Posted on 12/23/2004 1:52:38 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
An E & P report on USA Today founder Al Neuharth’s Thursday column for that newspaper has quickly drawn dozens of (mostly negative) emails. In the column, Neuharth, noting how many soldiers were far from home and in harm’s way at Christmas, called for a U.S. pullout from Iraq “sooner rather than later.” A World War II vet, he said he would not serve if he had been called today for this war. And he noted that in WW II, troops were “properly equipped.”
Here is a sampling of the responses:
A.P. Oliver, commander USN (ret.): “To withdraw troops from Iraq would qualify as the greatest surrender in history and invite direct attacks here in this country and ultimately drastically change the way we live. No respectful American could agree with your illogical conclusion.”
J. Boke, Titusville, FL: “Al Neuharth's war experience crippled his brain, or he's just too old to have much left. War experience doesn't necessarily make one wise. It CAN have a negative effect on one's judgement. It sounds like Mr. Neuharth, as well John McCain, both suffered mentally via their strong emotional suffering.”
Michael Bustamente, Sterling Height, MI: “Tell you what. We leave and the sanctimonious jerks like you and your Free Press, you go there and stay after we leave.”
Richard C. Fairchild: “Al, thanks for your willingness to express your view that we should bring our troops home sooner rather than later, which I as a veteran of service both in the army and Marine Corps also hold. To me, in this case, sooner means right away. I applaud your courage, you will take heat.”
Henry Yang: “Did he really serve in France, Germany and Philippines? Where was he when our tanks were ill-equipped to deal with the hedge rows in France after the Normandy landing? Do we need to count the number of unnecessary casualties because we were not properly armed and equipped in WW II? By the way, how could we send soldiers to fight the Battle of the Bulge with not properly clothed for the winter and does he know how many soldiers froze to death?”
William Billingsley: “There already are way too many without arms and legs. Withdraw. Do it now. I hope we the people have learned from this but we didn't learn from Vietnam. So I guess just more of the same.”
Cliff Hair: “Never heard of Al Neuharth! What makes him so special and who gives a damn what he thinks?”
David J. Horchak: “I agree with Al Neuharth’s sentiment that we should bring home our troops as soon as possible... once their mission is complete. Everything else is sheer fantasy and lies.”
Phil Miller: “Bush and the Republican congress will do more to defeat Bush and the Republican congress through this invasion than ANYTHING the Democrats could do. If Iraq actually gets a free election not picked by Bush it will demand U.S occupation troops leave asap and I would guess they will indict Bush, Chaney et al on war crimes. Then what will Bush say?”
Galen Heslet, Hemet, CA: “Al Neuharth should butt out. Nobody elected him to run things in this country. His liberal-leftist negativity isn't doing the troops in Iraq any good with this kind of tripe.”
Bill Rollins: “Al, I want to thank you for your bravery and you pegged it correctly, we went into an un-moral preemptive strike that was foolishly planned and ill-conceived. We should have at least 500,000 to 750,000 troops well equipped to keep it a moral war. Now we have split our britches and put our men in harm’s way.”
Pat Giuffra: "I have asked the hotels to not deliver USA Today anymore to my room because of this type of distorted news reporting the it is putting out these days."
"Henry Yang: “Did he really serve in France, Germany and Philippines? Where was he when our tanks were ill-equipped to deal with the hedge rows in France after the Normandy landing? Do we need to count the number of unnecessary casualties because we were not properly armed and equipped in WW II? By the way, how could we send soldiers to fight the Battle of the Bulge with not properly clothed for the winter and does he know how many soldiers froze to death?” "
Thanks for someone pointing that out, I read that part and thought what War was Al in to say everyone was properly armed and equipped.
Exactly. We didn't really kick butt in the Pacific for a while either.
Looks like Neuharth hasn't gotten nearly enough emails telling him to STFU. Come on FReepers, it's our moral duty to let slimeballs like this know when they've stepped over the line.
USA Today....what a dirt-rag
I wouldnt line a birdcage with it.
I wonder where this guy served in WWII where all the equipment needed was there. What a BSer.
My Dad's cousin was a blacksmith and an autorepair man. He served in a unit with other guys with similiar backgrounds in N Africa, Italy and Mid Europe.
Their objective was to steal any truck/vehicle that might have something in to use from fuel to water and of course food. If the truck ran, they hot wired and "borrowed it" if it didn't run, they had torches and stripped the vehicle of all parts, wheels, tires and any metal that could be cut/salvaged.
