours before the recruitement drive.

[Hissyspit]

15. "The press and the protesters lost us the war."

That tactic sound familiar?

Any serious student of the Vietnam conflict knows it's bullshit.

It was bullshit then and it's bullshit now.

You couldn't have had a more lapdog media for war than we've had for the last three years, so what the fuck in all that is sacred and profane on earth are they talking about?

[Zodiak]

24. Paranoid rant

That is exactly how I feel.

OK, I am going to admit that we watch some pretty inane programming at my house (guilty pleasures and all) and recently there was a female soldier on MTV's Real World that said she hated Michael Moore because he showed dead or dying soldiers in Iraq and she thought that was wrong. I just could not belive my ears that this young (20 or so) girl thinks it is okay to censor our wars to the point where we never understand a soldier dying by never being allowed to see it and that anyone who shows a dying soldier is somehow a "bad person". God, it makes me tremble for the future.

So yeah, our media has turned over backwards trying to put lipstick on the pig with the Iraq war, and now their reward is more stink bombs from the Republicans. And the media will contunue to shill for these bastards under this new pressure. Stockholm syndrome has set in deep with the media elite.

And of course, I had already predicted that the "blame the liberals on failure of Iraq" was going to be dusted off and used. You know what is next....COINTELPRO and enemies lists. We have to keep the push up and end the neocon rule NOW because they'll come after us if allowed to resurge. We have put a MAJOR wrench in their gears by telling the truth, and they will not let that happen again. Already the internet is under legislative assault and the FBI has infiltrated a number of anti-war groups.

[Hissyspit]

26. Good paranoid rant.

You could expand it into a separate thread.

As intelligent as I am, I have to admit that the mainstreaming and conventionalizing of sugarcoating the truth ("don't want to hurt anyone's feelings!") that developed in mainstream American social values over the past 10 years or so caught me off-guard somewhat.

[bobbieinok]

34. sounds like conserv German propaganda after WWI

apparently for the last 2 years of the war the military leaders knew Germany was losing/would lose the war

however, after the war was lost, scapegoating went to a high level..'the German troops were stabbed in the back' by the Jews and the socialists

this 'stabbed in the back' mantra helped create the conditions helpful for Hitler's rise to power

[reprobate]

63. Remember, he had finacial help from Prescott Bush, George's grandpa.

Prescott's Union Bank helped finance Hitler's rise to power. It was confiscated by the U.S. government in 1942. Prescott was paid one and a half million for his stock, which is what got the family into the oil business.

So you can see where Mad George get's his tendencies to traitorism from.

[staticstopper]

74. That's what I was thinking

Only half the picture of hell has come out in the media.

they don't even touch all the numbered of injured most of the time.

do they ever act like real conservatives - you know that "responsibility" and "make no excuses" stuff???

Where does the buck stop?

Wish KO would use this graphic --> :nopity:

[wookie294]

16. PROUD TO HAVE NEVER SERVED !!

Surrender, in the defense of withdrawing from unnecessary wars, is NO VICE.

[bluestateguy]

18. And I will continue to criticize the war

until the military is so starved of fresh meat that they have to pull out of Iraq.

No apologies.

[youspeakmylanguage]

19. Let them get louder and more McCarthy-like...

Please, let it keep building until 2006!

[Pachamama]

20. Oh, coming from the spewing mouth of Inhofe - Surprised?

:puke:

What a piece of neo-con fascist shit he is...now suddenly we are wrong for reacting to the lies of this administration that killed the 1745 kids and 40,000+ injured and we are somehow wrong, evil and unpatriotic for families to not want their kids to be cannon fodder or young adults who can make up their own minds if this is something they don't want to do?

FUCheney you Inhofe! :grr:

[sinkingfeeling]

21. Sen. Inhofe (R-OK) has 4 grown children and 12 grandchildren.

Since he's been married 46 years, I would guess his kids are in their 40's, which would make his grandchildren just about the right ages to enlist or be drafted. Someone from OK should ask him how many of his family have enlisted!

[devinsgram]

22. I don't think dying or losing limbs has to high of a

favorable rate right now. I am all for defending ones country if it needs defending, but to feed the greed of others, I think not.

[Tempest]

23. Here's another reason for not wanting to serve

The Repugs will blame you for the failings of the brass.

Just like they did to the grunts at Abu Ghraib.

[AndyTiedye]

30. And Another. What Really Happened to Paul Tillman?

When your poster boy gets killed by "friendly fire"
and then the Army gets caught making up a pack of lies about it,
it doesn't do wonders for recruiting.

Then there is the tragic death of Jason Tharp, USMC.

When a Marine DI is shown abusing a recruit on the evening news,
and the next day that recruit drowns in the pool while surrounded
by swimming instructors, that doens't exactly make people want to
rush out and join the Marines either.

