# All hail the conquering hero: Bush in Baghdad **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 27, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594 "2003-11-27T17:40:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Milum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Milum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milum)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594/121 "2003-11-28T04:27:51Z")
**boo boo foo** > [@](#): > > You’re smiling because you’re consumed with wondering about what other people think. If you weren’t concerned about what other people think, you wouldn’t have bothered letting us know that you’re smiling and then gone on to ask us to comment on it. The irony here Milum is that you’re infinitely more addicted to our responses than most of us are to your presence. > > You did ask… Oh no **boo** , you cut me to the quick. No **boo** , it was not the masses of straight dopers that addicted me to their responses. It was you, **boo**. It was your responses that that led me to smiling. Watch–\> 🙂 Happy Thanksgiving! ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594/122 "2003-11-28T04:30:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by randy054 \* > \*\*You can save a lot of time Diogenes and just admit that this has nothing to do about Bush’s trip to Iraq but rather there is nothing ever he can do that in your eyes would have good intentions. \*\* I don’t criticize what Bush does because I hate him, I hate him because of the things he does. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by milroyj_ > **All right then, quote me one man who wasn’t happy about it.** They’re not ALLOWED to say they’re unhappy about, milroy, they get court martialed if they do. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Brutus_ > \*\*Gotta love it! In one fell swoop, GW has shown his support for the troops and managed to send Diogenese, Reeder, and the rest of the loyal(?) opposition into conniptions. > > My esteem for GW has gone up a notch.\*\* Showing support for the troops means not sending them off to die for no fucking reason. It doesn’t mean serving them some turkey and bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594/123 "2003-11-28T04:33:29Z")
We shall see whether it was support for the troops or a photo op for a campaign commercial. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594/124 "2003-11-28T04:35:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*I don’t criticize what Bush does because I hate him, I hate him because of the things he does. > \*\* Highly suspect. ---
**Author:** ![randy054](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/54ee81/32.png) [@randy054](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randy054)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594/125 "2003-11-28T04:36:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Reeder \* > \*\*We shall see whether it was support for the troops or a photo op for a campaign commercial. \*\* Will Bush be solely to blame for the up and coming Photo Ops, ect that are used by his supporters? Do you actually think that there are Republicans etc that would not take advantage of it? ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594/126 "2003-11-28T04:37:54Z")
DTC, you are the one claiming that the President’s visit to our troops did not make them happy. Since you made the claim, prove it. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594/127 "2003-11-28T04:38:35Z")
I was happy when Nixon made his secret trip to China. Now Bush has made a secret trip to Iraq, and it’ll probably be good for the troop’s morale. I’m happy for them. Bush did a nice thing. Sometimes even _evil_ people do nice things. There’s nothing to be gained by bitching about it, except a reputation for irrational hatred. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594/128 "2003-11-28T04:41:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by randy054 \* > **Will Bush be solely to blame for the up and coming Photo Ops, ect that are used by his supporters?** Yes. That’s the reason he staged this stunt, so his supporters could pimp the photos in his election campaign. He is solely responsible for his own PR stunts. > [@](#): > > \*\*Do you actually think that there are Republicans etc that would not take advantage of it? \*\* Of course not. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594/129 "2003-11-28T04:43:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by milroyj \* > \*\*DTC, you are the one claiming that the President’s visit to our troops did not make them happy. Since you made the claim, prove it. \*\* Pay attention, dude. Other people asserted that it _did_ make the troops happy. I merely asked for proof of _that_ assertion. The campaign commercial…I mean news coverage…doesn’t prove anything. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594/130 "2003-11-28T04:45:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Squink \* > \*\*I was happy when Nixon made his secret trip to China. Now Bush has made a secret trip to Iraq, and it’ll probably be good for the troop’s morale. I’m happy for them. Bush did a nice thing. Sometimes even _evil_ people do nice things. There’s nothing to be gained by bitching about it, except a reputation for irrational hatred. \*\* You know what would have been a _really_ nice thing? Not killing his own troops for no damn reason. That would have rocked. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594/131 "2003-11-28T04:46:26Z")
