Cheney to Special Ops: âWe Have a Long War Ahead of Usâ
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James Joyner | Saturday, June 11, 2005 |
Cheney presents heroism awards to special operators – Vice president to special ops forces: âWe have a long war ahead of usâ (AP – Army Times)
Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday lauded and thanked international special operators for their role in the war on terror, but warned them that it is far from over.
âWe have a long war ahead of us, and our enemies are waiting for us to let our guard down,â Cheney said, speaking to more than 300 people at the closing of the International Special Operations Forces Week conference. âBut we will not relent in this effort because we have the clearest possible understanding of what is at stake.â
Sobering words and a reminder that, contrary to revisionist remembrance, the Administration has told us from the beginning that the war on terror would be a long one.
Some well deserved kudos to our special operators:
Cheney said U.S. special operators â âsilent professionals,â he called them â were âthe first boots on the groundâ when the war on terror began in Afghanistan nearly four years ago and played a key role in bringing down Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
âOnce again, the contributions of special ops were critical in the swift downfall of a regime, and a strutting dictator went from a palace to a bunker to a spider hole to a prison cell,â Cheney said.
âAt every stage of this conflict, we have looked to special operations forces to carry out the most perilous, the most technical, the most time-sensitive and least visible missions,â he said. âWhen you have enemies that are hidden, secret in their movements ⦠the only alternative is to find out exactly where they are and go in and get them.â
The story is slightly marred by a bizarre mistake, made twice no less, in referring to one of the medal recipients, Sergeant First Class Stephan Johns, as Sergeant Second Class.
Given that there is no such rank and never has been, it’s rather bizarre. Even if the AP reporter didn’t know that, one would think the Army Times editors and/or webstaff would have caught the error.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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Seems like that mistake may be the title editors mistake, since they got the Sergeant First Class right in the blurb describing the picture. What is weird is that nobody caught the mistake-since the correct rank was in the blurb.
Could be--although they also made the same mistake in the main article. The blurb was what they linked to.
Don't know then-maybe there was some petty officer second class getting awarded that day, and the reporter got all the ranks confused, but shoot, how hard it is it to google up the enlisted ranks and insignia?
Be all of this as it may, SFC Johns has a nice rack with one more shiny to add to his jacket. Good for him!
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