The Opinionator

AP Launches Another Cheap Shot

This story by Kim Gamel of the Associated Press describes the sad death of two women, one of them pregnant, in Iraq. The military describes the incident as follows,

The U.S. military said coalition troops fired at a car after it entered a clearly marked prohibited area near an observation post but failed to stop despite repeated visual and auditory warnings.

"Shots were fired to disable the vehicle," the military said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press. "Coalition forces later received reports from Iraqi police that two women had died from gunshot wounds ... and one of the females may have been pregnant."

The family claims that they did not see or hear the warnings. Sadly, this is a tragedy. The kind that has happened in every war since time began. But clearly not an intentional one. If the troops knew who was in the car they would not have fired. If the driver could do things again, you bet he would have either paid attention to what he was doing or heeded the warnings.

It is at this point that the AP and Gamel launch their attack. Of the 22 paragraphs in the story, less than half, 9-10 depending upon how you count them, have anything to do with the tragedy. The rest tie it into the alleged incident in Haditha and attempt to put together a mosaic of US Troops randomly killing civilians. In short, it ties two unrelated incidents together in such a way as to paint an unflattering story of the US, our troops and the war in Iraq. There is even a gratuitous mention of Abu Ghraib just in case you missed the point Gamel is trying to make; We, and our troops, are the bad guys.

The AP and the reporter may say they are all related. That they do not find a problem linking tragic accidents that are made by all involved with ALLEGED massacres and crimes by a few that resulted in punishment. In the reporter's mind, they are all the same, right? Well if that is the case, how come there is no attempt to do the same with the atrocities that we know are committed by the terrorists and insurgents? Why not a mention of the fact that they purposely target civilians? Instead of showing what barbarians the other side is, the press actually seems to think we are at fault for the daily assaults on innocents. Go ahead, read the bulk of stories coming out of Iraq. Rather than show what bastards the enemy is the press slant is "look at what we failed to prevent today."

Seems they are just not going to be happy until we abandon our troops and the Iraqis and  come home with our tails between our legs. If that is enlightenment, I prefer ignorance.

Thanks to the Mudville Gazette for the Open Post.

Don't Be Fooled By Fake Opinionators! Only The Real Opinionator Can Give You The Quality BS You Deserve!

I have been ripped off! My handle has been stolen. There is someone else out there with a new blog and he is calling himself, "The Opinionator." Unfreaking believable! Do not fall for fake Opinionator's. Get the real Opinionator here at my little space in the blogosphere.

Tough Day...But The Outcome Is Unchanged

It was a tough day in Iraq today. Numerous car bombs, plenty of bloodshed. Made for big headlines. But the outcome is clear; barring a lack of will, we, and the Iraqi's will win. Car bombs are bloody and make for spectacular headlines. Same with attacking journalists. But, they do not take territory and hold it. They do not defeat anyone. Ask the Israeli's. This is just a cursory observation, but if your only means of attack is to target helpless civilians, you will have a hard time trying to take the country. What you may well do is cause the Shiites to go after the Sunni's for their lack of vigor in putting an end to the carnage. In the end however, the Iraqi's still have their own government and their own country. What appeal does returning to the days of oppression like they had under Saddam or a Taliban-like caliphate have? Probably not a lot. It will be ugly. There will be bad days. Eventually, the Iraqi's will stand on their own and it will be their problem. One that I am confident they will outlast and overcome.

Thanks to the Mudville Gazette for the Open Post. Be sure to stop by for the best in MilBlogging.

Memorial Day 2006 "Earn This"

Another year has passed and unfortunately we have more people to honor than last year. To them and all the others, we at The Opinionator household say thank you. It is not much but it is what we have to offer.

When Mrs. Opinionator and I discuss the meaning of Memorial Day with our children, we stress that Freedom is not free and there are those that are paying that price on our behalf. We teach them to honor the sacrifice of those that have fallen and that of their families as well. It is not much, but it is what we can do to raise them right.

Perhaps the best thing any of us can do is to raise our children to be worthy of the sacrifices made on behalf of our country. As Tom Hank's character in "Saving Private Ryan" says to Private Ryan, "Earn This." May all of us and our children, "Earn This" opportunity that we as Americans have to be free, to achieve, to thrive...an opportunity purchased by others.

Thank you again for paying our share. May we be worthy of your sacrifice.

Go to Mudville Gazette for a link to Smash's moving tribute from Fort Rosecrans Cemetery and other posts this Memorial Day.

Wendy's Fires Jesse Macbeth After Investigation Reveals He Did Not Win Two Grill Action Badges (GAB's) While Working At McDonald's (Updated)

The Mudville Gazette guides us to Jesse Macbeth's DD-214 that is posted by McQ.  As he says, it is time for Macbeth to cut his losses and go away. If he does not, it will likely be a sign that the person claiming to be his sister is correct, he  is mentally ill.