You really have gone off the deep end, haven’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594/132 "2003-11-28T04:49:15Z")
So, **Brutus** you think he’s getting troops killed for a _good_ reason, I take it? What reason would that be? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594/133 "2003-11-28T04:52:11Z")
Well sure, but that comes under the _evil_ clause. It’s not as if him being a generally bad guy precludes him from _ever_doing anything decent. You seem to be reaching pretty hard to find malign intent in the president’s holiday jaunt. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594/134 "2003-11-28T04:54:58Z")
And I hate the idea of even vaguely agreeing with **brutus** , but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594/135 "2003-11-28T04:59:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Of course it’s going to be easy to find some naive, deluded fool who actually thinks Bush did something courageous o0r honerable. The military is filled with guys like that. See, guys like Diogenes CLAIM to support the military, but get them just a littlle worked up, and this is the vile crap that rises to the surface. ---
**Author:** ![Tedster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@Tedster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tedster)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594/136 "2003-11-28T05:01:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* Now, who really thinks the audience privileged to be in the same tent as Bush was not just as prescreened as the audiences for any of his other public appearances? Besides you, that is, Sam. \*\* When Sam said “you guys just don’t get it” he wasn’t kidding. One guy asks for a “cite” and now this. I spent a decade in the .mil, a few years doing VIP work, and was at Camp Bondsteel when the CINC arrived for turkey day in '99. Be assured that no “prescreening” takes place, not even with announced visits. That’s just not how the military works. Anyone who wants to see the VIP’s is free to do so, assuming they aren’t working, generally. By the same token, no-one is forced to go, either. It’s just amusing as hell to hear various “theories” by obvious “bush haters” on other threads on other boards, rabid conjecture that somehow the whole thing was staged. They don’t “get it” either. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594/137 "2003-11-28T05:04:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*Yes. That’s the reason he staged this stunt, so his supporters could pimp the photos in his election campaign. \*\* I think that’s going too far, friend. The staged photo op on the USS Lincoln will only be used by the Democrats, and doubtless Rove knows that and wouldn’t make quite the same overconfident mistake again. These Baghdad photos aren’t even potentially useful _to him_ in a campaign - they’re only a reminder that massive numbers of our people are still hunkered down in a war zone and getting killed almost daily so long after the declared end of “major combat operations”, whatever the hell that means. It can also only remind people of the furtive and brief nature of the visit, and of Bush’s own “military service”. I don’t see a political upside from this, only avoidance of the downside of not doing it. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594/138 "2003-11-28T05:07:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LadyAvalonian \* > \*\*I’m beating my husband (Avalonian) to this, but wtf!? He’s supposed to be our President. Not a kamikaze soldier. This was just plain reckless, all for a self-serving purpose. \*\* Aside from the obvious boost to troop morale it was a simple statement to the people of Iraq that the US will not cut-and-run like so many other military interventions (or non-interventions such as the Shite and Kurd uprisings). This is what is expected from the commander-in-chief. Bush: _You’re engaged in a difficult mission. Those who attack our coalition forces and kill innocent Iraqis are testing our will. They hope we will run. We did not charge hundreds of miles into the heart of Iraq, pay a bitter cost in casualties, defeat a brutal dictator and liberate 25 million people only to retreat before a band of thugs and assassins._ If this political posturing bothers the Bush hating crowd maybe they can take the day off and discuss Senator “hey look at me I"m in Afghanistan” Clinton. I spilled a perfectly good glass of wine laughing when she said “we” will not abandon Afghanistan. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594/139 "2003-11-28T05:08:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*So, **Brutus** you think he’s getting troops killed for a _good_ reason, I take it? What reason would that be? \*\* I thought it was obvious. King-Priest Bush needs the skeletons of thousands to build his Bone Ziggaraut on the fields of Texas! ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594/140 "2003-11-28T05:08:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sam Stone \* > \*\*See, guys like Diogenes CLAIM to support the military, but get them just a littlle worked up, and this is the vile crap that rises to the surface. \*\* What’s “vile” about it? It’s the truth. Did you miss the part where I said I was IN the military. The armed forces are not filled with geniuses. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-hail-the-conquering-hero-bush-in-baghdad/215594.md?page=8)