WTF - if your State voted for * you will come home sooner.

[Noordam]

From a California site talking about California troops in Iraq.

http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=1439522

Longer Iraq Tours Cause Financial Strain
Posted: September 11, 2003 at 5:48 p.m.

BAY AREA (KRON) -- As we reported two days ago, National Guard and reserve units sent to Iraq will not be staying the promised six months to one year. Instead, the Pentagon is ordering them to stay a year and a half. The longer tours are putting Bay Area employers and families in financial jeopardy.

150 members of the 2632nd National Guard transportation unit shipped out from San Bruno on Valentine's Day. They are in Iraq and their families and employers were told to expect them back this month or next. In the past 24 hours, families have been learning by e-mail that their loved ones now won't be home till next May.

<cut>

Some National Guard troops are coming home earlier. Congress is investigating complaints that they are from states that supported the Bush election campaign.

...more at article but the above in red was the last paragraph.

If it can be proven that Blue State troops are staying longer than Red state troops then * should not be Impeached but JAILED.

[proud patriot]

1. KRON is the only independant station in the Bay Area

And they are doing some great stories .

I actually watched this segment and am looking forward
to the results . I would have doubted this assertion
had I not seen it with my own eyes.

I believe we need to not only look at Troops coming home ,
but also Gas Prices as well as Energy in our homes prices .
Not to Mention the Recall ....GRR and every other aspect
of our lives that repukes have an influence over .

We need to Have All DUers involved from every state .

I'm so mad I could spit .

If you are a national guard member from a blue state
you get to stay longer and get extended . However if
your state was red , they are no extentions and you
get to come home from Iraq when you were told you would .

I believe we have preferential treatment a bias going on
which I believe is in violation of the LAW.

[markus]

2. NoDak is Red through and through

but their main unit in Iraq is in for the long haul. And people around here are getting pissed.

[Mz Pip]

3. Congress is investigating...

That will get squashed by Tom DeLay real quick.

Who makes the decisions as to which units come home? This smacks of Wolfowitz and his PNAC friends. Fat chance it will be proven.

We have to get those people out of the White House. Every day it just gets worse and worse.

MzPip
:dem:

[targetpractice]

4. Seems like extortion...

...using human lives as the incentive.

[in_cog_ni_to]

5. That's the first time

I've ever heard the complaint that troops from states that voted for the shrub will go home sooner. It really wouldn't surprise me. I know he is venegful. I found this disturbing......

<snip>The soldiers have been thrown one bone: since they are staying longer in Iraq they will be allowed to come home for two weeks leave at a time to be determined by the Army. The airline ticket is their problem. They'll have to pay for it on their own.<end snip>

Have troops always had to pay their way back home for leave? It reminds me of the soldier who was injured in Iraq and got a bill for his food while he was receiving medical care. Sick!

[nostamj]

6. the miliatary planes are too full of WOUNDED

to carry soldiers on leave.

there's Guardian article that was posted yesterday that exposed some of the 'real' numbers of wounded.

[Cat Atomic]

16. I missed that one.

Do you happen to have the link handy?

[Noordam]

17. Here is one

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1041822,00.html

America's hidden battlefield toll

New figures reveal the true number of GIs wounded in Iraq

Jason Burke in London and Paul Harris in New York
Sunday September 14, 2003
The Observer

The true scale of American casualties in Iraq is revealed today by new figures obtained by The Observer, which show that more than 6,000 American servicemen have been evacuated for medical reasons since the beginning of the war, including more than 1,500 American soldiers who have been wounded, many seriously.
The figures will shock many Americans, who believe that casualties in the war in Iraq have been relatively light. Recent polls show that support for President George Bush and his administration's policy in Iraq has been slipping.

[Cat Atomic]

20. Wow- thanks for the link.

...

[nostamj]

18. Noordamn beat me to it...

that's the article I was referring to. (dang day job ya know... was just going to find it during lunch)

[Plaid Adder]

7. WHAT the @#$!??!?

"Hey, we flew you out here...getting back is on your own dime." How are they even supposed to get a plane ticket home from Iraq? Is American making regular flights to Baghdad?

Man. There will DEFINITELY be a draft soon if this keeps up...who's going to "volunteer" after this debacle?

Oy,

The Plaid Adder

[demnan]

8. Oh sure I'd pay for my own

I have "relatives" in Canada. I'd get the hell out of there by hook or crook.

[trogdor]

9. This is the way it will probably work.

They will be allowed to fly out "space available" on military aircraft leaving Baghdad (there are probably lots of these). Emergency leave gets priority, then the ordinary leave people get whatever's left. Once the place touches down at its destination, it would then fall on the soldier to get the rest of the way home. If the plane lands in Charleston, South Carolina, and you live in Austin, Texas, tough luck.

One obvious question comes to mind - how many of these planes land in the States, and not someplace in, say, Germany? It would not be a given that these planes would merely lay-over in Germany enroute to someplace Stateside. The soldier would then be stuck at Ramstein AB awaiting another space-available flight to somewhere in CONUS. Lots of luck.

[Noordam]

15. In Nam you got YOUR flight free to Hawaii BUT if you wanted

your wife, you had to pay for her. We only got 7 days in 365 R&R and could not go back to the 48 States.

[Raenelle]

10. The only surprise here is that Congress is investigating.

:hippie:

[arcane1]

13. you mean congress is "investigating"

I don't see this getting very much traction...

[bloom]

11. @#%9! * & PNAC - #$$$$#~!!!

:puke:
:puke:
:puke:
:puke:
:puke:

[ninkasi]

12. Apparently there is no act of spite

too petty for this loutish administration to pursue. Their spitefulness and pursuit of punishment defies anything I've ever seen. My children, even as two and three year olds, showed much more tolerance and compassion than these soulless criminals.

[arcane1]

14. oh my GOD!!!! BUSH: @#$%^&*&^%$#@!!!!!!

I'm apoplectic, this is just too much. Now he's KILLING OFF the people who didn't vote for him????

:wtf::wtf::wtf::wtf::wtf::wtf::wtf:

times like this I wish I believed in Hell, so at least I would have the comfort of knowing that BUSH AND CHENEY WILL BURN THERE!!!!

:grr::mad::grr::mad::grr::mad::grr::mad::grr::mad::grr::mad:

[sexybomber]

19. "times like this I wish I believed in Hell"

I'll quote my idol John Lennon here:

"Instant Karma's gonna get you, gonna knock you right on the head, you better get yourself together, pretty soon you're gonna be dead, what in the world you thinking of, laughing in the face of love, what on earth you tryin' to do, it's up to you, yeah you."

Ten bucks says he gets reincarnated as a rock.

[11 Bravo]

21. I'd prefer he was a fire hydrant

as long as I could come back as a Great Dane.

[RamboLiberal]

22. This makes perfect damn sense for AWOL's cabal

The troops are getting pissed. They may not vote for AWOL. The military were Repugs and AWOL's biggest backers. So the hell with the Blue State troops, their states are lost causes anyway. Let's bring home the Red State troops first and try to salvage that portion of the military vote. Keep the damn Blue State troops on patrol in Iraq as RPG bait.