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'We R Stuck
Hear N Irak' 
U.S. troops mock John Kerry
for insulting their intelligence


As a national uproar continues over comments by Sen. John Kerry suggesting American troops were lazy and not bright, President Bush is hammering Kerry and fellow Democrats for their lack of strategy for winning the war in Iraq, while troops themselves are mocking Kerry.

In a photo circulating the Internet today, soldiers were shown holding a banner with intentional misspellings reading: "Halp Us Jon Carry – We R Stuck Hear N Irak."

"I am... I guess 'amazed' is the proper word at how courageous our troops are, and I am amazed at the fact that they are so capable, and that they volunteer in the midst of this war to defend us, and these troops deserve all the support of the United States of America, and they understand as well as anybody that we are making progress in Iraq," Bush told talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh today.

"My problem with many of the Democrat voices in Washington is they have no plan for victory. ... I believe responsible leaders must come up with a plan for victory in order to achieve peace, and yet the only plan I hear is, one: let's get out of Iraq before the job is done – which would be a disaster for a future generation of Americans."

Bush pointed out that different from previous wars, "if you leave the battle, the enemy follows us home to America."

"That's one of the reasons why we will win in Iraq. I repeat: the only reason we could lose in Iraq is if we leave, and, therefore, we've got kids sacrificing in Iraq, and when they hear politicians say, 'Get out before the job is done,' that's discouraging to them, and it's discouraging to the Iraqis, and it's encouraging to the enemy. That's why my voice is so loud in saying to our troops: 'What you're doing is noble and important and you're going to win and history will look back and thank you for your sacrifices.'"

Bush's remarks come one day after a furor erupted over a statement by Kerry who told students at Pasadena City College in Southern California: "You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq. ..."

While the former presidential nominee later referred to his comment as a "botched joke," it came under immediate fire from the White House, where press secretary Tony Snow called it an "absolute insult."

"Senator Kerry not only owes an apology to those who are serving, but also to the families of those who've given their lives in this."

Kerry hit back at the White House in a statement, charging it's the president and his administration who owe U.S. troops an apology because they "misled America into war and have given us a Katrina foreign policy that has betrayed our ideals, killed and maimed our soldiers, and widened the terrorist threat instead of defeating it."

"This is the classic GOP playbook," Kerry said. "I'm sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did. I'm not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium."

But with a growing firestorm of criticism, Kerry held a news conference yesterday in Seattle where he was campaigning for Democrat candidates. The senator said he would not apologize, calling his comment a "botched joke about the president and the president's people, not about the troops."

"Let me make it crystal clear, as crystal clear as I know how," Kerry said. "I apologize to no one for my criticism of the president and his broken policy. If anyone owes our troops in the fields an apology, it is the president and his failed team."

Limbaugh told Bush, "Frankly, Mr. President, the American people are outraged by this because John Kerry is just the latest. This is not the first."

Bush answered:

    Anybody who is in a position to serve this country ought to understand the consequences of words, and our troops deserve the full support of people in government. People here may not agree with my decision. I understand that. But what I don't understand is any diminution of their sacrifice. We've got incredible people in our military, and they deserve full praise and full support of this government. Secondly, what they deserve is a plan for victory, and we have a plan for victory. Our victory, as you know, is really to help the Iraqis win, to help the 12 million people, to help Iraq realize the dreams of 12 million people who voted. To help the political process and help the security process and help the economic process and we're doing just that. It's not easy work, because there's an enemy that still tries to derail the process. They're trying to foment sectarian violence, and on the other hand it's necessary work.

Kerry, meanwhile has canceled some personal campaign appearances for other Democrats today, while some candidates in his own party are asking for an apology.

'Terrorizing' Iraqi children

Kerry angered many in the military last December with remarks in an interview with CBS "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer, accusing U.S. soldiers of "terrorizing" Iraqi children.

"And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the – of – the historical customs, religious customs," Kerry said. "Whether you like it or not ... Iraqis should be doing that."

Those remarks reminded many Americans of Kerry's most controversial testimony before the nation in 1970, when he was a returning Vietnam vet calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces in that conflict.

He told senators about hearings he helped organize among disenchanted Vietnam war vets in which accusations of atrocities by U.S. troops were recounted.

"They told stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country," he said.

'Insensitive, ill-considered and uninformed'

Responding to the "stuck in Iraq" comment, Sen. John McCain, a POW in Vietnam and potential rival to Kerry in the 2008 presidential election, said in a statement the senator "owes an apology to the many thousands of Americans serving in Iraq, who answered their country's call because they are patriots and not because of any deficiencies in their education."

"Americans from all backgrounds, well off and less fortunate, with high school diplomas and graduate degrees, take seriously their duty to our country, and risk their lives today to defend the rest of us in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere," McCain said.

cont'd

The Arizona Republican said the "suggestion that only the least educated Americans would agree to serve in the military and fight in Iraq, is an insult to every soldier serving in combat, and should deeply offend any American with an ounce of appreciation for what they suffer and risk so that the rest of us can sleep more comfortably at night."

