Schumer Visits Troops in Iraq on New Year’s Eve

NY Times ^ | December 31, 2007 | CARL HULSE

[neverdem]

Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, spent New Year’s Eve in Baghdad as he made his first visit to the war zone to meet with troops from his home state as well as military commanders.

Mr. Schumer, who noted he was on only his second government-paid overseas trips during 27 years in Congress, said the trip enabled him to assess conditions in Iraq for himself as well as reassure members of the military that Americans were thinking about them over the holidays.

“The holidays can be a particularly lonely time, particularly for the older soldiers who are away from their husbands and wives and children,” Mr. Schumer said in a Monday afternoon conference call with reporters. “I wanted to show them we cared, that they had had not been forgotten.”

Mr. Schumer said he was impressed by the dedication and the morale of the members of the military whom he met. “It was a moving experience, it really was,” he said.

Typically confident in expressing his opinions, the senator said he did not want to discuss in detail his view of conditions in Iraq or the military situation until he had completed his trip and received his full schedule of briefings.

“I don’t want to get into policy issues here,” he said as midnight approached in Baghdad. “I want to sit and think it through before I say anything that might be hasty in any way.”

Mr. Schumer is the No. 3 Democrat in the Senate, where the war has been a major source of partisan division, and a judgment from him could influence the war debate when Congress returns in a few weeks.

It is unusual for a lawmaker of Mr. Schumer’s seniority to take so few official overseas trips. He said he previously traveled to China...

[neverdem]

Office of Sen. Charles E. Schumer, via Associated Press
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, right, shares a New Year's Eve dinner with U.S. troops in Baghdad Monday, Dec. 31, 2007 during his first visit to Iraq.
"There will be resolution after resolution, amendment after amendment ... just like in the days of Vietnam," Schumer said. "The pressure will mount, the president will find he has no strategy, he will have to change his strategy and the vast majority of our troops will be taken out of harm's way and come home."

God help us! How did NY go so quickly from D'Amato and Moynihan to Schumer and you know who? Schumer is as dangerous as the other senator from NY. He wrote a book about scheming for middle class votes, Positively American: Winning Back the Middle-Class Majority One Family at a Time.

[devolve]

[shadowcat]

POMPUS ASS

(please give me 48 hours off for the remark)

[shadowcat]

Notice the plates.
A-wipe skummer didn’t touch his meal.

I like his neck.................

[denydenydeny]

Hoprfully Putzhead got an earful while there.

[neverdem]

Bedbug epidemic attacks New York City With Bloomberg in Charge!

Will This Case of Milk Contamination Make the FDA's Presentation?

Violent Felons Move Forward With Lawsuit Over Their Rights to Parole (NY)

FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.

[Tut]

It’s new years eve and I’m just about ready to hit the rack till I came across this article.

I can only wonder how many people does he think he fooled with his stunt? No way did he go there in any kind of fact finding mission. He had his mind made up already and nothing he will see in Iraq nor person he will talk to will change his mind. His only objective is to have the troops leave Iraq ASAP before next year this time.

The whole idea is to lose the Iraq war before Bush leaves office and as time gets closer and closer to that day, the dems will get more and more desperate.

If one of their own gets elected next year, no way in heck will they cut and run then and their first act would be a loss. That is why they are so desperate we should lose this one while Bush is in office.

The love of country nor the troops have anything to do with their agenda. Their speeches, their comments and their smears in the past 6 years speaks volumes of their motives and Chuck’s little trip does not divert from their past.

It will be interesting what he will finally say about it. I think he’s working hard trying to come up with the crap he wants to and still sound credible. It will be a neat trick. I wonder if he can pull it off.

[Recovering_Democrat]

How much would I give to see these protectors of freedom get up and walk away from that political hack? Leave him sitting there in his own hypocritical stew.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

What a schmuck!

[billmor]

You can bet that Schumer was in Iraq to see if the country can now sustain itself and pay it’s own way..His concern for troop morale is admirable but that is a smokescreen..His objective in Congress will be to try and cut US funding so he and the other leftists can start using those funds for their cherished social programs..They have to have something to show what they have accomplished before the people vote them out in Nov..because up to now they have accomplished NOTHING and have blocked everything..Looks like early panic mode for the dumRATS and it is only going to get a lot worse for them...

[skr]

She doesn’t look particularly happy to be sitting next to him, does she?

[DGHoodini]

I’ll be very interested to hear what comes out of Sniveling Schumers mouth, once he gets his betraying ass safely back on US soil.

‘What Chuckie wouldn’t say to the Troops Faces’

[musicman]

"God help us! How did NY go so quickly from D'Amato and Moynihan to Schumer and you know who? Schumer is as dangerous as the other senator from NY."

[weeder]

“Forget what your officers tell you! You’re losing badly, and you’ll all be dead in a year!
Now let me send you home! Trust me!”

[Sacajaweau]

Something has changed. Schumer seems to be leaning back to his old self....distancing himself from Hillary. He WAS a successful Senator and really knew his way around Upstate NY.

I'm hardly a Dem but will wait and see what he says about his trip. 2nd Government paid trip in 27 years...Pretty amazing!!

[thelastvirgil]

Rest easy, skr. I am sure the schmuck’s tablemates were carefully screened by his staff well before his scheduled arrival at the table. Most likely they agree with Chuckie on most of his agenda. Just because one is in theatre, doesn’t necessarily mean one is totally sold on the policy. I give them the admiration they merit for their volunteer service, but suspect they are RAT supporters or they never would have been sat at Schmucky’s table.

[buck61]

Note the insignia’s on the people in the room, officers mess hall?? Just like here in America!/ screw the little people!

[LZ_Bayonet]

Re: the meal photo - As a Vietnam Vet, I just can't get over how clean everyone is, and the chairs, and the flowers, and the silver thingies that hold syrup and stuff. And it's all so clean. Could someone tell me, are all the johns 'single holers' too, or do they still have some 3 and 4 holers around?

Something tells me this photo is not the normal situation for the guys kickin' in doors.

[OneLoyalAmerican]

Captive audience of Officers? With no SNCO’s in sight.

[LFOD]

No such animal as an “officers” mess hall.
It looks like the palace DFAC. (dining facility)
Everybody gets their meals at the same facility. It’s a real orderly free-for-all sometimes, pretty amazing really.

I remember when John Kerry was there.......no one would go near him.