Can anyone confirm this letter?

[randr]

Just got this in my mail from a friend who's husband is in Iraq.
Has anyone seen this anywhere else?
-Subject: FW: Email from a Captain in Iraq / The President Comes to Dinner



First hand account of a DCMA employee at the Thanksgiving dinner attended by President Bush.



Jeff

-----



DCMA CPT Erykka Thompson sends:



An Email from a Captain in Iraq

We knew there was a dinner planned with ambassador Bremer and LTG Sanchez. There were 600 seats available and all the units in the division weretasked with filling a few tables. Naturally, the 501st MI battalion got ourtable. Soldiers were grumbling about having to sit through another dog-and-pony show, so we had to pick soldiers to attend. I chose not to go.

But, about 1500 the G2, LTC Devan, came up to me and with a smile, asked me to come to dinner with him, to meet him in his office at 1600 and bring a camera. I didn't really care about getting a picture with Sanchez or Bremer, but when the division's senior intelligence officer asks you to go, you go. We were seated in the chow hall, fully decorated for thanksgiving when aaaaallllll kinds of secret service guys showed up.

That was my first clue, because Bremer's been here before and his personal security detachment is not that big. Then BG Dempsey got up to speak, and he welcomed ambassador Bremer and LTG Sanchez. Bremer thanked us all and pulled out a piece of paper as if to give a speech. He mentioned that the President had given him this thanksgiving speech to give to the troops. He then paused and said that the senior man present should be the one to give it. He then looked at Sanchez, who just smiled.

Bremer then said that we should probably get someone more senior to read the speech. Then, from behind the camouflage netting, the President of the United States came around. The mess hall actually erupted with hollering. Troops bounded to their feet with shocked smiles and just began cheering with all their hearts. The building actually shook. It was just unreal. I was absolutely stunned. Not only for the obvious, but also because I was only two tables away from the podium. There he stood, less than thirty feet away from me! The cheering went on and on and on.

Soldiers were hollering, cheering, and a lot of them were crying. There was not a dry eye at my table. When he stepped up to the cheering, I could clearly see tears running down his cheeks. It was the most surreal moment I've had in years. Not since my wedding and Aaron being born. Here was this man, our President, came all the way around the world, spending 17 hours on an airplane and landing in the most dangerous airport in the world, where a plane was shot out of the sky not six days before.

Just to spend two hours with his troops. Only to get on a plane and spend another 17 hours flying back. It was a great moment, and I will never forget it. He delivered his speech, which we all loved, when he looked right at me and held his eyes on me. Then he stepped down and was just mobbed by the soldiers. He slowly worked his way all the way around the chow hall and shook every last hand extended. Every soldier who wanted a photo with the President got one. I made my way through the line, got dinner, then wolfed it down as he was still working the room.

You could tell he was really enjoying himself. It wasn't just a photo opportunity. This man was actually enjoying himself! He worked his way over the course of about 90 minutes towards my side of the room. Meanwhile, I took the opportunity to shake a few hands. I got a picture with Ambassador Bremer, Talabani (acting Iraqi president) and Achmed Chalabi (another member of the ruling council) and Condaleeza Rice, who was there with him.

I felt like I was drunk. He was getting closer to my table so I went back over to my seat. As he passed and posed for photos, he looked my in the eye and "How you doin', captain." I smiled and said "God bless you, sir." To which he responded "I'm proud of what you do, captain." Then moved on.

[La_Serpiente]

1. I don't know

maybe it is true, maybe not. But if that is his sentiment, then so be it.

[Bertha Venation]

2. Snopes.com: TRUE

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/thanksgiving.asp

The last line of the Snopes article reads: "We haven't forgotten you either, captain — whoever you are — and you have our thanks, too. We hope you're able to spend next Thanksgiving back home with your family in the U.S.A."

[Walt Starr]

6. If Snopes cannot confirm who the alleged captain is

then this cannot be classified as true and must be classified as unkown.

[Bertha Venation]

12. So tell Snopes.

I don't necessarily agree w/ them.

I do agree w/ their tagline though. The troops deserve to be honored. It's not their fault their CINC (such as he is) is a lying, warmongering, bloodthirsty chickenhawk piece of shit.

