Posted on 10/06/2007 9:06:06 AM PDT by Interesting Times
Former Army Lt. Col. James Reilley was in charge of monitoring war crimes investigations conducted by the U.S. Army's Criminal Investigation Division in the early 1970s. In 2004, he reported that the John Kerry / VVAW Winter Soldier claims were baseless; that war crimes during the Vietnam War were few and none were authorized by the chain of command.
In August, Col. Reilley took an Iceland Air flight to Sweden. On the way, he opened the July/August issue of the airline's in-flight magazine to find this:
SHRIMP TO THE RESCUE
Casualty numbers continue to climb alarmingly. The Green Zone is no longer safe. Children are murdered at point blank. Journalists continue to be captured. President Bush’s little project in Iraq has turned into a nightmare of biblical proportions. But at least there’s a glimmer of hope for extreme bleeding and it comes courtesy of a special carbohydrate delivered from the exoskeletons of Icelandic shrimp.
The U.S. Army has purchased more than 400,000 bandages made by Oregon-based HemCon, which have showed high success rates for external hemorrhage control in combat operations. The bandages’ main ingredient is chitosan, derived from the shrimp shells, which has been shown to rapidity clot blood. Whether out of success or dire need, the bandage was swept through U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance in an almost record-breaking 48 hours. It’s just sad the military needs them in the first place. Hemcon.com.
Col. Reilley wrote to Iceland Air in early September, pointing out that the "children murdered at point blank and the captures of journalists" were in fact the actions of the enemy the U.S. is attempting to subdue. He also pointed out that the statement "Casualty numbers continue to climb alarmingly" was a flat out lie.
Reilley's complete response offered more stinging observations, along with a history lesson. He asked why Iceland Air had chosen to express political views in a corporate publication, and concluded by requesting either an explanation or an apology. To date, neither has been forthcoming.
Propaganda alert ping...
.
Email sent.
Now we’re bumping....
I love those bandages! Hard to get the supply Sgt to order them though, they are crazy expensive. Same story goes for QuickClot.
Col. Reilley actually lives in New Hampshire. You know, the state with the motto, "Fly Free or Die."
BTTT
Yep, sounds like a great product. The bandage company was apparently not involved in the article.
It was Leifur I intended to bump but forgot. Added him two posts down.
Yeah, I think their number 1 customer is the military. The company basically came into existence thanks to funding from the Army.
First casualty of war is always the truth.
And that's why St. Albert gave us the Internet.
Yup. ;-)
Thanks for the ping!
When the pentagon sat there preparing their list of what bases to close....there were these “minor” episodes that kept getting passed back to the pentagon over Icelandic comments...not just the locals letting GI’s there know their opinion but Icelandic politicians tossing various verbal cues that the US was acting in a ill fashion within Iraq. It came over and over as an “elitist” attitude that was not lessening.
The pentagon at some point...decided to let a number of nations know what might happen if they wanted to openly comment in such a fashion...things could get real chilly...real quick. The Icelandic government was passed a simple memo that declared a major part of the US forces in Iceland would be packing up...within a very short period (I think it was less than six months)...and leave. The Icelandic gov’t sat there in shock...figuring they could negotiate and halt this. There was absolutely no reversing from the Rumsfeld pentagon.
All of the Icelandic workers on base....started to look back over their commentary....which it didn’t matter now. The locals in town....that drew millions per year from the American population...couldn’t believe the speed of the US military folks leaving. While some Americans remain today...it’s probably less than 10 percent of what was there before. The politicians who openly dumped on American policy...sit around today and try to find ways to keep folks employed and to attract folks to the island.
So this propaganda story doesn’t surprise me....it shows that they haven’t learned their lesson yet...and probably deserve a bit more of a “kick” before they wise up.
Iceland has always been a “Left Leaning” country. Their relationship to the USA is one of covenience....translated...MONEY!
Thanks for the background info. You’d think the U.S. would routinely reward supporters and withdraw rewards from opponents, but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule.
I don’t see an eddress to IA’s corporate headquarters, so this one is probably the next best and may reach employees more sympathetic to this issue for bumping up the ladder of command.
Here is my email;
Icelandair,
I read recently where Lt. Col. James Reilley, head of the war crimes investigations unit of the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Division during the ‘70’s, was flying IcelandAir and was reading an interesting story about the value of Icelandic shrimp exoskeletons in manufacturing hemorrhage control bandages in the official IcelandAir in flight magazine.
Included in the story were the statements “Casualty numbers continue to climb alarmingly. The Green Zone is no longer safe. Children are murdered at point blank. Journalists continue to be captured. President Bush’s little project in Iraq has turned into a nightmare of biblical proportions.”
When I fly I enjoy reading the inflight magazines provided by the carrier I’m flying. I get interesting stories about where I’m headed, where I might want to vacation in the future and sometimes valuable safety information about the jet in which I’ve entrusted my life. However, if I want to read glib misinformation and propaganda about the most serious international security situation the world has seen in 20 years, I’ll pick up a copy of the New York Times...I don’t expect to see it my inflight magazines.
Icelandair employees should not be using your companies magazine as a soapbox to disseminate personal opinions, particularly if those opinions are presented not only as facts but are also incorrect. This incident should be fully investigated by Icelandair and the writers and editors involved terminated. Unless of course if these opinions represent the position of management and the board of directors of Icelandair.
I expect to receive a response on this issue explaining your position and the actions taken to correct this breach of trust between Icelandair and it’s customers. If not I will feel the need to inform all my business associates of this incident and suggest they avoid Icelandair in the future.
Cordially,
Bob Johnson
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