She must have misheard everything the troops were saying. Everyone knows that our troops are blood-thirsty manics brainwashed to eat the Iraqi people.

Come on, am I the only one watching CNN?

Eic, Please do not spread such lies ok? As a Marine, I was instructed to only consume orphans which isn't as indiscriminate as you make it sound.

Only orphans? For some reason I thought it was only Minority orphans you were allowed to consume.....

What else do you expect from a GIT with no wit? or more precisely a
a NIT-GIT-WIT.

Seriously, when you are unplugged to reality and lack intellectual integrity you end up with the above.

Things are so bad in Iraq that the National Guard has been instructed to go around eating parents. This practice ensures that marines will then have a substantial amount of orphans to consume. I read it in Maureen Dowd's column.

Sorry I wasn't clear in the first post.

Are there orphan MREs?

Obviously a bad case of the Stockholm syndrome. We wish for a speedy recovery.

MRE components are harvested from old people's homes. That's what makes 'em so chewy.

As for Ms. Sheridan, I don't doubt but that her days at the Post are numbered.

Sounds like her only prior experience with actual soldiers was watching a rented copy of "Platoon" in her dorm room.

My god, wanting to shoot back when shot at? These troops are out of control! We need the International Criminal Court now. Contrast this with Saddams thugs, who only want to shoot first.

SHe is not typical of the MSM at all. She saw something contrary to her version of the truth and reported it honestly. Most MSM would just not report it.

Oh, gawd, I see that the milbloggers have our work cut out for us, trying to get across what the military is really like.
Ah well, perhaps I should just think of it as job security.

Well said David. The shocking thing is that she left Washington and then left her compound long enough to even get a story.

Its attitudes like this that make me want some form of compulsory service for everyone. I know it won't work, I know the military doesn't want it, and I know that national security shouldn't be staffed by year campers fulfilling an obligation. So I ask, how can we get these people out of their cocoons long enough to find out its a bad, bad world out there and our troops are the most honorable fighting force ever.

Are there orphan MREs?

Actually, they are referred to as "Small Military Orphans Ready to Eat," or more often...

wait for it...

"SMORE's"

Looks like she will be out of a job soon.

"Just how typical an example of the MSM press corps is Sheridan, anyway?"

She's a very poor example of the MSM press corps. She actually examines her pre-conceived notions in light of observed reality.

There's hope here.

She misheard. What the troops actually said was "They were there to have a helping of Iraqi people."

You left out eating the disabled kids. They can't run around as much as the orphaned ones. Therefore they are easier to catch and likely to be more tender. Not unlike chicken.

Could somebody explain GIT? I'm a little slow.

"To Serve Iraqi's"...

IT'S A COOK BOOK!

"s'more Please? Sir?"

I think this report is an excellent commentary on the ability of the Pentagon to effectively brainwash embedded reporters. She really seems to believe what she says, contrary to all conventional wisdom. Bravo!

There is hope for the MSM after all.

Great post, thanks for sharing.

Yes, journalists really are that clueless.

Great post, thanks for sharing.

Yes, journalists really are that clueless.

Good god, if only they had let her squeeze off a few rounds from an M16, she could have started unravelling that gun-phobia as well!

All of you, mind your manners! This is crack, trained professional, AND CREDENTIALED journalist. What is more, she was hand selected, the best of the best of the best, to to become a journalist for The Washington Post and assigned by it, in its deep wisdom about finding the right person for the right job, to cover a complex and difficult war. And unlike the rest of us, there is not a hint of pajama writing associated with her.

Is it really a good thing that they are not "Blood Thirsty", shouldnt they be out to kill all in their way?

ok... not the babies

"she didn't see any "brainwashing" going on."

Why would she even think they're "brainwashed" in the first place? Do reporters get their world view from Hollywood maybe. I think there's a good chance Mary-Beth Sheridan is a little "brainwashed" herself. Hopefully this will serve as a learning experience for her.

MisterPundit,

You're going to sit there and tell me the Manchurian Candidate wasn't a documentary?

You're nuts.

I hate to burst all your bubbles but I have inside news from Eason Jordan that this was the elite Rumsfeld / Rove Division, specialy train in disinformation and psy-ops. They really took in Ms. Sheridan. Eason is bargaining as we speak to give CNN the story to get his job back.

Soylent MRE is people!

You guys are hilarious. Very funny comments- like an improv troupe, you are.

Especially the part about smores.