[Frances]

25. Lead by example

We all saw what happened to John Kerry, who volunteered to serve his country in Vietnam, in the 2004 election. And we saw what happened to Dan Rather when he exposed George W. Bush's "service" during the Vietnam War.

Any Congress member who wants to get young people to sign up for Iraq should hold hearings on the Swift Boat Liars so the American people will know that the people who serve honorably won't be ridiculed by Republicans wearing purple bandaids at a future GOP convention if they decide to run for office.

Also, since so few Republican politicians served during Vietnam, their children should be the ones recruited to fight in Iraq. The twins, Jeb's kids, Cheney's daughters should be first on the list. And age shouldn't be a barrier. There are 50 somethings there now. I guess in fact that Rush and Newt and Jeb and Shrub and DeLay should take advantage of the opportunity they missed in the 60s.

[noamnety]

52. excellent post

They SHOULD denounce the political attacks on veterans, if they want to honor the troops and service in general.

[VegasWolf]

27. "unfavorable depictions of the Iraq war " What, like people DYING? nt

[mcscajun]

28. "Negative media" = TRUTH-Tellers!!!

Parents are discouraging their children from enlisting 'cause they Don't Want to Outlive their children!

Simple. Basic. A Family Value.

[EVDebs]

29. Republicans should remember the argument of 'first causes'

Restated, it is the cosmological argument for the existence of God, whom they supposedly serve. The causal chain refers to Dems who only supported the war based upon the lies told to them...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmological_argument

By trying to blame Democrats for the cause of the war's lack of support in new recruitments, they then beg certain questions of themselves. They don't want to go there. They should be big boys and girls and start taking responsibility for their acts.

[0007]

31. Inhofe is a government stamped bona fide idiot.

Pat Roberts isn't too far behind in that category also.

These guys just don't get it!

[Pepperbelly]

38. he is also a chickenhawk. nt

[BornLeft]

32. Oy

Yeah, come on all of you, big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again.
He's got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Iraq
So put down your books and pick up a gun,
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.

My apologies to Country Joe and the Fish.

[daleo]

33. Senators should sign up their kids, nephews, grandkids, etc

That would be the practical inspiration needed to counter the negative media portrayal of the situation in Iraq. Republican politicians would be especially useful in this regard, as would campus Republicans and well, just generally Republicans.

[silver10]

36. What a confusing message

If it's such a grand, noble and important mission, why aren't they sending their own kids and grandkids? You know if even ONE of the congressmen's kids enlisted in the Army or Marines to go to Iraq, it'd be published everywhere, and we're definitely not seeing it.



Everybody’s going to the party have a real good time.
Dancing in the desert blowing up the sunshine!

[DFWJock]

37. Im sure the College Republicans

will be enlisting in mass numbers after their chimp-in-chief called them to a higher calling.


-Holding breath-

[stanwyck]

55. Let's have a countdown

It's Day Two after the President who the freepers who hold in such high esteem -- worship, in fact -- beseeched all Americans of age to really show their support and enlist. He wept.
Day Two. And how many put down their Budweisers and their Lattes and their iPods, Gameboys, PCs, Blackberrys, and whatever other toys Mummy and Daddy bought them and drove the Beemer down to the recruitment center?
How many today?
Hey, Cory Bray.
We're calling you out.
We could post the number on Free Republic.
Let them know how well they're coming through for their president.
Remember.
He cried.
How can they let him down?

[TomClash]

39. And there's the song from the Only Band That Mattered

It's up to you not to heed the call-up
'N' you must not act the way you were brought up
Who knows the reasons why you have grown up?
Who knows the plans or why they were drawn up?

It's up to you not to heed the call-up
I don't wanna die!
It's up to you not to hear the call-up
I don't wanna kill!

For he who will die
Is he who will kill

[NorthernSpy]

40. To hell with Commissar Inhofe! Just tell the truth and shame the devil...

... as they used to say.

Inhofe et al don't want a free press. They want an American version of Pravda -- a propaganda organ that will actively collaborate with the almighty State in furthering the government's agenda.

Like I've said, we don't have conservatives in America anymore. What we have are bolsheviks of the Right.

[teryang]

41. The free market has spoken

So what's wrong with that?

[thaseint]

42. Amazing...

Whenever I hear BS like this it just makes me wonder how in the hell these lunatics can still be in power.

There's a war going on, troops are being killed daily, we have pictures of flagged draped coffins coming back, there is still no justification--and the REAL reason people aren't joining the military is because questions are being asked?!?!

I still want to know where all these young buck college freepers are hiding. Oh that's right, finger painting letters on each others backs, getting drunk and knocking down and kicking young liberal women. Way to serve your country you cowardly jackasses. :eyes:

[Ratty]

44. This is rich

But not unexpected. Dissent is unAmerican now. It won't be long until anybody who doesn't sing the praises of the war is a traitor. So the President should be given a blank check to do whateever he wants, no matter how despicable, and we need to keep our mouths shut and smile because we're patriotic? Thank goodness the conservatives kept their mouths shut about Clinton's intervention in Kosovo, even if they didn't agree with it.

