Cheney: US troops 'winning friends in Iraq'

[Robbien]

US soldiers in Iraq built "bonds of friendship" with the locals that may help win the war, Vice President Dick Cheney told returning troops today.

"Having been on the ground, all of you know that we've made progress - not easily, but steadily. And we can be confident going forward," he told thousands of soldiers of the storied 101st Airborne Division at their home base of Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

. . .

"Members of our military have worked diligently to make sure that more Iraqi families have police protection, and electricity, and water, and sanitation for their homes," he said.

"By your openness and your decency, by your honour and your kindness to others in thousands of interactions, you've built bonds of friendship that are very important to our two countries," said Mr Cheney.

Most of the division returned from Iraq on September 25 after a year-long deployment

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,20595374-5006506,00.html

[babylonsister]

1. I want what he's smoking. nt

[MadMaddie]

3. Seriously.....and he said it with a straight face to soldiers

just getting back home....they know the truth...:wtf:

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

6. If this doesn't count as torture, I don't know what does.

:pals: the troops forced to endure that lunacy. MKJ

[saigon68]

44. US soldiers in Iraq built "bonds of friendship" --------Hmmmmm

"bonds of friendship" (Looks like it to me)



THE BOND WAS SO GOOD HERE---- NO ONE IS LOOKING FOR THE US TROOP THUGS

WHO BEAT THIS GUY TO DEATH

[0007]

47. How many Iraqis were won over by this good old boy from Midland Texas?

The place where junior sez he got his moral values.

Steven Dale Green a former Private First Class in the United States Army who is charged with raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl named Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi and murdering her and three of her family members in the village of Mahmudiyah while on active duty in Iraq and then tried to cover up the crime by burning the bodies.

[saigon68]

51. I wonder if he used a Condom

Some how I doubt it

[NOLADEM]

4. Amen

I never got shit that good.

[Art_from_Ark]

31. Whatever it is, it's probably illegal

[leftyladyfrommo]

52. That man is suffering from dementia. n/t

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

2. K & R, the looking glass.

MKJ

:kick:

edtied to remove my first reaction of speechlessness.

I've recovered fully. :-) MKJ

[htuttle]

5. But are we INFLUENCING PEOPLE, Dick? That's the question!

Unfortunately, I think we ARE influencing people...the wrong way.

[VegasWolf]

7. Cheney is a dirtbag full of shit who will kill 18 year old kids to make

his Halliburton stock options even more valuable.

[Rose Siding]

8. OK, I think I can explain this

"Dick" is looking in a mirror but he doesn't realize it because he has no reflection.

Electricity, water and sanitation are exactly what Iraqis DON'T have. Just today I read that garbage collector's jobs are one of the MOST dangerous because that's where BOMBS are hidden.

Wow. Just wow.

[Robbien]

15. strange isn't it

They take the most horrible thing possible and not only do they say it is not happening, they crow that the horrible thing doesn't exist and in its place is a most wonderful thing.

There is no place to start a discussion because of all the incredulous crap.

[IndianaGreen]

9. Were the soldiers searched for weapons before they met Cheney?

It is only a matter of time before many of the troops consider mutiny, as the Russian army did in 1917.

[Demeter]

10. Our Dick is Dale Carnegie Reincarnate!

Making friends and influencing people all over the Middle East and the world since 1968.

[Double T]

11. Ground Control to Major Dick...........

WTF war are YOU talking about?? Are 'WE' back to the 'winning the hearts and minds' bullshit AGAIN??? This proves the WH is a loony bin!!!!

[leftofcool]

12. 'scuse me, Dick??????????

Can have have some of the drugs yer on?

Left of Cool

[babylonsister]

13. Rec'd to witness exhibit a, the total lunacy of the dickster. nt

[Dover]

14. Why not just elect a parrot for vp....n/t

[htuttle]

19. Because we already have one for President

"9/11, 9/11, 9/11, BAWK!"

[Dover]

26. Ahhhh, so Cheney repeats these lies so Bush will learn his lines....

I wonder if they had to paper train him too?

[peekaloo]

16. Did Rod Serling precede him to the lectern?

do-do-do-do

[grytpype]

17. They are so fucking nuts.

They're just insane. They have no connection to reality at all.

[stillcool]

18. "Bombs, gun squads, burials ... one week in Iraq"

15 October 2006 http://www.sundayherald.com/58553
As US troops fear a new onslaught, the head of the British army calls for a pullout, leaving Iraq’s future in the balance. By James Cusick

Last Tuesday night in Baghdad the Iraqi skyline was lit up. In what was believed to be one of the most sustained and ferocious mortar and rocket attacks in three years, there was widespread fear among senior US military personnel that the protected international zone (IZ), formerly the “green zone”, was about to experience a direct assault.

Major gun battles were being fought in two of Baghdad’s districts – Doura and Mansoor. Doura has a large oil refinery, Mansoor is technically an affluent area close to the IZ. Gunfire and explosions were louder than normal and then, at around 7pm, the first large rocket landed inside the IZ itself. Another hit came after 10 minutes, then another two minutes later. Then a series of explosions, different to the daily “normal” rocket attacks were felt. For those in the IZ, the explosions were so close and so fierce that, even for experienced military personnel, “you could taste the cordite in your teeth”.

The sustained attacks lasted for two hours, during which Camp Falcon, a major US ammunition and storage dump, was hit. The attack resulted in what one security official called “a fireworks display”. But the display wasn’t put on for entertainment. Immediate military feedback pointed to casualties.

With the IZ in blackout mode, specific troop and tanks movements were ordered, said to be a precautionary defensive measure. But there was high-level concern that the fireworks would be followed by something the US military fears – a large-scale assault on the IZ itself. Helicopters were all over the place trying to figure out what was happening and where the attacks were coming from. Tuesday in Baghdad wasn’t a good night if you needed to sleep.