Well, I suspect she's never been to Iraq, and it was all done on a Holylwood sound stage.
Much like the moon landing.
And the voyage of Magellan... (cause the world is flat) :)

"how can we get these people out of their cocoons long enough to find out its a bad, bad world out there and our troops are the most honorable fighting force ever."

I've heard that the embedding during the war actually had that effect for many journalists. This woman sounds like she is just processing her first culture shock of embedding, wasn't there that long, and may be a particularly clueless type.

GIT is Liverpuddlian for asshole.

[Liverpuddlian - pertaining to Liverpool]

I thought Mary Beth Sullivan was a pen name for More Bull Shit.

Shouldn't this link really be in the story about bloggers v. MSM? This just goes to show you that at least some MSM members are shockingly sheltered (from a world viewpoint perspective) and ignorant...

This really is an eye-opener.

The US Military are a bunch of Wussies. Why, here in the Congo, as in any and all good UN Peace Keeping Missions, we get to rape and sodomize all the kids we can get our hands on. And we get away with it too! The Europeans are far too sophisticated to ever complain (they're very tolerant you know). And in the US the elites are much too busy hating Mr. Bush to even notice. Ahhh...the life of a UN peace keeper is to be envied.

Pursuit,

I think a good idea would be to require some sort of compulsory, post-high school "community" / "civic" / "military" / "AmeriCorp/PeaceCorp" service in order to earn the PRIVILEGE of voting.

Do NOT bring back the draft, and don't make it compulsory for EVERYONE, especially those who are apathetic and who don't want to earn the privilege of voting.

I think people would respect and appreciate our form of government more, would participate and vote more, and would gain an appreciation for the REAL world that is out there if they did so.

Either serve in the military, as a candy striper in your local hospital, in the PeaceCorp/AmeriCorp helping others in foreign lands, or simply pick up trash along the highway.

Another GREAT idea from Robert A. Heinlein. LOL

kudos to the reporter for going and keeping an open mind. More than Dowd/Scheer ever have done.

"Git" equals liverpool arsehole? Where the hell did that come from? Explain yourself.

I remember one time when I was stationed in Millington, TN that I had ventured off base for dinner one night.

The service was so slow I had to snack on a table full of preschoolers.

MisterPundit -- You are assuming a fact not in evidence: That Sheridan has a brain to wash.

My guess is she will be an unemployed writer soon, with such a radical departure from the Post's storyline.

Momus:

We all need something to keep our ears from rubbing together, so she probably does have one. But how much, if at all, does she (or anyone else)use it??

How ironic....some member of the press finally has something positive to say about our troops, and the best they can do is "they're really not monsters"

Wow....just staggering

"SMORE's"

BWAHAHAHAHA!!

She misheard. What the troops actually said was "They were there to have a helping of Iraqi people."

ROTFLMAO!

I can't read this Blog anymore, as my coworkers may institutionalize me for me random outbursts of hysterical laughter.

Has anyone stopped to wonder if maybe the reason so many journalists were killed in Iraq is that the insurgents don't care who you are, as long as you have white skin? Or maybe is it just that your average journalist isn't bright enough to get out of the way of bullets?

"B-b-b-ut they can't shoot ME, I'm a J-J-J-JOURNALIST!"

I'll never forget them, these . . . soldiers in the mist.

Waitiminit? This American reporter actually approached American soldiers -- and LIVED?! How is such a thing possible?

This woman is so clueless, she probably believes 'de oppresso liber' means 'I will oppress you for free.'

I can just see it now-- a story that U.S. soldiers are laughing about eating old people and children. The next thing you know, they'll be aghast and amazed that soldiers think some people are just fun to shoot.

Oh, I forgot. I've already seen that one...

I agree with Write Winger - I have to read this late at night so my wife doesn't hear me guffawing and think I've gone 'round the bend.

"Are there orphan MREs?"

Yes. They taste like chicken!

Cannibalism is merely a further development of "living off the land" approach to supply.

USMC Manual 50-314 indicates that the best choices are aged about 21-25. Below that, they have too little meat, above that they tend to be stringy. Orphans are preferred only because they are unlikely to have people looking for them. This is a minor consideration since almost anyone finding a skull in the pot, or you gnawing on a hand in your messkit, will suspect that something is amiss.

There are reports that the Air Force survival manual has recipes for Crepe Susies...

