# Bush to meet with families of Brit soldiers killed in Iraq. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 15, 2003, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368 "2003-11-15T02:59:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368/21 "2003-11-15T07:10:29Z")
Nobody in the US is cultured enough to be angry at a president that sent his son or daughter off to eventually be killed. We’re so heartless, stupid, and lacking culture. Did I leave anything out? Oh: fascist, racist, imperialistic, capitalist, brainwashed, and generally not cultured. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368/22 "2003-11-15T07:17:47Z")
Nice persecution complex you got there, **Beagle**. ---
**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 15, 2003, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368/23 "2003-11-15T07:25:52Z")
> [@](#): > > He also made it clear that he would do his best to bolster the prime minister’s political standing at the same time. The irony of this is off the charts. Blair’s collusion with Bush is the _reason_ that his political standing has gone in the shitter. Is Shrub actually deluded enough to think that his endorsement of the Poodle is a _good_ thing in England? ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368/24 "2003-11-15T07:30:30Z")
I said _differences_ - like in there’s probably less deference to the political leader here because that person (the PM) is not the Head of State i.e. a _difference_- assuming that is why Americans are more deferential (respect for the Office itself, etc)? Hence, it’s more likely Bush will get an earful. I agree with you **Diogenes** , it’s difficult to see what Blair gets out of this. It’s like a recurrence of thrush. All I can say is it’s been two years in the planning and things have moved on somewhat. It’s kind of amusing, in a way. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368/25 "2003-11-15T08:16:35Z")
**Desmostylus** , **Beagle** ’s retort was pointed, not wounded. There is a similar stateside story of a mother’s rejection of military honors for her dead son, killed in the [Chinook](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20031113/ts_alt_afp/us_iraq_casualty_031113183350). With regard to cultural differences between the US and the UK, **Reeder** hijacked a ride down the left-hand fork in the road. Just food for thought: how many Advance Men are required to lay down enough _rhetorical napalm_ to grant The President a fistful of topsoil? ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368/26 "2003-11-15T08:37:33Z")
I read it as neither pointed nor wounded. Rather I thought it involved some jerking in the knee area - a response to an _imagined_ slight against the entire U.S. populace. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368/27 "2003-11-15T08:57:17Z")
I can dig it, **Desmostylus** , thanks for the reply. Please regard my last post as one “in avoidance of _Cite Wars_.” ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368/28 "2003-11-15T10:38:04Z")
Good Lord. And I am an atheist. GW [has met with the families of fallen servicemen.](http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/04/03/sprj.irq.bush.families/) I am not suprised that a tard like **Reeder** would think otherwise. He is (was) the dull knife in the drawer, so to speak. Unfortunately, **Desmostylus** and **Squink** seem to be acolytes of **Reeder** , with their inane refusal to admit simply proven (and simply gotten) facts. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368/29 "2003-11-15T10:42:50Z")
I thought we had this vomit from **Reeder** before. Not quite, but similiar. Remember when he claimed that GW never visited wounded servicemen, then played **Reeder** when confronted with [proof](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=207146) to the contrary? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368/30 "2003-11-15T12:16:59Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m not yet satisfied that any such meeting took place. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Reeder \* > \*\*Nor am I. \*\* I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. _You wouldn’t be satisfied with anything less than his suicide_, **Reeder**. If you found that he HAD met with the families, you’d find something sinister in THAT too. You starting to make me miss **december**. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368/31 "2003-11-15T12:24:58Z")
I sincerely hope that Bush does get to meet some of the bereaved British parents. If what I’ve seen on TV and read in the papers is true, there are some very angry parents out there who are not afraid to express their opinions. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368/32 "2003-11-15T12:34:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Brutus \* > \*\*Unfortunately, **Desmostylus** and **Squink** seem to be acolytes of **Reeder** , with their inane refusal to admit simply proven (and simply gotten) facts. \*\* _My_ comment related to a single supposed meeting on a particular day. If you read it differently, too bad. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368/33 "2003-11-15T13:13:31Z")
