What If Hillary Wins? | Military Attitude Towards Democratic Party
August 22nd, 2007 . by Jetman
A lot of people wonder why veterans as a whole and the active duty military regularly votes overwhelmingly in favor of either Bush or the Republican Party.
The simplest explanation I can give is that when you take the oath to protect the country and the Constitution, the CinC who gives you the most latitude to carry out that duty is the better leader. Why? Because when you’ve volunteered to put your derriere on the line in a combat zone you need all the tools and innovation you can muster, period.
I expect the report from General Petraeus next month will be brutally honest, pounced upon ravenously by those who wish for failure in the hopes of increasing their own power base, debated endlessly, and, in history and hindsight, will stand on its own merits.
Given the proper goals and motivation, there’s nothing a US servicemember cannot accomplish.
Given massive constraints, no faith, no fair shake in the press, and no budget, well, they still can get the job done unless you outright outlaw them from doing so.
Hillary Clinton’s Iraq Trip Photo Op With Coerced Military Personnel | Verified - Picture of U.S. Soldier in Iraq Shaking Hands With Senator Hillary Clinton Not Willingly
Of course I checked this pic with truthorfiction.com and snopes.com. From the widely circulated email:
From email titled: Absolutely the best picture EVER!
Hillary Clinton (D-NY) has already started her 2008 presidential campaign by aligning herself with the military and pretending to be tough on terror. Fortunately, the ultra-liberal Hillary has yet to brainwash all of the voting public into believers that her symbolism is really substance.
Guess some folks will never forget that she was co-president for eight years in an administration that I QUOTE: “Loath the military”!
Note: The ‘loath the military’ statement is not entirely accurate, here’s the full Congressional record entry online but the context is correct.
The picture shows that this soldier has been thru Survival School and learned his lessons well. He’s giving the sign of “coercion” with his left hand. These hand signs are taught in survival school to be used by POW’s as a method of posing messages back to our intelligence services who may view the photo or video.
This guy was obviously being coerced into shaking hands with Hillary Clinton. It’s ironic how little she knew that he would so inform us about the photo—perhaps because she’s never understood our military to begin with.
Verification from snopes.com with an explanation of the crossed fingers:
Military history includes many instances when soldiers who fell into the hands of the enemy were trotted out before photographers or television cameras by their captors for purposes of propaganda: — to create false images intended to trick audiences into believing that the prisoners were actually well-cared for, sympathized with their captors, or were voluntarily denouncing the political policies of their home countries.
Likewise, military history includes many instances in which such captured soldiers managed to inserted subtle and furtive signs into propagandistic images to express their defiance, to indicate that the information they were relaying was false, or to signal that they were acting under duress.
(One of the most well-known examples of this phenomenon is the infamous middle finger gesture employed by the crew of the USS Pueblo in photographs after their ship was captured by North Korea in 1968.)
Verification from truthorfiction.com adds a follow-up from the subject himself:
The answer is that he did intentionally cross his fingers during the handshake and it did mean that he was not thrilled to shake Senator Clinton’s hand.
After his discharge from the Army, the soldier posted a personal profile on Yahoo Personals as part of looking for introductions to single females.
In his profile, he includes the picture with Hillary and explains:
“The picture of me and Hillary Clinton was taken when she came to visit Iraq. I was actually ordered to shake her hand, and I never figured that my friends would circulate it all over the net. I AM NOT a Hillary fan by any stretch.“
Active Duty Voting In 2008? | Support The Troops
I remember Matt Nalley’s opinion stands out the most with me.
Matt was an undesignated airman when he came into VS-38 in 1992 was working First Lieutenant. You know, one of those guys who emptied trash cans and spent hours waxing the passageways. One of our unsung heroes who stood many a ready room runner watch with me as the ASDO. Mostly because he could do the job right where so many would screw something up.
This change in administration coincided with our return from cruise on the USS Ranger to the NAG and Somalia. Matt actually had to be ordered by then-AW1 Brian Ball, acting LPO of 1st Lt Division to hang up President Clinton’s picture when he was elected into office in January 2003. I was in the hallway of our hangar space when the conversation took place. I didn’t care; I’d voted Independent and for Perot with an absentee ballot while flying over Kuwait earning my logbook’s green ink.
Seeing how things turned out in Somalia with Pres. Clinton’s ROE less than ten months later, Matt had a darned good instinct about our former Commander in Chief. He’s still in and working as a Master At Arms.
I wonder what Matt would say about Hillary? Maybe he’ll post a reply and let us know.
