what assholes...

So you know that publicity stunt that the president pulled by flying over to Iraq on Thanksgiving to have turkey dinner with the troops? Well it turns out that in doing so, Bush denied many, MANY troops the ability to celebrate Thanksgiving dinner themselves. At least according to Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper.

Because of the top secret nature of the trip, and obvious security concerns, the mess hall was shut down for all those that weren't pre-screened to dine with the president. The thing is, alternative arrangements were not made for those that weren't invited. This meant that many a soldier went to the mess hall on Thanksgiving expecting a treat but were turned away, given the option of waiting until 9pm to eat Thanksgiving dinner or settle for an MRE...many choosing the MREs. Here's some of the story:

The newspaper, quoting two officials with the Army's 1st Armored Division in an article last week, reported that "for security reasons, only those preselected got into the facility during Bush's visit. . . . The soldiers who dined while the president visited were selected by their chain of command, and were notified a short time before the visit."

The paper also published a letter to the editor from Sgt. Loren Russell, who wrote of the heroism of his soldiers and then added: "[I]magine their dismay when they walked 15 minutes to the Bob Hope Dining Facility, only to find that they were turned away from their evening meal because they were in the wrong unit. . . . They understand that President Bush ate there and that upgraded security was required. But why were only certain units turned away?"

Russell added that his soldiers "chose to complain amongst themselves and eat MREs, even after the chow hall was reopened for 'usual business' at 9 p.m. As a leader myself, I'd guess that other measures could have been taken to allow for proper security and still let the soldiers have their meal."

-The Washington Post

It's so sad that the President would allow this to happen. Or, if not him, then at least his spindoctors which planned the whole thing. It's just another act of insensitivty on the behalf of this administration that not only shows a disregard for the health, security, and worth of America's soldiers, but is responsible for unbelievable morale issues that are developing.