Too Good To Be True? Obama Iraq Troop Greeting Allegedly Staged


By Tom Blumer (Bio | Archive)
April 14, 2009 - 16:12 ET


So says MacsMind (via Flopping Aces via Minority Report via Jeff Emanuel at RedState).
MacsMind's post is in response to an all-too-predictable gusher delivered by Democratic operative disguised as Associated Press reporter Jennifer Loven on April 7 (bold is mine):

Cheered wildly by U.S. troops, President Barack Obama flew unannounced into Iraq on Tuesday and promptly declared it was time for Iraqis to "take responsibility for their country" after America's commitment of six years and thousands of lives.
"You have given Iraq the opportunity to stand on its own as a democratic country," the president said as he made a brief inspection of a war he opposed as candidate and now vows to end as commander in chief. "That is an extraordinary achievement."

MacsMind contends that the troop contingent was contrived, based on an e-mail he says he received "from a sergeant that was there." The corresponding sergeant also dropped a telltale clue (in bold):

We were pre-screened, asked by officials “Who voted for Obama?”, and then those who raised their hands were shuffled to the front of the receiving line. They even handed out digital cameras and asked them to hold them up.
Take a look at the picture at AP and notice all the cameras are the same models? Coincidence? I think not.

Well, well, here's the picture in question:
Indeed, there are an awful lot of cameras that look awfully identical.
Another consolidated wire report found at the Dallas Morning News at midnight on April 8 described the event as "hundreds of U.S. troops cheering wildly" and as "a stunning show of appreciation for Obama from military men and women who have made great sacrifices, many serving repeated tours in a highly unpopular war."
So it seems that the establishment press got played. It also appears that New Media made them look like the fools they are. And it looks like Team Obama is going to have to improve its stealth techniques the next time around.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.

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not all of it, but some of that pic, looks photoshopped....IMO

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Smile, God loves you

That photo isn't nearly as good at showing all the same cameras as this one by the same AP photographer and its part of the original story, so should be original and unphotoshopped.

SF Gate: President Barack Obama greets military personnel at Camp ... (Charles Dharapak / AP) Multimedia (image)




Obama running scripted and acting... I can't believe it!

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Røbb

Apparently President Obama was going to make the middle east his last stop before coming home. I thought it would be afghanistan but chose Iraq instead...

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Rob Foraker in disguise...

But don't all POTUS give scripted speeches and act as they are doing it, and every politician??? what make this one any different than the others??

This one's actually going to bring them home to their families. And give them better benefits and medical care when they get here. Can't believe they aren't throwing tomatoes. They must've scoured the country to find a roomfull of soldiers who appreciate that.

Yeah, that is pretty convincing I agree....

Shhh... that doesn't help my point.

Take a look at the picture at AP and notice all the cameras are the same models? Coincidence? I think not.

When a news photographer does pics for any news worthy story the shots are preplanned according to the medias preference. My photographers over the years were looking for a certain setting as suggested by the newspaper.

I know Robb but here is one where i got to disagree, i never get in these Obama bad guy threads.but who cares if it was staged for press, the importance is the message he gave them and what he is doing to bring them home to their family..

Really who cares, think they are going to publish a photo of him getting boo'd after telling him Iraq needs to take back their shit and they need to come home,why do people always pick the negative from something positive??

Well him and his team definitely get an A+ for staying on script.

Last thing they need is a banner in the background that everyone misunderstands.
Mission Accomplished - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Because if you don't like the President, everything he does must be wrong. And even if what he does you agree with, he must've done it in some kind of sinister way.

It's not possible to disagree with someone's politics while conceding that once in a while they get things right.

Look at the pirate thing. Everybody agrees it was a success. But there's got to be a way to blame the President for something about it. There has to, dammit.

Same thing happened to Bush.

It's a good message that the POTUS actually cares about the troops like I do. I know there'll be 4 years of this so I'm prepared to make my own judgments.

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Me, I simply like the truth. I am not a fan of news mis-information.

Agreed.

What misinformation did u receive? certainly not from that photo?

Perhaps it was just a way of giving the soldiers a chance to see the man they voted for up close and personal. Or maybe it was staged to make Obama look more popular.

Either way though, it's a good thing it was staged, otherwise, I'm sure someone up front would be yelling things like "Hell no we won't go!" because they're having such a good time over there.

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The only way to bring about change is to actively strive to achieve it. - (7-24-09, Witchofthedogs)

Don't know if the picture was photo shopped or not. Was it staged, of course it was, those toops were told by dumb Cluster F's, and the passed on down the line, to show up, be enthused, or else. That's how the military works.

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Zoë says, Enough is enough, Bring on the Spring!

Its staged..

I have a news paper of Clinton in Hungary we were "forced" to go and had to be cheerful or get sh*t details

You havent lived till you have burned Feces and Urine with a mixture of Gasoline and Diesel.

You would be jumping for joy at Bin Laden to get out of that.

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