De-legitimizing the Troops: Update

By Ray Robison

A few weeks back, I chronicled the media's effort to de-legitimize the United States' fight to secure democracy in Iraq. I mentioned that the one true bastion of support for our effort in Iraq is the implementers, our troops. Since most of the American public still respects the opinions of our servicemen and servicewomen, the Democrats and their media accomplices have to de-legitimize the troops and their support of the war. I specifically mentioned that we would see this efforts to misrepresent the soldiers' opinions:

One or two guys who express a desire to go home in a moment of weakness (which is really just about every soldier that ever served) will be portrayed as "losing hope" or "realizing we just can't win".

Well, right on cue, here it is: US troops in Iraq want out from the AFP news organization.

For US troops from 9th Cavalry Regiment bumping around the dangerous streets of Baghdad in Humvees after dark on Monday, news that their deployment in Iraq could be extended fell like a hammer blow.
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The expletives during the four-hour night patrol turned the air in the Humvee, already thick with cigarette smoke, a dark shade of blue. "We just want to get out of here as soon as possible," said one vehicle commander in one of his few printable comments.
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"Bush should send all the Death Row prisoners here and they can be killed fighting the terrorists. We've had enough," said another soldier, as the Humvee accelerated past a roadside car in case it exploded.
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Added yet another, "Bush can come fight here. He can take my 1,000 dollars a month and I'll go home."

Of course soldiers don't want to be there. Of course, a tour extension understandably pisses them off (it would certainly piss me off). But catching them at the moment they are finding out instead of giving them time to cool off and reflect, well that's just the sort of ‘gotcha journalism' we have seen so much that we can now predict it like the phases of the moon. But this time, the gotcha is on the AFP...GOTCHA!