Soldiers Answer To John Kerry’s “Stuck in Iraq” Comment

Outline:
A photograph showing a group of US soldiers holding up an intentionally misspelled banner mocks a recent comment by Senator John Kerry

Detailed Analysis:
In late October 2006 Senator John Kerry put his foot firmly in his mouth when he made the following comment to students at Pasadena City College:

You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.

Not surprisingly, the comment provoked a storm of criticism from US troops stationed in Iraq and their supporters.

One group of Minnesota National Guard soldiers apparently decided to graphically illustrate their displeasure in the form of an intentionally misspelled banner. A widely circulated photograph shows the eight soldiers holding up a banner that reads “Halp us Jon Carry – We R stuck hear n Irak.”

According to a November 2 Associated Press article on the Washington Post website:

The photo has appeared in newspapers and on television newscasts and Web sites. It was apparently first posted on the Web by radio host Charlie Sykes of WTMJ-AM in Milwaukee on Wednesday. It was provided by a listener, the station said.

Capt. J. Elaine Hunnicutt, a spokeswoman in the Joint Operations Center in Iraq, confirmed in an e-mail that the soldiers in the photo were from the Minnesota Guard and that commanders see it “as a humorous response.”

The photograph is now circulating in the form of an email forward and is also a popular topic for blog and forum posts.

Kerry subsequently apologized for the comment and claimed he meant no offence to troops. According to Kerry (or his spin doctors) the comment was just a botched joke that was originally aimed at President Bush.

Botched joke or not, the comment is likely to haunt “Jon Carry” for quite some time to come.

Last updated: 16th November 2006
First published: 16th November 2006
By Brett M. Christensen
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References
Kerry apologizes for ‘misinterpreted’ words’