"Just shoot me so I can go home" (BBC,ABC,NPR reports)

[underpants]

ON EDIT-Shoot not shot

BBC World News last night

They said that 3ID troops are PO'd and disillussioned with Rummy and W. The showed a clip with an E7 (Sgt. First Class not a teenager with angst by any means)he was clean shaven, tight buzzcut, clean uniform, clear eyed and he was leaned against burlap lookng sacks,

"These guys are physically and mentally exhausted....some of them are willing to be injured just so they can go home...I've heard them say, 'Just shoot me so I can go home' "

ABC World News Tonight

http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/World/iraq030716_2ndBrigade.html
"I've got my own 'Most Wanted' list,"
"The aces in my deck are Paul Bremer, Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush and Paul Wolfowitz," he said.

"If Donald Rumsfeld were sitting here in front of us, what would you say to him?" I asked a group of soldiers who gathered around a table, eager to talk to a visiting reporter.

"I'd ask him for his resignation."


NPR this morning

The aunt of a soldier from Minnesota said (~ rough quote)"On May 1st the President said that major conflict was over well it's not our soldiers are still in danger.....last week he said 'Bring it on' well they brought it on and now my nephew is dead."

[blondeatlast]

1. We should call it the "Big Lie 2"

**** is alienating a strong voting bloc here. As bad as things are looking now, how much worse is it gonna be when the troops return and start telling us what really went on? They aren't "embedded," they are right there, frightened, lonely, hungry, and thirsty.

This is a critical issue; the Dems need to start talking about it to sway the polls.

[underpants]

3. Politically yes this could be devastating (one of the points I got )

Not only the soldiers themselves but their neighbors, relatives and all the people those people will talk to.

"Say wasn't your cousin/nephew/niece in Iraq"

"Oh yeah he/she told me............"

[Mari333]

2. Just like Vietnam

soldiers shot themselves to go home...to get out..

[underpants]

5. These ones weren't drafted

I'm not arguing with you but there is a difference there. This made me sick to hear, not the disillusionment that's normal but what W put them in and LIED to do it. Yes they should have considered this when they signed/resigned up but it also shows how accustomed we have become to nice little "clean" antiseptic "wars".

[kskiska]

20. Just heard on ABC with Peter Jennings

that 5 American deaths are attributed to suicide. They said no one wants to talk about it.

[mopaul]

4. just shoot me takes on a whole new meaning

i suppose the phrase means, i can't take it anymore, just shoot me.
heavy, dark sarcasm. but now, it's heavier and darker.

[underpants]

6. He wasn't being sarcstic at all

Very matter of fact. That is why I included the SFC's description, he looked to be a "squared away" soldier career guy probably not someone wont to just be pissed all the time or to be erratic.

[brook]

9. I had the same...

impression of him that you did. He didn't appear to be anything but a pragmatic, seasoned GI, telling it like it is. There was no *drama* to it at all.

It's a shame that it takes a situation like this to wake some people up - but it will erode *'s base day by day as these soldiers and their families speak out. One doesn't have to be very sophisticated to understand *needless deaths*.

[w4rma]

18. That's no sarcasm

Some of them are literally *hoping* an Iraqi will non-fatally shoot them so that they can go home alive.

[PunkinPi]

7. This clip was also shown last night on CNN.

News Night w/ Aaron Brown.

Definitley not good for * & Rummy.

[underpants]

10. Did you have the same impression as brook and I did?

I'm glad someone else saw it.

[PunkinPi]

16. Yeah, there was no pretense or drama to what he was saying

he was speaking from his heart.

[Loonman]

8. Sounds like Terry the Toad

In "American Grafitti 2"

[Cha]

11. Oh No! I would be even more pissed than I already

am if one of my loved ones were killed over there in this war
for oil and placement. I would be marching on Washington virturally and literally and telephoning those suckers responsible for letting this happen, night and day.

[havocmom]

12. a kick for underpants (n/t)

:kick:

[bluedog]

13. what about the wounded??

C-Span had American Legion Commander on and he said that our troops are in Germany Hospitals with their limbs blown off....he wants to know if they will be getting benefits when they get home or will there be a year to a year and a half wait for an appointment???Damn good question!!!!!

[underpants]

14. Ah the "wounded" and "injured"

That is passed over by both the news readers and by the listeners. Good questions indeed.

[Karenina]

15. I read a report in the German press

about the doctors treating U.S. wounded and commenting on the MASSIVE injuries. They were blown away by how BADLY their patients had been blown away. What I want to know is HOW MANY SUBSEQUENTLY DIE???

[Cush]

17. saw it on CNN

CNN aired it a little after 5pm. And it wasn't a statement read by Wolf, they showed the clip of the guy saying it.

[Kahuna]

19. Don't we have a deck or weasel cards that we can ship to

them... Get the printing presses fired up. I have a feeling they may be in demand very soon.