Obviously, he didn’t study hard enough.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sen. John Kerry said meeting with American and British troops in
Iraq on Saturday helped clear his thoughts about what needs to be done to stabilize the country and he looked forward to hearing ideas from Iraqis.

Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president in 2004 and possibly a future contender, conferred Saturday with U.S. and British officers in the southern city of Basra and with American troops in Diyala province during a nine-day Middle East tour.

“Today was very informative and very helpful in crystallizing some of my thoughts insofar as what we can negotiate … and what needs to be accomplished,” Kerry told The Associated Press by telephone.

“I certainly learned more about what the troops can or can’t achieve,” he said.

John Kerry

U.S. Senator John Kerry (L) is greeted by Private First Class Derrick Edwards (R) at the Basrah Air Station in southern Iraq is this undated handout photograph released by the Ministry of Defence on December 16, 2006. Reuters

But what did THESE guys do to have to accommodate Kerry for his photo ops?

John Kerry

U.S. Senator John Kerry (R) joins U.S. troops for lunch at the Basrah Air Station in southern Iraq is this undated handout photograph released by the Ministry of Defence on December 16, 2006. Reuters

That looks really painful.

It looks like they got stuck because they didn’t make the infamous sign.

SENATOR’S IRAQ TOUR TO DODGE GIS WHO SHOT DOWN HIS ‘JOKE’

December 16, 2006 — WASHINGTON - Sen. John Kerry is in Iraq on a fence-mending trip, but he’s steering clear of the National Guardsmen who mocked his “botched joke” about American troops with a hilariously misspelled sign.

[snip]

Kerry, who will travel to Baghdad and also hopes to venture outside the fortified Green Zone, won’t go anywhere near Talil - or the Guardsmen who dropped a smart bomb on his condescending comment that students would get “stuck in Iraq” if they don’t study hard.

“That probably would be wise of him not to go too close to Talil right now because they’re still a little upset,” said Linda Ward, whose daughter Heather was among the GIs holding the banner in a photo.

The photo zipped across the globe via the Internet - doing more damage to the failed 2004 presidential candidate’s image than any criticism from fellow politicians.

“They are just amazed at how widespread this got,” Ward said.

She said the soldiers see Kerry’s so-called fact-finding trip to Iraq as nothing more than a political ploy to rehabilitate his image in advance of another White House run.

“They’re not real happy that he’s coming over there because they think that it’s basically to get him out of the political hole that he put himself in,” she said.

But didn’t he applogize?

The Massachusetts Democrat vowed before departing Wednesday on a nine-day trip to Iraq and five other Middle East countries that he would be happy to apologize to any soldiers he encounters in Iraq.

“For anybody who misunderstood [the joke] or got only the White House presentation of it, I’d apologize, obviously,” he told reporters.

I’m not sure what he’s talking about. I haven’t heard a White House spin. I just saw him speak the words on video.

In his trademark ‘courageous’ fashion, he simply completely avoided having to face the troops that openly mocked him.

But he got his photo op - with some privates who must have drawn the short straws.

h/t Gateway Pundit who wonders who Kerry is suggesting we ‘negotiate’ with … al Qaida? the Taliban?

Little Green Footballs

It looks like the Democrats have decided to begin implementing the Iraq Surrender Group’s recommendations—unilaterally.

Jules Crittenden

Jon Carry, in Iraq to make good with the Stuck, is headed to Syria to conduct some freelance foreign policy with an enemy of the United States, against the wishes of the administration which, headsup, like it or not, won the election.

Jawa has a photo contest.

ScrappleFace reports on Kerry’s reaction to being names Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.

More: Bill Bites, Fore Left, Hang Right Politics, Right in a Left World Right Voices, YACRWB, BitsBlog

Trackposted to Rightwing Guy, Wake Up America, Perri Nelson’s Website, Mark My Words, The HILL Chronicles, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, basil’s blog, DragonLady’s World, Pirate’s Cove, Renaissance Blogger, The Bullwinkle Blog, Jo’s Cafe, and Conservative Cat, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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