[joeybee12]

3. Two things make me think it isn't real--the first is the clear statement

"It wasn't just a photo opportunity." This is deliberately written to quash the idea that it MIGHT have been. Pure propganda.

Secondly, the sentence that ends the last paragraph. "I felt like I was drunk." This was written by a professional writer who is trying to make it sound as if it wasn't. Dead give-away.

On top of this, remember the "real" letters the RNC sent to newspapers supposedly written by r"real" servicemen? They're at it again!

[markses]

4. It's been everywhere

Every conservative jagoff in the country has been emailing that letter to everyone they know, and it's been on the Internet since Friday after TG.

Of course, it's not clear what it is supposed to prove, other than one star struck and seemingly conservative troop was happy with Bush's visit to BIAP (I hesitate to say Baghdad). It seems to me that it's probably true, to which I yawn and intone: So fucking what?

Because it's not about if one soldier or 10,000 or 130,000 are happy about Bush's visit, and it's not even about the miserable cowardly Mr. Bush and his endless propaganda stunts. It is about a terrible and amoral and destructive and failed and ill-conceived POLICY that this administration continues to endorse and defend - even to the zenith of photo-op absurdity. A hundred thousand letters in the same vein would make little difference on this score, despite the addled, celebrity-soaked and ultimately fascist (in the sexualized sense of a lusting for "Fuhrerprinzip" and cult of personality) minds of our wonderful conservative friends.

Now the question is, randr, why YOU find this letter worthy of yet another posting on this board?

[randr]

7. Because I care

about the families left behind and want to help them understand the propaganda they are bombarded with.

[Enraged_Ape]

9. Word up, markses

The shills for this administration lost whatever shred of credibility they pretended to have with their last spate of warehouse-generated LTTEs that were sent all over the country, regarding how great life was in Iraq.

There's no doubt in my mind that this is another professionally crafted propaganda letter. But the more important question, as you state, is so f*ing what if it weren't? The clown in the White House has ALWAYS been about photo ops and appearances, with absolutely nothing to back it up. If Bush wants to prove his support for the military to me, he can finish out the two years he deserted on, at the front lines of a war he started.

[Patriot_Spear]

5. Remember the Astroturf letter that was exposed about a month ago?

This is more of the same.

The word probably went out that promotions were on the way, so some Officer decided to do a little PR for Shrub and get his ticket punched.

Probably a REMF, from his polly Anna view of the war.

[NJCher]

8. if it's true

It's indicative of the weird kind of reality a Faux News can cause.

Think about it--we discuss people voting against their own best interests all the time.

This is the ultimate in voting against your own best interest: embracing the man, albeit a puppet, that may very well sent them to their deaths.


Cher

[mikehiggins]

10. Probably real, probably sincere, and so?

I'm glad the Captain enjoyed BushCo's whistlestop visit. All of the folks who went AWOL during the Viet Nam war should visit Iraq.

Of course, the Captain (that's an officer, by the way, not an enlisted man) then had to go back outside to get sniped at with RPG's.

BushCo went home to Crawdaddy for the tv coverage.

If the troops felt happy about all of that, good for them. I wish them well.

I wish they were home.

[snippy]

11. Did I miss the story of a plane being shot out of the sky 6 days earlier?

[PsN2Wind]

13. My reply

to a right-wing friend was; so 600 hand-picked troops cheered the Bush holding a phony turkey. Did he give them a discount from the $2000.00 per plate he usually charges his "supporters"? Haven't heard from him since.

[nomaco-10]

14. BOGUS

I have several friends that receive these letters all the time. They are pure propaganda circulated like chain letters all over the internet. I tracked one back to the initial source and he said he'd never even heard of the letter, much less received one via e-mail.
They mainly go out to the families of people that are serving in the
military and then forwarded and forwarded, being passed off as "a friend of a friend's friend that has a son in Iraq wrote this letter... isn't it inspirational?"
Don't be taken in by it.

[radwriter0555]

15. Yep, it stinks. Too good to be true... and if it's too good to be true,

it usually is.

Not a chance in hell the guy exists, the event took place or he wrote this letter.

Not one single chance.

[MidwestMomma]

16. I thought I read a news artticle

That stated Bush only stayed in the mess hall 10 mins and then left for meetings. It was in a DU thread. So that would prove this story false as it states he stayed at the dinner 90 minutes 'working the room'. Anybody else remember tbat story?