RUSH: I want to share with you excerpts from a letter I got today, an e-mail letter…
Dear Mr. Limbaugh,
I can’t even begin to tell you how proud I am knowing that you are behind that microphone and honoring our troops here in the Iraqi theater. Thank you, sir, for your unwavering support for all of our airmen, soldiers, sailors, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen fighting the global war on terror — especially those in the current battle for Iraq that are assigned under my charge. I’m extremely proud of all my troops. I’m also very proud of my coalition brethren who engaged in combat operations here. The list of honorable warriors also includes members of the Iraqi armed forces. Fifteen years ago I never would have imagined having my own boots on the same ground over which I chased Iraqi Air Force MiG fighter jets across the sky in hot pursuit. But times have changed. [So this guy was in the first Gulf War.] We get you live on Camp Liberty radio Baghdad, 98.0FM. I listen to you at eight p.m., Iraq local, each day whenever I can. At that time of the night I may be likely on my way driving back from the Halliburton Kellogg Brown & Root operated chow hall. Friday is usually lobster and steak night and pretty damn good. Driving back from chow, I’ll try not to hit any protected wild dogs or gazelles that run across the road, and I’m not kidding. There are protected wild dogs and gazelles here that we can’t hit.
We don’t care, though. It’s the threat of rocket and mortar attacks that have more of my concern. But we have to have a sense of humor here. Every once in a while something hilarious does happen and my troops and I just bust a gut laughing. And here’s one such story. The most recent chuckle involved launching a dilapidated refrigerator made in France from the catwalk on top of the Baghdad International airport control tower. The control tower stands about 200 feet above ground and the refrigerator reached terminal velocity quickly after leaving the catwalk prior to impacting the ground. It may not sound a bit funny to many people, however, military necessity dictated removal of the refrigerator, made in France, from the tower cab. This necessity arose because of a loud and annoying chronic squeal the French refrigerator made each time it powered itself on. The squeal was often heard as background noise in the radio transmissions made from the tower. At first this background noise was misconstrued by coalition military aircraft and civilian airliners as enemy electric radio jamming countermeasures on our radio frequency. But the noise, coupled with the drain in electric power from the refrigerator made in France, weakened our radio output power transmissions and drowned out our voice.
We considered for two-tenths of a second conducting an in-depth staff study of the apparent noise jamming reports we received, but my senior NCO solved the problem by pulling the electrical plug from the wall connecting the refrigerator made in France. That worked for about a week after which time the same refrigerator made in France began to stink. The sunlight through the tower cab windows somehow turned the inside of the refrigerator into a large yogurt culture. The only course of action we deemed appropriate was to get rid of that refrigerator made in France. Option one involved several flights of stairs, would need to be surmounted downward as we would need to carry the large icebox down the stairs. Option two involved using the building’s elevator, which was also made in France. This was too risky since the elevator only worked when it felt like it, and only between the hours of ten and 1400, and only after much stroking with preventive maintenance technicians. It’s always the belt, the flimsy rubber belts, the motor made in France that rendered the elevator made in France useless to us to move the refrigerator made in France out of the building.
No French technicians were around to fix any of this stuff and we couldn’t read the French placards on any of the machinery. Thus, in order to avoid any lower back spinal disk vertebrae compression fractures, at the time we settled on option three. We launched the refrigerator made in France from the catwalk. It was a decision made out of military necessity. It came crashing down. It hit the sidewalk; exploded wide open. There was also a rather large smelly dust cloud that lingered for quite some time after impact. It attracted some attention but it wasn’t really clear with all the dust what really happened after impact, but after awhile we didn’t pay much attention to any of it. We moved on and we’re still moving on. Now there’s no loud squeal in the control tower radios. The radio transmitter is at full electrical power and the safety of flight for coalition air operations has increased exponentially. None of my comments are intended to imply any political leanings one way or the other. Mr. Limbaugh, war is ugly — and it is, and some refrigerators are ugly. There are things in the hearts of men that are far uglier than war itself, and my troops and I are fighting for those cherished ideals of democracy.
Democracy is our strategic weapon in the global war on terror — and from what I can see from my airmen, Iraqi counterparts, Iraqi families and children, it’s working here in Iraq. I’ll never forget the images of this war. It’s horrible. But we really believe this is worth the fight, and it’s those stupid, priceless moments shared with my troops like the above story, throwing the Made-in-France refrigerator off the catwalk atop the Baghdad Control Tower that I know I will cherish forever. Thank you again for supporting my troops out here in Iraq. I’m honored by your gracious support. I admire your courage and wish you continued success in spreading the message of war fighters fighting for freedom to your audience because that’s what this war is all about. And we will win the battle for Iraq. In fact, we are kicking some ass.
Thanks, Rush, for staying awake through this e-mail.
Mega dittos from Baghdad. May God bless you.
Very respectfully,
Tazz
PS. Enclosed is a picture of all the guys that work in this control tower, the air traffic control section.
RUSH: I don’t know if this is before they threw the fridge off the catwalk or not, but I got the picture. It’s a fabulous picture, and I want to thank…. I’m not going to mention the name here. This elevator story may get some people in trouble so I don’t want to mention the name of the guy who sent it. He knows who he is and he’ll hear this at some point. But when you get e-mails like that, and we get them frequently. Sergeant Clay Smith and his videos which are now, by the way, available for free iPod downloading at RushLimbaugh.com — and you get those, and you get these e-mails, and we get these phone calls from people who have come back — the people that are there, people that are in the midst of it — and then you compare and contrast their attitude, the things they say to what you hear from the likes of John Murtha and John Kerry and Nancy Pelosi and there’s a huge disconnect.
I’m going to tell you something. When it comes on the scale of balance, comes time to weigh who’s telling us the truth, I’m going to trust the people who are wearing the uniform, who are in the theater of battle, who are risking their lives, and who are the ones who volunteered to do all this. I’m going to believe them. They know what’s happening when Murtha says they can’t win; when Murtha says that they’re worn down; that they’re living hand-to-mouth; that they don’t have the proper equipment. Well, maybe they don’t have a decent refrigerator in the control tower at Baghdad International, but they took care of that themselves as they’re trained to do.
I much rather believe and put my faith in the people who have the guts and the courage to carry out the policies necessary for this country’s assured freedom despite the best efforts of a major political party in this country which is trying to undercut them. It’s infuriating, and it’s a shame at the same time. But believe me, the party, the Democratic Party, the American left that’s attempting to undercut the mission, to cut and run, to quit, to give up, attempting to demoralize the warriors and fighters that are actually engaged in this battle, they are the ones who are being undercut. They’re stabbing themselves in the back, in the front. I don’t know if they’re actually able to hit their hearts because I don’t see much evidence they have any. This is a cold, ruthless bunch of people, selfish, self-focused. It’s all about them.
Even in the midst of their fellow citizens who have volunteered to go to war, to defend and protect this country and its Constitution, some of them are dying, even in the face of that, the American left and its leaders can think only of themselves — and it’s not about you, and it never has been about you, and every effort you leftists and you Democrats make to make it about you just causes a greater distance between yourselves and the American voter, which you will see soon enough. You would think they’d be able to see the evidence of this in the last two elections. But they haven’t gotten the message yet, and they may well never get it.
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RUSH: I just got an e-mail from the military man that just sent me the e-mail that I read. His name is “Tazz.” That’s his nickname. He said, “Hey, go ahead and read that story about the refrigerator made in France. I wouldn’t have sent it if I was afraid it would get around. I mean, I’m already in Baghdad. What else can they do to me? Send me to Abu Ghraib?” (Laughing) So his name is Tazz. He’s a fabulous guy, apparently.
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