A friend who died a couple of years ago was a Lt in the SeaBees. His job was to steal from our Army, the Japanese Army and the Natives anything that the Marines or Sailors might need.
He designed a wench with a cable on the front of their big "Salvage" truck. They used it to "borrow" items on the road while moving from Army Trucks and Civilian trucks. His greatest picture was one of him standing on a case of liberated bourbon from an Army truck. Behind him in the picture and moving away was the Army truck from which the bourbon was "liberated".
Anybody who knows anything about military history knows that there has never been a perfectly equipped army. Read about our troops at Pearl Harbor, using WWI ear machine guns to try and shoot down the Japanese planes. Or about our troops in the Civil War, forced to use foreign-made guns that were as dangerous to the shooter as they were to the enemy. Or our troops in the Spanish American war, most of whom wore Blue because camoflage Khaki cloth couldn't be manufactured in enough quantities.
Since Mr. Neuharth doesn't know what he's talking about regarding past wars, it is reasonable to assume he doesn't know what he's talking about regarding the present war.
It's not even fit for the finest outhouses.....
So we pull out of Iraq and what, build large walls around the nation and hope and pray the terrorists won't increase their strength and numbers and won't attack us and our allies again? Hope that the Wahabbists give up on the whole "convert the world to Islam and kill those who oppose us" screed?
I'm trying to understand the left. I really am. But I simply don't understand how giving in to terrorists who are performing terrorist actions against our troops and against the people of Iraq will somehow make us safer in the long run.
(Slightly OT, but no one has explained to me how, if the Iraq theatre is not part of the war on islamofascist terrorists, then why would they care so much whether or not the people of Iraq had a free and fair election. Why do these foreigners stream in to Iraq and fight so much to maintain a stranglehold of terror on that country if they have no stake in the outcome?)
It seems to me that the only way for us to ensure our security and the security of the "civilized world" is to attack them where they live so they don't have as much of an opportunity to strike us. It also seems to me that the reason this is the only viable solution - as opposed to the left who wants to stop all offensive action in the war and want to essentially focus on defense - is this: WE CANNOT DEFEND OURSELVES TO VICTORY. We must stay on the offense because we simply cannot protect everything in this country 100% of the time.
Sorry for this long post; but this negativity regarding the war and the fact that things sometimes don't go right in war and sometimes people die in war - has really been bugging me lately.
There was also a concerted effort on the homefront and a massive retooling of our industrial base to deal with the threat back then.
None of that is going on now.
Good grief...the poor man lost his senses.
I especilly liked the comment from Titusville, FL, since the local paper "Florida Today" is owned by Neuharth.
I second everything you said. He is a senile twit and a doofus.
USA Today....what a dirt-rag
I wouldnt line a birdcage with it.
As with any Gannett-ruined newspaper
The guy seems to have a very faulty memory of WWII; I've heard many vets talk about problems with equipment, supplies, tactics, etc. On D-Day alone, we lost thousands of troops - the bombing to soften up the coastline defenses was messed up, exposing the troops to heavy machine gun fire as soon they hit the beach; many landing craft foundered before they got to shore; paratroopers were dropped over the ocean, in swamps, in the middle of Nazi-occupied villages; in the days after, we levelled the city of Caen and many villages, killing thousands of civilians. War is hell, and this guy seems to have forgotten how it was in WWII.
Ask many of the vets of ANY war. "Properly equipped" is a very funny term used by the left wing.
After D day we had our troops taking the steel from the barricades on the beach of Normand and strapped them on the front of our sherman tanks to cut through the hedge rows. (the tanks were not "equipped" to deal with hedge rows that had been there for hundreds of years)
In war, no plan survives first contact with the enemy.
That said, however, I do not believe the media is not telling the truth about how prepared (or lack of preparedness) our forces are (were/is).
Pat Giuffra: "I have asked the hotels to not deliver USA Today anymore to my room because of this type of distorted news reporting the it is putting out these days."
One of the best kept secrets is the so called Free USA Today is probably built into the daily room rate.
Whenever, I check into a motel or hotel that advertises the free USA LIES TODAY, I advise the front desk:
1. That I don't want USA LIES TODAY.
2. I want the built in charge (usually about $2/day) deducted from my room.
Quite a few motels will deduct a few $'s per day from my bill when I go through 1 and 2 above.
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