"Without them, we wouldn't live in a country where people securely possess all their God-given rights, including the right to express insensitive, ill-considered and uninformed remarks," McCain concluded.

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., fired off a letter to Kerry today, calling the comment "truly despicable and offensive."

"It's a slap in the face of all of our intelligent, dedicated, brave men," Vitter wrote. " ... They aren't stupid, uneducated, or lazy. They're heroes. And they deserve your immediate apology."

The national commander of the American Legion also has called on Kerry to apologize.

"As a constituent of Senator Kerry's, I am disappointed. As leader of the American Legion, I am outraged," said Paul A. Morin. "A generation ago, Sen. Kerry slandered his comrades in Vietnam by saying that they were rapists and murderers. It wasn't true then and his warped view of today's heroes isn't true now."

Last year, the Heritage Foundation published a study titled, "Debunking the myth of the underprivileged soldier," which said "the typical recruit in the all-volunteer force is wealthier, more educated and more rural than the average 18- to 24-year-old citizen is."

For every two recruits coming from the poorest neighborhoods, the study said, "there are three recruits coming from the richest neighborhoods."


(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/randers/irakimage1.jpg)

I had to copy that picture so I can share it with family members. The picture speaks volumes, and I think it speaks for most of us.

lol ...  I don't think that Kerry will get it though.

Guardsmen ID'd in photo mocking Kerry 
Army believes image of sharp-witted soldiers authentic

Members of a unit under the command of the Minnesota National Guard turn out to be the creators of an intentionally misspelled sign that takes a mocking shot at Sen. John Kerry.

The sign, painted in thick, blue letters across a white banner says, "Halp us Jon Carry - We R stuck hear n Irak."

The picture of the sign, held by eight soldiers, has raced across the Web and on TV newscasts for the past two days. Power Line, the Twin Cities-based conservative blog dubbed the soldiers "our hometown heroes of the Minnesota National Guard."

Late this morning Lt. Col. Kevin Olson, a spokesman for the Minnesota National Guard, said the "Red Bull" logo and the number on the bumper of the truck "1-34" indicate that the soldiers in the picture are under the command of a Minnesota unit.

"All symptoms are there that they're from our base in Bloomington," Olson said.

About 2,600 Minnesota Guard members have been deployed to Iraq and attached to the 1/34 Brigade Troops Battalion, which has a total of 5,000 troops in the war zone.

It is impossible, however, to say whether any of the eight soldiers in the photo are Minnesotans, because the unit also has soldiers from five other states, Olson said.

WCCO reported that Major Jay Adams, chief of public affairs with the 13 Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) and Logistics Support Area Anaconda, confirmed the soldiers holding the banner in the photo are members of the 1/34th.

Adams said the sign was "created as a humorous response to remarks made during a recent political speech and demonstrates the wit and longstanding sardonic humor of the American soldier at war."

The Minnesota connection was first reported today by the New York Post, under the headline "GIs DROP SMART BOMB ON KERRY / HILARIOUS HEROES FIRE BACK OVER DEM AND DUMBER CRACK ABOUT IRAQ."

The photo initially was posted on the website of Milwaukee talk radio host Charlie Sykes, who said "everybody picked it up to the point where it crashed our server."

Sykes said one of his listeners has had regular e-mail correspondence with a member of the unit. "Yesterday morning the listener sent it along to me and I put it on the blog," Sykes said. "It's national at this point. It's huge."

After the photo began circulating, the listener e-mailed Sykes again: "Thanks for getting that posted and out. What awesome coverage ... Didn't really think this would circulate like it did, but man, how awesome."

Staff Sgt. Erik Holtan, a Cottage Grove resident who's a member of the Minnesota Guard, told the Post he saw the picture and recognized the insignia as that of his fellow Minnesota guardsmen -- and immediately posted it on his own blog site.

"I received this picture via e-mail and I love it," he wrote Wednesday on his blog and referred to Kerry: "For someone to say the comments he did, (and they are right there verbatim on the news), and then weasel out of it by saying it was a bad attempt at a joke is stupid. A botched joke is what it is. Funnier when you try to get out of the joke! Either way, of course the Republicans are gonna jump on it, IT'S ELECTION TIME!!!!"

After he received a firestorm of attention, Holtan removed the photo Wednesday.

"It's awesome," he told The Post. "The troops over there have to be livid because of what [Kerry] said. I don't know why he would say that."

Fox News Channel quoted Army officials saying that the picture looked authentic and appeared to be taken in Iraq, the Post said.

"We are always amazed at the creativity of our troops," one Army official told Fox.

Addressing college students in California Monday, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee said people who don't study hard would likely "get stuck in Iraq." Aides say Kerry mistakenly dropped the word "us" from his prepared text and meant to say, "you end up getting US stuck in a war in Iraq," referring to President Bush.

Soldiers who mocked Kerry 'astounded' by reaction 
Sign responding to senator's 'stuck in Iraq' comment drew widespread attention

The Minnesota soldiers in Iraq who issued a hilariously misspelled smackdown to Sen. John Kerry were psyched yesterday as their witty response to his bungled "joke" about their education hit home in the United States.