The official US military line on Tuesday night was that fire had broken out at the weapons dump in southern Baghdad and that “ammunition cooking off” had caused the explosions. There were no official reports of casualties. The Iraqi interior ministry added little, saying only that neighbourhoods close to the Falcon forward operating base in Doura had been “shaken”.

[VegasWolf]

20. There 's a signpost up ahead: Next stop, the Twilight Zone. nt

[last1standing]

21. Come at me with a gun and I'll be your friend, too.

At least until I have a chance to make sure you're never able to do it again.

[ovidsen]

22. The US media drop the ball

I couldn't believe that some website half a world away was reporting this. You mean no American news outlet saw the importance of Cheney telling returning soldiers that the US is making these "bonds of friendship" with the locals in Iraq? It takes an Australian newspaper, and a Murcoch owned rag to boot to tell people this?

So I did a quick Google news search, and it's true. At the time of this posting, and to the best of my knowledge, no US media are reporting this absolutely disgusting whopper from Darth. And it pisses me off.

edit: I should make clear that while US media are reporting the Cheney visit, NONE that I know of are reporting that "bonds of friendship" swill. That's what burns me up.

[Robbien]

27. True, the US media briefly mentioned the visit (and the fundraiser)

and it was a Kentucky paper.

But six (count 'em six) Australian newspapers reported this visit with Bush's comments.

[MGD]

23. And they'll greet us as liberators and they're in their last throes

and Iraq poses an imminent threat and yada yada yada.

[Liberal Veteran]

24. Holy Shit! Was he being interviewed from the Twilight Zone?

Cause it sure as hell ain't happening in our reality.

[acmavm]

25. Old 'Five Deferments' Dick is out of his mind.

[stepnw1f]

28. "Winning Friends"? Only a Sociopath Could Say Such a Thing

no fucking shame at all.... just not wired well at all.

[Mr_Spock]

29. Cheney is a hateful moron.

He is a friend of Satan.

[Mr_Spock]

30. Cheney is a hateful moron.

He is a friend of Satan.

[struggle4progress]

32. To Cheney, a friend is somebody to shoot in the face

[Rex]

33. Poor old fart, in total denial of reality.

Iraq is a hellhole you clueless stooge.

[bling bling]

34. Cheney would know.

He saw it firsthand while he was in Iraq for 9 hours that one day last year barricaded behind concrete barriers, barbed wire fences, and security guards.

What would our troops do without 'ol Deferment Dick's condescending "believe what I tell you, not what you saw with your own eyes" lecture.

[Skittles]

35. Dick Cheney (R - 5 Deferments)

like that bastard has ANY credibility

[antiimperialist]

36. At least 53 dead Monday in Iraq

Do the math:

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=IBO658515&WTmodLoc=World-R5-Alertnet-3

[banana republican]

37. WE ARE WINNING FRIENDS IN IRAQ

Halliburton; The Seven Sisters; Lockheed; and more....

We have go at lot of friends in Iraq.......

[peabody]

38. Sure Dick

That's why they're shooting at us; and want us to leave! :sarcasm:

[moondust]

39. Got an award for ya, Dickem.

"Most Delusional Government Employee Ever"

You've earned it, Dickem.

[Canuckistanian]

40. The way Dick tells it, the war ended last year sometime

All that's left now is to clean up all those flowers.

[LibDemAlways]

41. I'd pay big money to see Cheney walk down

any street in Baghdad (outside the Green Zone) without his massive security detail. I'd love to see him interact with his many Iraqi "friends." I'm sure they'd have a very special and unique welcome for him.

[saigon68]

54. they'd have a very special and unique welcome for him.

You Bet they WOULD

[fooj]

42. He is the creepiest SOB...treasonous, rat bastard!

I wonder what it feels like to be one of the most hated people in the world?

[gatlingforme]

43. Yes, and they were making love right on the street too.... it was

fantastic kinship bonding all over

[tanyev]

45. Great! On Dickie's next trip over there, he can stroll around

outside of the Green Zone without any bodyguards to meet all the friends we've won over.

[Hosnon]

46. When did Baghdad Bob become the VP? nt

[IDemo]

48. Iraq has become a cause célèbre for friendorrism

[BigDDem]

49. Dick Cheney's sanity -

in it's last throes.

[Felix Mala]

50. Yes, but then they turn around an go and get killed. Then they're

no good for anyone.

[otohara]

53. 61% Approve

of killing American's - last throes again Cheney?

[daleo]

55. It must be tough for an actual soldier to listen to these guys

I am not in favor of the war, but I can still imagine how tough it must be for veterans to listen to people who had "other priorities" blather about how wonderful the Iran war is.

[stanwyck]

57. That's why the soldiers in Iraq

have effigies of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Rice that they abuse daily.
Apparently, it's particularly infuriating to finally come in to eat and relax at the base where the big screen is showing Bush with his, as my son calls it, "don't mess with Texas" machismo and swagger.
These soldiers don't live in a vacuum. They know he skipped out on his Guard service.
He is not respected.
The soldiers in Iraq are like soldiers in all wars. Their allegiance is to each other. Not that far away, ephemeral leader with his schoolboy bravado and absurd tough guy speeches that he didn't write and can barely recite.
And, yes, they've seen Fahrenheit 9-11. They know how Bush choked. For 7 minutes.
They don't want that guy next to them in a firefight.

[saigon68]

58. Or as one explained to me, as he was siitting on the commode

Here I sit my cheeks a Flexin- About to make another Texan.

[Eurobabe]

56. Crashcart on some heavy meds: delusional