SwiftVets.com

[Inatizzy]

Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2004 12:51 a.m. EDT
Iraq Marine: Troops 'Terrified' of a Kerry Presidency

U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq are "terrified" at the prospect that Americans back home might elect John Kerry president, a Marine and Iraq veteran who is on his way back to the front lines said Monday.

Asked how Kerry's election would affect troop morale in the combat zone, Lance Cpl. Lawrence Romack told KWEL Midland, Texas, radio host Craig Anderson, "It would destroy it."



"We're pretty terrified of a John Kerry presidency," added Romack, who served with the 1st Marine Tank Battalion in Iraq.
The Iraq war vet said he fears that most of the news coverage is being skewed to make the mission look like a failure in order to give the Kerry campaign a boost.

"What they're trying to do is get Kerry into the White House, because they know he doesn't want us to stay [in Iraq]," he told Anderson.

Asked if Americans back home were getting an accurate picture of what's happening in the war, the Marine corporal said: "No, they're not. It's not even close. All the press wants to report is casualty counts. They don't want to report the progress we're making over there."

Romack noted that in the southern part of the country, Iraqis welcomed U.S. troops when they set up an immunization programs for children, opened schools and began distributing food.

"Almost immediately people were lining up to get their kids shots," he told Anderson.

Contrary to reports that the general population was too afraid to help ferret out insurgents, Romack said, "We had Iraqis pointing out former Baath Party members for us to arrest."

When the KWEL host opened up the phone lines, a member of the 82nd Airborne who had returned from Iraq in March was first on the line.

He agreed with Cpl. Romack that media reports coming out of Iraq were often inaccurate – and sometimes even dangerous.

"The news media – sometimes I felt like I had as much to fear from them as I did the Iraqis," he complained.


Link: http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/9/28/125438.shtml

[3rd gen Navy]

I just spoke to a reservist today who just was back from 12 months in country in Iraq...I was attempting to be polite and was deliberately being noncommital regarding politics. After a few moments of my dancing around as she led the conversation, she said, and I quote:

"It's OK, sir. We all hate Kerry. I don't know of single soldier over there who supports him."

Sadly enough, she also commented on the anti-vet sentiment she had personally encountered since arriving home, and stated that the media's coverage of the war was demoralizing to the troops to effect that few of them bothered to watch any more.
_________________
Warm Regards,
Sean G. Smith,
RN, BSN, EMT-B, U.S. Navy, 1994 - 2003.
BS Biology, Business Administration, Nursing
The Deal with Life: Make decisions based on what you might gain, not on what you may lose.
!!!!!! LET THE WILD RUMPUS BEGIN !!!!!!

[Inatizzy]

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

Okay, I normally hate stickies, but I'm stickying this one for a few days to make sure that everyone sees it.

Let this make us mad! Mad enough to speak up!
_________________
~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

[ArmyMedicsMom]

My son came back from Mosul last spring. He said the first thing he noticed when he got back to his room, stateside, was that he could hear the little ringing noise that you hear in your ears when all is quiet, and things hadn't been quiet for him in monthes. He said there was constant noise in Mosul. So from watching the news, I assumed it was explosions, fighting and the like. He said no, the noise 24/7 was heavy equipement, cleaning up, repairing, rebuilding. Occasionally they would blow up an ammo dump, but almost all the constant noise was rebuilding noises, heavy equipement and such.


I have also noticed that ever since the Prime Ministers speech to Congress, that the news has shown some pictures of Iraqs trained police and military, in uniform, standng in formation. I don't recall seeing that before.

We all know there is a whole lot of stuff the MSM doesn't tell us and I am sick of getting just their one sided chosen view of world events.

[sixdogteam]

[JCBoston]

Great sticky. Maybe it could be permanent and become a single spot for info we get from the troops we know that are stationed there now or just coming home?

[Stacman]

This is all well and good, and the things I like to hear. But these active duty folks in country need to get this same word out here. Whether it be when they return, or through family members. The media will continue to hand select these few Kerry Klone Objectors to say they hate being there, and that the war is wrong, and Bush must go. To me that kind of talk in (especially in uniform) is treasonous. Instead of service members being mad, and their families speaking on their behalf, now we have commercials airing with some mother sobbing because her son was killed. Of course you know pretty much every mother who sees that stuff without a counter on the other end of the spectrum is going to vote for Herman Munster for no other sake than he isn't Bush.

[Becky]

Our soldiers should be worried about a Kerry Presidency.
Kerry will empower the anti-war communists and useful
idiots. He and those that follow him will demoralize the
families of our soldiers and destroy our soldiers. One
thing that I found during my investigative days, is people
rarely leave old habits, good and bad, behind as they
age, they only refine them.

What has upset me and made me angry is that a lot
of our soldiers will have a problem with absentee
ballots. I can hear Kerry gleefully rubbing his hands
together over that news
_________________
“In the beginning of a change the patriot is a
scarce man, and brave, and hated and
scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid
join him, for then it costs nothing to be a
patriot.”
- Mark Twain

[Ladder Yankee 33]

Illegitimi Non Carborundum - "Don't let the bastards grind you down!"
_________________
"Win the Delta Come Hell or High Water!"
RivDiv11, RAS111, T-111-9, RM3 11/68-11/69

[Stevie]

[SangRun Hunter]

[Nutso]

I have posted before that my son in Iraq says the same about his unit. It is a reserve medical unit and many of the people are career designated, but there are many due for re-enlistment (such as my son) and they are delaying it until after the election. The overwhelming feeling is that if Kerry should win, they will not re-enlist. I can't blame anyone for not wanting to serve under Kerry.

[Tom Poole]

I had a brainstorm while posting on another subject. IMHO, this venue and the Swiftees in general have immensely impacted the bad guys. We have a "Judicial Watch" whose mission is to recommend investigations, report on prosecutions, etc. Why wouldn't this be a great start for something like "Veterans Watch?" The mission would be to publicly expose those who would denigrate, undermine or harm in any way, active personnel or veterans. If someone would have EFFECTIVELY exposed Kerry in '71, perhaps he would never have come this far.
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'58 Airedale HMR(L)-261 VMO-2

[JCBoston]

Tom that is a great idea. Please let me know if there is anyway that I can help.
_________________
"Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America to be passive. They counted wrong."~Ronald Reagan