NY Post: INSIDE UNIT THAT OUTWIT TED KERRY
The Minnesota soldiers in Iraq who issued a hilariously misspelled smackdown to Sen. John Kerry were psyched yesterday as their witty response to his bungled "joke" about their education hit home in the United States.
"They're astounded by the reaction," said David Ward, whose daughter Heather was among the GIs holding the banner. "They were having fun with it."
Their fun - captured on the front page of yesterday's Post - has now become the No. 1 rejoinder from troops to comments by the Massachusetts Democrat, who told a group of California students on Monday that if they didn't study and get an education, they would get "stuck in Iraq."
Word of what the failed presidential candidate said got to Ward and her fellow members of the Minnesota National Guard in Talil, Iraq, south of Baghdad. Quickly, they knew how to respond: with a sarcastic sign reading "Halp us Jon Carry - we r stuck hear n Irak."
The picture spread with lightning speed. About 12 hours after it was taken, a former college roommate of a Minnesota guardsman e-mailed the shot to Milwaukee talk-radio host Charlie Sykes, who put it on his blog Web site.
David Ward said his daughter told him that while the picture was meant to be private, her unit is happy their message is getting across.
"When they saw and heard what Kerry said, they were just furious and they were sitting around and one thing led to another," he said.
Ward said that his daughter was among those who came up with the plan for the sign - and when asked if she actually painted it, he chuckled and said: "Well, she said she had paint under her fingernails."
The elder Ward said he completely approves of his daughter's message.
"Kerry is a preening peacock and the best way to respond to him is with humor," he said.
Ward said his daughter was particularly incensed by Kerry's comments because her résumé is nothing like the "stuck" soldier the senator seemed to describe in his comment.
Heather Ward has 31/2 years of college credits in chemistry and biology and is about to graduate when she gets back. She hopes one day to be a radiologist, he said.
And what's more, she joined the armed forces soon after 9/11 because she wanted to help her country, her dad said.
"These aren't uneducated people with no options in life," he said.
Ward said his daughter read yesterday's Post online, and saw herself on the front page. He said she is the soldier holding up the far right end of the sign.
"She got a kick out of that," he said.
The picture drew heaps of praise, even as the military declared that the soldiers cannot talk to the press about what they did.
It is a violation of military rules for service members to get involved in elections, and it was unclear if the members of the unit - the 1/34 Brigade Troops Battalion - would face any discipline for the stunt.
Ward said that his daughter had not caught any flak since the last time he talked to her early yesterday - but he admitted he is a bit worried.
His worries might be eased by comments from the White House yesterday.
Bush press secretary Tony Snow told a Fargo, N.D., radio station that the photo was "wonderful and shows a great sense of humor."
On the Web site of the National Guard unit known as the "Red Bulls," the Kerry crack was hugely popular, as well-wishers flooded the message board with support.
"Thank you so much for responding so eloquently to his uneducated, ill-thought and unwanted gibberish," wrote commentator Margie Lozada, who identified herself as a Navy vet. "I am so proud of you guys."
"Thanks to the troops in 'flyover country' for understanding and defending the rights that we have," said another poster. "I'm sure you know some have hailed this as 'dropping the smart bomb' on John Kerry (D-Stupid). Keep up the good work."
HEEHEE!
Kerry has been lying low since making the comment, canceling appearances such as one to the home state of the sign-writing soldiers. He apologized Wednesday after being blasted even by members of his own party.
He said his remark was a "botched joke" in which he meant to call Bush - not soldiers - uneducated. But it emerged yesterday that Kerry has made similar comments in the past.
When he ran for Congress in 1972, he said he was against an all-volunteer Army - like the one we have now - because it would be full of lowlife thugs who would be more likely to be involved in "war crimes."
"I am convinced a volunteer Army would be an Army of the poor and the black and the brown," Kerry wrote in a candidate questionnaire to a Massachusetts peace group.
"We must not repeat the travesty of the inequities present during Vietnam. I also fear having a professional Army that views the perpetuation of war crimes as simply 'doing its job.' "
Kerry's spokesman, David Wade, said the statement needed to be viewed as part of the era in which it was written.
Damn right, Skippy. It was the era of unpunished cowardice and treason.
"These are the words 34 years ago of a 28-year-old veteran home from a war gone wrong, wondering who in America will bear the cost of battle and shoulder the responsibility of military service," Wade said.
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