I don't think most people blame soldiers for being maniacs (except for those caught doing those perverted things to the Iraqi prisoners, but I think they're troubled on their own). I think most people who have trouble with this war blame Bush, and though you probably don't like that either, I think it should be known that most people don't hate soldiers (Michael Moore and his fans NOT included). Also, I know you haven’t stated this outright, but it seems like your suggesting that good soldiers shouldn’t have their own opinions about the military situations they’re in. I don’t want to put words in your mouth, so if I’m misinterpreting you, then I apologize. Yet if my guess is correct, then I think that is wrong. In fact I know an ex Army special forces soldier who understands the importance of critical thinking and of developing one’s own opinion. I agree with him.

MisterPundit:

"Why would she even think they're 'brainwashed' in the first place?"

Because in the view of some people, military bootcamp or any sort of military training IS all about brainwashing. Look at Hollywood bootcamp stories. There ARE positive portrayals -- I think "An Officer and a Gentleman" managed to avoid the brainwashing cliche -- but there are plenty of stories that show twisted mockeries of real training.

Hey Lisa! Ever checked out MilBlogs? If you do, you'll find out that--contrary to the pre-conceived notions of many members of the mainstream media--your SF friend isn't exactly an anomaly.

Aren't SMOREs "Small MUSLIM Orphans Ready To Eat"? Or is that too Protocols-of-Zionish?

If history is any indication, the Boston Globe will assign two reporters to investigate her, the lefty bloggers will "out" her, and CBS will find a document showing that she used her family's influence to get into the Girl Scouts.

Wait a minute. What if she's really one of us? I mean if Karl Rove could get Osama to go on tape wearing a Kerry-Edwards sticker, then why couldn't he infiltrate the Washington Post? Maybe there's a pack of moles at the Post just waiting to get activated. I don't know though, I'm just saying "maybe." But if someone from the Post is reading this, then, you know, it's somethng you might want to think about. I'm not saying it's going to happen. Just throwing it out. as food for thought. Probably nothing to worry about. After all I just said "maybe." And besides they screen those people pretty good before they hire them, don't they? Don't they?

Y'all need to knock it off with the comments - laughing out loud doesn't go over very well here at work...

Lisa C — Every week at my counterprotest march in Studio City, I hear three things like clockwork: F*** Bush, F*** the troops and F*** the Jews.

OK, that and the genius who yells "No blood for oil" out the window of his Lincoln Navigator...

Next assignment: MSM embedded in Middle America.

"Imagine, if you will, whole groups of people who actually go to work every day without a good latte, and yet they do not feel deprived."

No comment.

Now really, does anyone think for a moment that this woman is recovered from the leftist brainwashing she received at Columbia U. or wherever she was indoctrinated into Leftist Journalism?

GIT real.

SigOther:

I don't know--I agree with those who are impressed that she allows reality to disabuse her of her preconceived notions. I know an awful lot of people who don't even do that.

Lisa C"

"I think it should be known that most people [who oppose the war] don't hate soldiers (Michael Moore and his fans NOT included)."

That's a very interesting exception you make. I'd tend to agree with you, but I'm a bit surprised--no offense--to hear it from someone on your side.

"Has anyone stopped to wonder if maybe the reason so many journalists were killed in Iraq is that the insurgents don't care who you are, as long as you have white skin?"
What I wonder as a "white" is how a group of people who mostly have lighter skin than me are supposed to be non-white. Are Greeks, Spanish and Italians non-white, too? How about Lebanese? Is Casey Kassem nonwhite? Jamie Farr? Which fountain could Arabs drink from in the old south? These are just the thoughts that go through MY swarthy little head.

'Again she was surprised that the military could create such a unity of purpose even though, she said, she didn't see any "brainwashing" going on.'

She thought only a newsroom could do that.

Okay, the winner so far is "I'll never forget them, these . . . soldiers in the mist." But the "SMORE's" is a damn close second. What a great thread...

And of course what an obscenity it is that this moron -- with all due respect for her ability to change her preconceptions when clobbered over the head with undeniable disproof thereof -- had never questioned her preconceptions out of simple intellectual integrity. Good God, how out of touch with real life do you have to be to have such opinions in the first place...but she's good enough for the Washington Post.

She'd better be careful not to spend any more time with those soldiers or next thing you know she'll be changing her name to Eichmann and be oppressing American Mock Indians.

"...she didn't see any brainwashing going on..." Someone tell Lois Lane here that this is the 21st century. Nobody uses the big metal helmets with the curly wires coming out of the top anymore...

The brainwashing is in the Ipods...

This is a link to a presentation a friend of mine made. It's a slide show of our people in Iraq. Turn up your speakers, it's even more moving if you can hear the music.
http://www.clermontyellow.accountsupport.com/flash/UntilThen.swf