Aackk, I am wounded ! No, wait. **Brutus’** gets his parthian shafts from the good people at Nerf. ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368/34 "2003-11-15T15:52:04Z")
The cultural differences between the US and UK must be about as small as any two nations divided by an ocean without a bridge. Angry or horribly distraught people are one result of the casualties in war, whatevery your “culture.” Maybe the Spartans had all that worked out really well. Unless, of course, you were a helot (sp?). I guess spinning casualties seems odd. They are always bad, on both sides. It would be nice if al Qaeda would just quit trying to destabilize Iraq and Saudi Arabia. That might save some lives. C’mon Usama, be a lover not a fighter. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368/35 "2003-11-15T16:54:00Z")
One big cultural difference I’ve observed on the SDMB is that many Merkins seem to have a “respect for the office” of the Prez regardless of who is in power. This same respect is not always extended to the Prime Minister in the UK (see [Diana Gould](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/02/27/nirq227.xml)) let alone to a foreign president. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368/36 "2003-11-15T17:42:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by spooje \* > \*\*You starting to make me miss **december**. \*\* nooooooo the _solution/goal_ is to **diminish** annoyances and ignorance, not swap/trade up/down them. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368/37 "2003-11-15T18:27:31Z")
In case anyone is interested in the actual facts, the New York Times’ Elizabeth Bumiller reported on November 5 (in an article that was mostly critical of Bush on exactly this general subject) that Bush “Mr. Bush does send a personal letter to the family of every soldier killed in action and has met privately with relatives at military bases.” The abstract of the article is [here](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70D15FA3D5D0C768CDDA80994DB404482). You can spend the three bucks to get the whole thing if you choose. My question is this – does there come a point in **Reeder** ’s constant lies that debunking him and them ceases becoming an exercise in eradicating ignorance and becomes a distraction to that goal? **December** was banned for doing exactly what **Reeder** is doing, but less and less often. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368/38 "2003-11-15T19:04:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > > One big cultural difference I’ve observed on the SDMB is that many Merkins seem to have a “respect for the office” of the Prez regardless of who is in power. Hey **jjimm** , in my personal experience, the best way to avoid a sandstorm of semantic attacks is to treat the Office with the requisite respect regardless of the _boob_ who is currently in power. Takes the steam out of a niggling partisan assault. _President Clinton is a con-man who was an excellent statesman, yet sullied the Oval Office with his lies._ _President Bush is an ignorant man who has systematically burned almost every foreign relations bridge, whilst thoroughly polluting the word “American” with his administration’s lies._ ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368/39 "2003-11-15T19:07:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by manhattan \* > My question is this – does there come a point in **Reeder** ’s constant lies that debunking him and them ceases becoming an exercise in eradicating ignorance and becomes a distraction to that goal? Well sure, but if you’re going to debunk him, it’s important to provide actual facts, rather than just call him an asshole. Both you and Airman Doors have now provided a factual basis for debunking, and ignorance has been reduced. ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368/40 "2003-11-15T19:12:39Z")
I do have a certain “respect for the office.” That would extend to not being overtly hostile to GWB if I got a chance to meet him. I might slip him our SDMB “five option” strategy, or whatever, to get us out of this mess. It sounds to me like someone is listening somewhere already. I would protest – hold a wisecracking sign – should the need arise. You want to “fight the power”? Late. I’ve always viewed those that volunteer for military service as capable of judging what they are doing. Most of the actual soldiers I’ve seen in Iraq have had good things to say about the deployment (length, danger excluded). They seem to think it is meaningful and worthwhile. I tend to believe them and think we should “finish the job,” “stay the course,” “wait for the fat lady to sing.” “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” “In war, there is no substitute for victory.” “E plurbus unum.” Private meetings with the families is more appropriate perhaps _because_ it gives them a chance to vent without 400 cameras in their face. They can do a play-by-play later for the media if they wish. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-meet-with-families-of-brit-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/213368.md?page=3)