[Bleacher Creature]

45. Here's a solution.

From now on, let's have the news outlets run every story about the war through the White House for approval. Nothing but highly complimentary and positive articles will be allowed.

We should also contact any known anti-war activist and warn them that any more public displays against the war will result in their being jailed.

Will that satisfy you Sen. Inhofe -- a/k/a Sen. "I'm outraged at the outrage"???

[Cocoa]

46. it's not the war critics

it's the war, and the president that started it, that is hurting recruiting.

[glitch]

47. "Army recruits shortfall blamed on Iraq war"

full stop

[wishlist]

48. Guess these dishonest RWingers want media to stop reporting deaths

They would like everyone to have on blinders or wear rose colored glasses. What a despicable tactic for them to label reporting of casualties as "unfavorable depictions" that should be somehow curtailed or stopped in order to promote recruitment numbers to be able to send over more cannon fodder.

[aneerkoinos]

50. Be proud

Down US military hegemony, go authentic anti-american, anti-IMF and -Worl bank democracy, down with Global and US oligarchic plutocracy.

[porkrind]

53. Other part of headline should read:

"Army recruits shortfall blamed on Iraq war critics
Iraq war critic's opinions blamed on reality"

[Joey Liberal]

54. Fuck Sen. Inhofe and Gen. Schoomaker

Jerks.

[leesa]

56. Well get your damned young Republicans out there! Seems to be plenty of

them hanging about playing with their toys.

[jwirr]

57. I will gladly take the blame for saving

someone's life.

[brentspeak]

58. I blame it on the Iraq War n/t

[insane_cratic_gal]

59. Bullshit, it's not the media!

It's WHY we are there! The war was based on a LIE

People take issue with going to war, potentially getting killed for what, Bush's lies? His greed? His NeoCons?

Facts just don't support that Iraq had anything to do with it.

Stop blaming the Media who's done nothing but pander to you, the service (military wife I can call it) and that jackass in office!

Except that people don't like dying or loosing limbs for chicken hawks, or liars!

[despairing optimist]

60. The best way for young people to serve their nation is to vote out losers

like those who got the nation into the mess it's in, not to serve the selfish agenda of self-proclaimed patriots who disgrace their high offices with bald-faced lies about wars that never needed to be fought and can't be won.

[barb162]

61. I love the way these pugpeople deflect FACTS

[halobeam]

62. what nerve.

That's right folks. Don't criticize the war, you aid the enemy that way. You're either with us, or against us. The son of a bitch bunched us in right there with the "terrorists". What a sick...ugh. Nevermind.

What a crock this is, it's an attempt of distraction on the REAL facts, and we just need to keep plugging away. Great point to be repeated like a broken record though:

"Disagreeing with the President is not a contribution of propaganda of US enemies. It is not only our right if we feel this way, it is our RESPONSIBILITY". Re-read our constitution please, you have forgotten it's MEANING!

[True_Blue]

64. Gee.....maybe its not the critics, but the war itself?

Maybe because the war was based on a lie and the count is now 1,700+ service men and women dead with no end in sight.

Hey Republicans...why don't you send your kids to go fight this war you so desperately wanted?

[Mari333]

66. Ummm NO, recruitment is down because no one wants to DIE

lying in a heap with their legs blown off and their guts strewn on a battlefield! Inhofe is a peabrained fool, as are the other morons who wonder why no one is enlisting....

[rocktivity]

67. Rocknation blames recruit shortfall on Iraq war

period.

:mad:
rocknation

[Ilsa]

69. New recruiting slogan: Join the Army, Go to Iraq, get some KBR Pizza!

Yeah, all of those horrible picturesof dead soldiers returning home have made a big difference. Oh, wait. There aren't any shown, are there?

:sarcasm:

[leesa]

70. They better pick up the pace of executions of the press in Iraq!

Come on College Republicans! Your leaders are calling on you to serve this nation!

[fishnfla]

71. The kids aint as dumb as the rest of us. They hear their peers only

They dont listen to the MSM,they dont listen to the president, they dont listen to congress, they dont even listen to their parents.

They listen to their peers, you know, the ones that are in the shit now? They hear that.

[Lindacooks]

73. Breaking: Truth Gets in the Way of Recruiting

[guitar man]

75. these neo-fascists

...will do or say ANYTHING except to take responsibility for their actions. It never ceases to amaze me how the members of the party that touts "personal responsibility" as a big part of their platform cannot see fit to own up to anything.

I guess I should be used to the hypocracy by now, Inhofe is one of my state's senators and I live in the middle of a giant kool aid pitcher of a state. :eyes: