Pro Bush acquaintance I know is coming back from Iraq..

[kerryin2004]

Here is the deal.. He goes over there 2 weeks ago to work in a warehouse in Tikrit, 68-72 hours a week for 80,000 a year salary.. He gets to Camp Anaconda where he is supposed to be flown by helicopter to Tikrit.. Fortunately for him the helicopter bumped the civilians for military personnel.. Unfortunately for our military personnel, word is that it got shot down, no word as to casualties, etc are being released.. So he is offered a ride in an armored convoy to Tikrit, but he chickens out... He says now that because his tent has no air conditioning in 115 degree heat he was not able to sleep , and that he now is sick and must come home with great urgency... The doctors there told him that everyone gets sick because of the change, but he has now backed out and is coming home... He is a fervent supporter of bush and I cannot wait to make fun of him when he gets back:)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. don't make fun

listen sympathetically to him. Only make fun of him if he still thinks what Bush is doing over there is great.

[Cha]

2. Yeah! $$80,000 a year in Iraq will buy a lot of bush

support but when they see the reality of it ..they might change their ever lovin' greedy minds.

[wryter2000]

3. What I think I'd do

I think I'd gently ask him what he thought about soldiers who've been there for over a year and can't choose to come back. And about ones (like my friend's grandson) who served for a year, were sent home, and now have to go back.

If he can't admit then that they shouldn't be there, tease him mercilessly. Make his life misery. But if he's seen the error of his ways, pat him on the back and congratulate him for seeing (finally) what many, many in the US are unwilling to admit.

[trof]

8. Egg-zackly!

[frylock]

10. for 25k a year

[LibertyorDeath]

4. Go after him Mercilessly until he cops to

what the rest of the Plant already knows

Shrub is the Worst appointed pResident in all of American
History.

Do not Relent.

[kerryin2004]

5. This is the worst part to me..

Our military personnel are over there living in these same conditions with greater risk, and they are getting paid substantially less than 80,000.00 a year, especially if Bush has declared an end to combat pay with his "mission accomplished" speech.. The fact that he pussied out after two weeks drives me up the wall!!

[hadrons]

6. I hear the money ISN'T tax-free if you don't stay the year

so he'll be tax on the money he "earned"

[kerryin2004]

7. I heard that under100,000 in a year is not taxed. n/t

[JPJones]

11. If you spend 335 out of 365 days out of the country n/t

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

9. I agree with some others here

feel him out first. See if he's still a big boosh supporter. If he is, ride his ass. If he isn't, offer your shoulder.

What did he EXPECT, anyway? I read that post to my husband, a vet of Desert Storm, who sat there shaking his head. Civilians should be better informed before going over there. Better prepared.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

12. I guess that moolah doesn't seem so great when you are looking at possibly

getting your arm blown off by RPG's or land mines and living in 120 degree in the shade heat.