[CLUE-Talk] Another Bush lie

[Randy Arabie]

On Sat, Nov 01, 2003 at 01:14:04PM -0800, Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier wrote:
> 
> --- Randy Arabie <randy at arabie.org> wrote:
> > 
> > WRT #3 immediately above.  That's the first I've heard that.
> > Care to pass a link to that on?
> > 
> 
> U.S. Troops Use Confiscated Iraqi AK-47s
> http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/6609231.htm
> 
> "We just do not have enough rifles to equip all of our soldiers. So in
> certain circumstances we allow soldiers to have an AK-47. They have to
> demonstrate some proficiency with the weapon ... demonstrate an ability
> to use it," said Lt. Col. Mark Young, commander of the 3rd Battalion,
> 67th Armor Regiment, 4th Infantry Division."
> 
> "Young doesn't carry an AK but has fired one. He's considered banning
> his troops from carrying AKs, but hasn't yet because "if I take the AK
> away from some of the soldiers, then they will not have a rifle to
> carry with them."
> 
> "Staff Sgt. Michael Perez, a tanker, said he would take anything over
> his standard issue 9mm pistol when he's out of his tank.
> 
> And the AK's durability has impressed him.
> 
> "They say you can probably drop this in the water and leave it
> overnight, pull it out in the morning, put in a magazine and it will
> work," Perez said."

That's your misunderstanding of the Army, it isn't
"unprepared".  As the article pointed out, everyone in an
armour unit doesn't get a rifle.  In particular, half the members
of a tank crew are issued handguns because the interior of a
tank is too small for a rifle.

I used to drive Bradley fighting vehicles.  I was issued a
9mm Beretta.

Sure, those who desire to have rifles, in addition to thier
handguns are using AK's that were confiscated from the
Iraqi irregulars.  However, you implied that our troops were
confiscating AK's because of weapons shortages.  That isn't
at all what the article said.

You convieniently left out the quote from the soldier on the
ground, who probably know better than YOU, where he states:

"Normally an armour battalion is fighting from its tanks.
Well, we are not fighting from our tanks right now," Young
said. "We are certainly capable of performing the missions
that we have been assigned, there's no issue with that, but
we do find ourselves somewhat challenged."

I think if our troops REALLY WERE ill prepared for the duties
they have in Iraq we'd be hearing a lot more about it.

As far as arguing about whether the AK-47 is better than the
M-16 or M4...that's like arguing over whether SUSE is better
than Mandrake or Red Hat.
-- 

Allons Rouler!

Randy
http://www.arabie.org/