[Arrow]

Mr. Riley wrote:

“At first glance, this might look like the ultimate photo-op; the Commander-In-Chief serving American soldiers in Baghdad with a perfectly cooked Thanksgiving turkey in 2003 after the invasion of Iraq. Only that’s exactly what it was– a photo-op. It later turned out that the perfectly-cooked turkey Bush served was actually made out of plastic and merely decoration.”
　
Mr. Riley,

My post was made to challenge your facts on President Bush‘s visit to the troops on Thanksgiving of 2003. The Washington Post article posted in the Seattle Times proved you wrong about the plastic turkey. The eye witness account sent to Black Five proved you had your facts wrong about the Thanksgiving Dinner being just another photo op for President Bush.

You did not address those facts in your rebuttal but instead attacked Matthew (Black Five) Burden. You not only attacked Matthew Burden but you got your facts wrong in the process.

You stated:

““Blackfive tells a real heart-warming story of the event and he seemed choked-up just being in dubya's presence. I never put it past the Bush admin to hand-pick journalists allowed to cover events. Based on this story, Burden seemed deeply in love with Mr. Bush ("I felt like I was drunk")”

Mr. Riley,

A review of my first post will tell you Matthew Burden was not the eye witness at the Thanksgiving Dinner. The eye witness was the active duty Captain that sent the e-mail to Matthew (Black Five) Burden @ blackfive.net.

Do your caustic assumptions in regard to Matthew Burden now apply to the active duty Captain that sent the e-mail?

I don’t know the Captain or Matthew (Black Five) Burden personally but I can say without hesitation having done some research on my own regarding Matthew (Black Five) Burden he is an exemplary Warrior that served this country for over twenty years and continues to serve in an exemplary way as an advocate for both active duty and wounded Warriors and their families.

He has also advised both the Bush and Obama administration on critical military and veteran's issues.

He founded in 2009 Warrior Legacy Foundation and serves on the Board of Trustees of Soldiers Angels. I have no doubt the Captain that wrote the e-mail has the same stellar career. I accept the Captain's description of the Thanksgiving Dinner. I regret you find it necessary to question the motives of a man that had no idea his e-mail would be sent around the world only to be scrutinized with such cynicism.

It’s an old tactic refined by the radical Saul Alinsky, ignore the message and attack the messenger, i.e. Matthew Burden and/or the active duty Captain that sent the email.

"Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it and polarize it."


Nothing new to be seen here, moving on now,

Arrow