Posted By:
Catherine Moy
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The election of Barack Obama as America’s next president has many of our troops confounded. Six out of 10 active service members are worried about Obama as commander in chief, according to a Military Times poll.

“Being that the Marine Corps can be sent anywhere in the world with the snap of his fingers, nobody has confidence in this guy as commander in chief,” said one lance corporal who asked not to be identified.

For eight years, members of the U.S. military have served under a Republican commander in chief who reflected their generally conservative views and led them to war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Now, the troops face change not only at the very top of the chain of command, as Obama nears his Jan. 20 inauguration, but perhaps in mission, policy and values.

Underlying much of the uncertainty is Obama’s stated 16-month timetable for pulling combat troops out of Iraq, as well as his calls to end the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy to allow gays to serve openly in the military, according to survey responses and interviews.

“How are you going to safely pull combat troops out of Iraq?” said Air Force 1st Lt. Rachel Kleinpeter, an intelligence officer with the 100th Operations Support Squadron at RAF Mildenhall, England. “And if you’re pulling out combat troops, who are you leaving to help support what’s left? What happens if Iraq falls back into chaos? Are we going to be there in five years doing the same thing over again?”

It is no surprise that U.S. troops are leery of change. President Bush is a veteran and his father was a war hero from WWII. Bush also shows great respect for the U.S. military, where as Obama has had a difficult time giving kudoss to American troops for the relative safety inside Iraq.

This video shows troops giving Obama a cool reception. It contrasts the excitement of American troops when President Bush visited them in Iraq.

The troops are not alone in their trepidation of our president-elect.

Move America Forward just returned from Guantanamo Bay and, as I have described earlier, the hardcore terrorists live in cushy surroundings. Prisoners in American prisons would give their eye-tooth to go to Gitmo, which the media and leftists have branded as a torturous environment.

Mr. Obama wants to close gitmo - a huge mistake. If he does such a thing without going to Gitmo and visiting the prison facilities himself, he will act in a careless and dangerously uninformed way.

That is not change we can believe in.

Posted By:
Catherine Moy
Permalink

Soldiers who guard terrorists at Gitmo pose with MAF folks. They soldiers won’t be home for Christmas

The entourage from Move America Forward returned home from Guantanamo Bay so we could spend our Christmas with our families. We weren’t 100 percent if we would make it back.
But this morning I wept in Mass as a “Silent Night.” I thought of our troops around the world who are away from home. They would not be there to hold their children and watch with wonderment as they opened gifts from Santa. They would not go to church together. They would not eat Christmas dinner together.
I spoke with many troops in Guantanamo Bay, those whom politicians and selfish Americans have slandered, and some talked about missing their children.
“This is the first Christmas ever that I won’t be with my daughter,” a sailor told me.
He ached for his daughter and wife. I ached for him.
I met a soldier from the county in which I live with my family. I told him to call me when he gets home and I’ll take him and his wife to dinner. I prayed for him and all of our troops this morning.
I know that, more than anything, they want to be home. I can’t give that to them. I pray on this Christmas that peace will overcome the souls of terrorists who want to end America as she is. Then our troops will be home. Safe at last.
Merry Christmas, my heroes. I love each of you. God Speed.

Posted By:
MAF Blogger Danny
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MAF's Executive Director Cat Moy already has a good write up. I will be posting my own soon but for now here are some great pictures from our big day in GITMO.

We are supposed to leave in about 20 minutes and I am very sad to go. We are all in fact, sad to go, wishing we could stay here just a few more days to make sure our troops really know that we love and support them AS WELL as the WORK the are doing -- keeping dangerous men who would do us harm right where they belong -- in maximum security captivity.


Hospital at NAVSTA GTMO


U.S. Marine Corps "The White House"



U.S. Navy Port Security detachment


MAF visits "The Galley" (how the navy says chow hall)


Joint Task Force Detention Centers


A fitting goodbye

Posted By:
Catherine Moy
Permalink

I was raised a Catholic girl and always wore head cover when I went to church. But, of course, I was going to church where we were to respect the other parishioners, the priests and God.
Today I went with others from Move America Forward to the detainee camps at Guanatanamo Bay. Yes, please understand that we are supposed to call them detainees - not terrorists.
We women were told that we must wear full-length sleeves, long pants, and make sure our necklines were “respectable.” Men were free to go as they pleased. The reason? Americans don’t want to offend the guys who want to cut our throats.
Now mind you: It is downright hot and humid in Cuba. Smart folks wear dresses, shorts, or bathing suits.
But we were to wear cover. It’s a safety thing for the guards, who have to handle the beasts behind bars. If we upset the terrorists by showing too much skin, they take it out on the guards by throwing feces, urine or spitting. Yes, very respectful fellas.
Women’s skin throws them into a dither. A Palmolive commercial started a real dust-up when the detainees saw the woman’s wrist. They took it out on the TV, which they destroyed. We taxpayers replaced it with a flat-screen TV that is enclosed in plexi-glass with holes in it so the sound can get out.
I got myself bundled up in long sleevesm etc., so I could finally see with my own eyes the conditions for these terroritst, suspected terrorists, and generally bad people.
I was offended when I got all dressed up for the detainees, and one decided to give the universal sign for throat-cutting. He stared at me. I looked back at him. Then he drew his hand across his throat and smiled at me. I stared at him, and he did the throat-cutting gesture again.
(Important safety tip, President Elect Obama: These guys want to kill Americans. It’s best if you leave them at Gitmo with their nightly movie nights, popcorn, and art classes.
Here are some other quick facts about the guys in Gitmo:
* The priosners get prayer rugs, prayer caps, prayer beads and brand new Korans. But the guards may NEVER touch the Korans. Only a Muslim may deliver the books to the terrorists. If the terrorists are especially good, they get a fancier prayer rug.
* They get to choose from six meal plans, which include vegetarian, veg. with fish, and high fiber. They are allowed to ask for fresh fruit if their fruit is bruised, though some like the bruised fruit. They are touchy about their fruit.
* There are three medical personnel (doctors, nurses) for every ONE terrorist.
* They get to take art classes and learn how to speak English. This keeps their minds busy so they don’t think of other things to do - like throw feces.
* The most violent and “non-compliant” prisoners stay in state-of-the-art quarters. They have air conditioning.
* They get to play games such as soccer, chess, checkers, and exercise on exercise machines. They have a foosball table, but all of the faces of the little plastic guys are cut off because they offend the terrorists. They see the foosball guys as “false idols,” which is against their religion. So the military removes the faces so we don’t offend them.

Well, I’ll write more later. So much to tell.
But let me finish with this: Our men and women are professional, and bend over backwards to ensure these prisoners are trated with the utmost respect and care. It is despicable that anybody would play politics with our troops and accuse them of anything but the highest professionalism. They sacrifice to keep us safe. And they are sick and tired of the lies that have been printed and spread about Gitmo and their work there.
I am a proud American to have met every one of our troops.

Posted By:
MAF Blogger Danny
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After about a half day of touring different facilities around GITMO and not really knowing whether or not we would have the opportunity to visit the terrorist detainee camps, MAF has finally received the confirmation from Navy officials that we will be visiting a detainee camp today.

Actually we are just minutes away from leaving so I barely have enough time to post a couple pictures from earlier before we have to run.