Wendy's spokesman Wendy Thomas announced that Jesse Macbeth was fired after an investigation revealed that he was not awarded two Grill Action Badges while employed at McDonald's as he had claimed on his job application. Wendy's was also unable to confirm whether Macbeth had attended Special Sauce Assessment and Selection and the Special Sauce Qualification Course before serving with the 1st Special Sauce Group (Chairborne) during his tour of duty at McDonald's. They had also been unable to determine whether he had attended the GRill Indoctrination Program (GRIP) prior to his assignment to the grill

When asked about Macbeth's career at McDonald's, spokesman Ronald McDonald initially had no comment but when pressed, admitted that there was no evidence Macbeth had ever served at McDonald's in any capacity.

Thanks to Blackfive for the Track Back. Make sure you stop by there and see Jesse Macbeth's Reasons for Lying.  Michelle Malkin has some great links as well. Thanks to Mudville Gazette for the Open Post.

Ever Notice How Frauds and Reincarnation Are Alike?

Regarding Jesse Macbeth and those like him, don't you love how the frauds are always Rangers or SEALs or “Green Berets.” No one ever says. “I worked in the motorpool washing Humvees.” Sort of like everyone that claims to be reincarnated says they were royalty. No one ever claims to have been a worm or to have run a falafel stand. In reality, this guy is an “Asshat Ranger” in the 3rd Asshat Battalion.

Original thought posted at The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler.

Note: This was originally an update to an earlier post but I wanted to address the point on it's own as well.

A Reminder of the True Price of Freedom

Coach TC at Knowledge Is Power brings us a picture of 12 year old David Smith, son of Medal of Honor recipient SFC Paul R. Smith, from the Time of Remembrance  event on the National Mall. It is a powerful reminder that freedom isn't free. And SFC Smith and the others that have given all are not the only ones paying our share of the cost. His son David and the rest of his family are shouldering a big part of our tab as are all the other families. We cannot forget the debt we owe them. I thank all of you.

No S***, There I Was In Fallujah With Jesse MacBeth...(Updated) (2)

...in the Airborne Special Air Assault Ranger Forces Unit; The Screaming Beagles. We crept through the inky shadows to our target, the Coffee Plantation near Arizona State University. Once inside, my battle buddy and I mowed down nearly two dozen iced mocha lattes before slithering back through the quiet streets of Tempe, er.. Fallujah, leaving a trail of stench as we forgot we were lactose intolerant. The horror, the horror. We arrived just in time to roll our sleeves up with the insides showing and make sure our berets were lined up properly with the flash over our right eyes in preparation for our morning uniform inspection. Unfortunately, we were gigged as our pin-on rank had unknowingly fallen off during our mission. We were then sent home, unfit to remain with our elite fighting unit.

And that is how we ended up working at a Wendy's in the Seattle area. No s***!

Hat tip to Blackfive, Mudville Gazette, Hot Air, Sandbox Blog, Will To Exist and the anonymous poster at Qando.net.

Update: Regarding Jesse Macbeth and those like him, don't you love how the frauds are always Rangers or SEALs or “Green Berets.” No one ever says. “I worked in the motorpool washing Humvees.” Sort of like everyone that claims to be reincarnated says they were royalty. No one ever claims to have been a worm or to have run a falafel stand. In reality, this guy is an “Asshat Ranger” in the 3rd Asshat Battalion.

Original thought posted at The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler.

Welcome to all off you visiting from around the blogosphere. Feel free to look around and thanks for stopping by!

NOLA Is On It's Own or Stupid Is As Stupid Does

The voters of New Orleans have spoken and they choose to reelect Ray "Chocolate City, Let the buses Drown, Did not read or implement my city's disaster plan" Nagin. As far as I am concerned, they deserve what they get and are now on their own. Stupid is as stupid does.

I only hope that the FBI keeps an eye on the reconstruction as we know that this will be the most corrupt rebuilding project in history.

Trackedback to Wizbang.

This Pisses Me Off!

The government of Mexico, not being smart enough to sense that they should lay low right now regarding illegal immigration to the United States, has threatened to sue if National Guard troops are used to directly detain individuals. As if we do not have enough reason to be pissed off at the encouragement Mexico is giving its citizens to head north now they are in essence telling us that we cannot secure our own borders. Key quote,

"If there is a real wave of rights abuses, if we see the National Guard starting to directly participate in detaining people ... we would immediately start filing lawsuits through our consulates," Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez told a Mexico City radio station.

How freaking stupid are these people? Half of the President's party is ready to lose Congress over this issue while the other half is barely able to reel them in and these morons throw gas on the fire! The only thing I can make out of this is that the Mexican government is trying to influence our elections, secure in the knowledge that the democrat party will be less vigorous on this issue. While I understand that this is a complex issue and cooler heads need to prevail, I also think that Presdient Bush needs to lay down the gauntlet with Vicente Fox. This kind of threat certainly pisses me off and is nearly enough to turn me into Polipundit.

Thanks to Mudville Gazette for the Open Post.