GIs in Iraq Scoff at Re-Enlistment Bonus

[denverbill]

BAQOUBA, Iraq (AP) - At a checkpoint on the barren plain east of Baqouba, word of a new U.S. Army plan to pay soldiers up to $10,000 to re-enlist evoked laughter from a few bored-looking troopers.

"Man, they can't pay me enough to stay here," said a 23-year-old specialist from the Army's 4th Infantry Division as he manned the checkpoint with Iraqi police outside this city 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.

His comments reflect a sentiment not uncommon among the nearly two dozen soldiers in Iraq who have spoken with The Associated Press since the Army announced the increased re-enlistment bonuses for soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait on Monday. Other soldiers at home were divided about the offer.

The soldiers in Iraq who spoke about the bonuses were serving in a range of assignments, from training the new Iraqi army at a base east of Baqouba to patrolling some of the most dangerous roads in the country, like those leading north from Baghdad.


Some cited the monotonous routine of a lonely life spent thousands of miles from loved ones. Others offered simpler reasons - such as the fear of an early death.

<snip>

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20040107/D7VU79B80.html

[Maine-i-acs]

1. Amazing that the media picked this story up ...

Wonder if it will get squelched?

This gimes me hope that the media will slowly turn away from whoring for Bush 24/7...

[pnziii]

2. The Draft is on it's way

Glad I'm over the draft age.

[dkf]

3. I heard a rumor that they are considering drafting up to 41 years of age.

and maybe women too.

I think this came from the deanblog. Someone emailed the NY Post (?)author who was writing about the rumored draft and the author emailed back saying he heard they were considering men and women up to 41.

Also mentioned were certain professions including medical.

[Logansquare]

4. Where did you hear that?

very disturbing, if true.

[leftchick]

10. It is not a rumor and it is up to 45 years of age....

DemsWillWin has been posting the information from government sites for a while now. I am sure it can be found in archives....

[5thGenDemocrat]

12. 47-year-old ex-Signal Corpsman here

And, if they think they're going to draft ME, they can kiss my Alpha-Sierra-Sierra.
John
Life was so much simpler when all one had to do was panic over the specter of International Communism. Whatever happened to Commies, anyhow?

[leesa]

20. They morphed into Muslims...only way to sell arms is to create an

enemy. The war against communism was as much BS as the war against terrorism....just assures a steady lucrative income for arms dealers like the Bushes.

[Nevernose]

19. Sounds a lot like the legal defintion of "militia"

Which is something to the effect of "all able-bodied men between the ages of 15 and 45." That's the fall back after the reserve, the guard, and finally the general draft (and also, coincidentally, the same draft issued by the Confedracy).

[Demobrat]

14. What I read was

that men and women in certain professions, including medical, up to age 45 would be forced to register for the draft. Don't remember the other professions, although I believe translators were included.

[denverbill]

5. No need for a draft. Just tell the freepers. They'll volunteer in droves

Oh wait. I forgot. They are fucking chickenhawks.

[Occulus]

23. deleted

didn't make sense.

[Maine-i-acs]

6. If you have the target skills, they will draft you -

- without age being considered.

I forgot the exact list I saw, but computer professionals (like me, age 38) could be drafted too. And God help you if you're an Arabic linguist...

[arcane1]

7. if you are an Arab linguist...

you better 'convert' to gayness, asap!

[Bozita]

8. ROTFLMAO

still laughing

[wingnut]

9. I can give you a hand with that

well, not a 'hand' exactly

[Cronus Protagonist]

24. Here's The Gay Agenda for those who want to convert

It has *everything* in it you need to know...

http://cronus.com/agenda

"Lick Bush" Buttons, Stickers & Magnets

[TexasPatriot]

11. contrast this...

with this NPR story...
http://discover.npr.org/rundowns/segment.jhtml?wfId=1584413

there's a lot of people out there in this country that still believe we can be the good guys. We've just got to get Bush out of there so the good guys like Fred live long enough to help us change this country - and make it live up to the ideals that we preach.

[proud patriot]

13. Who can blame them they are in HELL right now

would you stay in HELL if you got some money ?

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. And NPR ran a story today

on the wounded... boy somehow there is a feeling that maybe the
media is getting tired

[louis-t]

16. I hope they are getting tired

of being lied to.

[louis-t]

17. They won't pay Iraqi soldiers so they can protect their own country

but they'll try to bribe our soldiers so we can stay embedded in that mess for 10 or 12 years. Bastardos.

[oasis]

18. PNAC requires armies of occupation in order to fulfull its goals. A draft

is guaranteed if Bush retains the White House.

www.newamericancentury.org

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

21. if they re-enstate the draft people will resist by the thousands !!

then what will they do??

.





.

[TheWatcher]

22. What Do You Think They Will Do?

Maybe at that point people will figure out exactly what was lost in December, 2000.....

And God Help Us, if there is that kind of resistance, these arrogantbastards just might show us.....

[Cronus Protagonist]

25. The concentration camps are ready for that

It's how fascists work. Cause mass unemployment, initiate foreign wars unilaterally in a grab for the assets of other countries.

Justify this with a scapegoat (Arabs, Jews, Polish, Homos, the usual) and whip the press into publishing your jingoistic propaganda. Have the media alternate with fear of the unknown in general and fan hatred and anger towards the scapegoat du jour in particular. Continue to get the media publish good news to cover for the secret culling of the opposition that's going on. Force the newly "liberated" poor and unemployed into the military and draft them when they resist or you need more than you're getting. Put the dissenters in jail.

Co-opt the police, the coastguard, firemen, every form of service member for the government and give them god like powers over the dissenting population. As the poorer and more desperate population tends to riot, clamp down with ever increasing harshness and kill or jail the "ringleaders".

Make it impossible to talk openly against the government or its policies without fear of retribution. Enlist the popyulace to spy on each other and give them the tools to literally point to someone and have them removed for "interrogation" as a "person of interest".

When the dissenting populace finally revolts, put all the demonstrators and political opponents in concentration camps to work for cheap labor until you can figure out what to do with them. Make more camps, and put even more people in them. Finally, when it's impossible to keep them all locked up and fed due to a lack of money and there's a massive media-fed hatred for them by the public in general, it will be time for the "final solution".

And this time it won't involve gassing by roomfuls of 100 or so - too inefficient. This time they have better ways.

(And if you don't think there's empty concentration camps already fully staffed, with power and working facilities, check this out... http://www.abovetopsecret.com/pages/camps.html )

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