"They're astounded by the reaction," said David Ward, whose daughter Heather was among the GIs holding the banner. "They were having fun with it."

Their fun - captured on the front page of yesterday's Post - has now become the No. 1 rejoinder from troops to comments by the Massachusetts Democrat, who told a group of California students on Monday that if they didn't study and get an education, they would get "stuck in Iraq."

Word of what the failed presidential candidate said got to Ward and her fellow members of the Minnesota National Guard in Talil, Iraq, south of Baghdad. Quickly, they knew how to respond: with a sarcastic sign reading "Halp us Jon Carry - we r stuck hear n Irak."

The picture spread with lightning speed. About 12 hours after it was taken, a former college roommate of a Minnesota guardsman e-mailed the shot to Milwaukee talk-radio host Charlie Sykes, who put it on his blog Web site.

David Ward said his daughter told him that while the picture was meant to be private, her unit is happy their message is getting across.

"When they saw and heard what Kerry said, they were just furious and they were sitting around and one thing led to another," he said.

Ward said that his daughter was among those who came up with the plan for the sign - and when asked if she actually painted it, he chuckled and said: "Well, she said she had paint under her fingernails."

The elder Ward said he completely approves of his daughter's message.

 "Kerry is a preening peacock and the best way to respond to him is with humor," he said.

Ward said his daughter was particularly incensed by Kerry's comments because her résumé is nothing like the "stuck" soldier the senator seemed to describe in his comment.

Heather Ward has 31/2 years of college credits in chemistry and biology and is about to graduate when she gets back. She hopes one day to be a radiologist, he said.

And what's more, she joined the armed forces soon after 9/11 because she wanted to help her country, her dad said.

"These aren't uneducated people with no options in life," he said.

Ward said his daughter read yesterday's Post online, and saw herself on the front page. He said she is the soldier holding up the far right end of the sign.

"She got a kick out of that," he said.

The picture drew heaps of praise, even as the military declared that the soldiers cannot talk to the press about what they did.

It is a violation of military rules for service members to get involved in elections, and it was unclear if the members of the unit - the 1/34 Brigade Troops Battalion - would face any discipline for the stunt.

Ward said that his daughter had not caught any flak since the last time he talked to her early yesterday - but he admitted he is a bit worried.

His worries might be eased by comments from the White House yesterday. Bush press secretary Tony Snow told a Fargo, N.D., radio station that the photo was "wonderful and shows a great sense of humor."

On the Web site of the National Guard unit known as the "Red Bulls," the Kerry crack was hugely popular, as well-wishers flooded the message board with support.

 "Thank you so much for responding so eloquently to his uneducated, ill-thought and unwanted gibberish," wrote commentator Margie Lozada, who identified herself as a Navy vet. "I am so proud of you guys."

"Thanks to the troops in 'flyover country' for understanding and defending the rights that we have," said another poster. "I'm sure you know some have hailed this as 'dropping the smart bomb' on John Kerry (D-Stupid). Keep up the good work."

Kerry has been lying low since making the comment, canceling appearances such as one to the home state of the sign-writing soldiers. He apologized Wednesday after being blasted even by members of his own party.

He said his remark was a "botched joke" in which he meant to call Bush - not soldiers - uneducated. But it emerged yesterday that Kerry has made similar comments in the past.

When he ran for Congress in 1972, he said he was against an all-volunteer Army - like the one we have now - because it would be full of lowlife thugs who would be more likely to be involved in "war crimes."

"I am convinced a volunteer Army would be an Army of the poor and the black and the brown," Kerry wrote in a candidate questionnaire to a Massachusetts peace group.

"We must not repeat the travesty of the inequities present during Vietnam. I also fear having a professional Army that views the perpetuation of war crimes as simply 'doing its job.' "

Kerry's spokesman, David Wade, said the statement needed to be viewed as part of the era in which it was written.

"These are the words 34 years ago of a 28-year-old veteran home from a war gone wrong, wondering who in America will bear the cost of battle and shoulder the responsibility of military service," Wade said.

After what Kerry did and got away with in the Viet Nam war these Soldiers had better not recieve any sort of reprisal for their actions. They were simply defending themselves.




I reieterate these statements and many more that were posted there also. These Troops deserve nothing but respect of the highest nature. Job well done Soldiers and many thanks!

John Kerry is so arrogant and so full of himself he might think it's a genuine call for help. If he only knew that our troops have more class in their little finger than John Kerry has in his entire body. Whatever education he got or wherever he got it will remain a mystery to me. I can only think of him as the bully with the dunce hat sitting in the back of the class with duct tape across his mouth. HHHHHMMMMMMM perhaps that is where he should be again he needs a good class on morals, values and scruples!!!

 ;D   ;D   ;D    ROFL!

Sister, I think that we are all far too shy on this subject. I love the idea about duct taping Kerry's mouth, but that would take several rolls.

I'll donate a few cases of it for starters  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

AFTER THOUGHT: We can say it's a good investment for Americans  ;D ;D