Question of the day: Where did the DNC get its IED footage? Update: The answer, partially; Update: Source video link added
Many veterans and bloggers are e-mailing about the DNC’s latest anti-war ad against McCain, which features a scene with two soldiers standing in the foreground as an IED goes off. The ad implies that they are US soldiers in Iraq. The ad is featured right now on the front page of Democrats.org in a splashy contribution plea.
The question for many outraged readers is: Where did the DNC get the video footage?
Here’s the ad on YouTube:
One writer speculates about possible sources of the video:
The footage appears similar to film taken by jihadists who videotape IED explosions that kill American combat troops. The jihadists place the video on the internet to tout their “kill Americans” campaign success. The Army estimates that more than 6,500 jihadist Web sites promote violence against America and American troops.
Many U.S. media outlets have refused to air excerpts from such videos for several reasons – including out of respect of the servicemen and women depicted in the videos.
The DNC apparently does not agree. Calls to the DNC for comment and for information about the footage went unreturned.
Or maybe the DNC got the vid from CNN.
You may recall that the DNC has blundered before in its exploitation of US troops for political statements. If they can’t tell the difference between American and Canadian soldiers, they’re certainly dumb enough and indifferent enough to our men and women in uniform to incorporate jihadi propaganda into their campaign ads.
Contact info for DNC is here.
Main Phone Number:
202-863-8000
***
Update 11:56am Eastern. We have our answer via LGF. You won’t be surprised: “[T]he IED clip comes from Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. It’s at about 1:35 in…”
Here you go:
Follow-up question: Where did Michael Moore get the footage?
And another: Did the DNC just happen to use the same source or did they ask Moore for permission to use the clip from his movie?
Update 12:12pm Eastern. Reader redlegtruax e-mails:
Saw your post about the DNC ad, am not a registered poster so I can’t comment there. I believe that scene with the two Soldiers is from right after the invasion when the insurgency was becoming more active and roadside bombs were first named Improvised Explosive Devices. A news crew (don’t remember what organization, might have been NBC as I used to watch them back then) was with an American patrol, they spotted an IED. Two Soldiers stood behind a palm tree trying to get a better look at the object in question. The device exploded, the Soldiers were unharmed but ran from that spot immediately (as any of us would). So no one died, but the DNC is trying to make you think they did. Still in bad taste, but not as bad as showing insurgent footage of actual deaths.
***
Bob Owens: “The soldiers are on screen for just a split-second, just long enough for viewers to see that there was an explosion, but not long enough to know if the soldiers pictured survived uninjured, if they were wounded, or if they were killed. More than 3 full decades after the last U.S. soldier left Saigon, the party of Bill Ayers still revels in the imagery of blowing up U.S. soldiers as part of their political expression.”
Milblogger Greyhawk points to the source video link at Getty Images and adds:
In reviewing the ORIGINAL source video, I’m not even sure the soldiers were “attacked” – based on their “post-boom” actions that’s really not clear. Moving to cover with weapons ready would be a more obvious response, but even from the longer clip I’m uncertain. That might be a controlled det – found enemy device intentionally detonated. There’s no arguing that they either didn’t expect the explosion right then or if they did they underestimated the size. Again, these guys don’t appear to be responding to an immediate threat – but I don’t know with complete certainty. The DNC certainly wants the viewer to believe they were attacked – perhaps even killed. So you can definitely credit the DNC with skillfull editing, in addition finally finding US soldiers to use in an ad.
The odds of actually capturing an attack on video are fairly slim. Unless you’re a reporter engaged in an actual combat op you’re just not going to have a camera rolling at the opportune moment. Even Mike Yon doesn’t have many such examples, and he’s spent more time with troops than anyone. (Even with the Farah photo he didn’t get the shot of the attack itself.) Unless you’re embedded with the guys planting explosive devices (or detonating found ones) you’re just not going to get a good video of the explosion.
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- RNC Echoes Conservative Blogs, Looks Even Dumber Than Usual » Oliver Willis
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“A enemy of my enemy is my friend”…those Chickens HAVE come home to roost!
All I can think of is the old Arab proverb “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
In the case of the DNC, in using terrorist propaganda to advance themselves, it becomes “the enemy of my enemy is my philosophically agreeable friend.”
When you can look at Al Jazeera and DNC propaganda, and see little difference, there is no difference.
Sick. No other word for it.
But they support the troops.
( As long as they can use them politically )
It came from the Fahrenheit 9/11 trailer.
Details via LGF.
You beat me to it, Bob!
God Bless the American Soldier with enemies on two fronts. This add is dispicable.
Tasteless, cynical, crass and defeatist – just like I’ve come to expect from Democrats.
This is, tragically, a “Dog Bites Man” story. I wished I could say that I’m shocked by it, but I’m not.
DNC=Do Not Care where they get their content. From the enemy they don’t have to provide attribution.
Wow…this is weird! Our tinfoil hats are pickin up the same signal…
Ask any politician. It is about the power and not about the people. Is it any surprise that they would utilize propaganda in an effort to attain their one true desire?
We are rapidly getting to the point of no return where we will either have to take our once great and proud nation back or live in silence as we watch her continue her final throes of agony only to be replaced by a tyrannical regime. Once again, it seems our forefathers were right on the money.
Showing the execution of US servicemen for a political ad is truly despicable.
Apparently, the DNC has no problem with a “snuff” film which serves as a propaganda tool for radical Islam. Do I question the DNC’s partiotism? ABSOLUTELY!
Unbelievable. A new low and I didn’t think it was possible.
Make that 6501.
As soon as I saw the picture, I thought “Fahrenheit 9/11″.
This is horrible to use our military in an ad like this. God Bless those who serve our country. I hope this back fires big time on the dnc.
L
# 4 JWF
which begs the question where did tubby get his footage from?
It has been very apparent for some time that Al Jazeera has been getting many of their best lines straight from the DNC; now it seems that the DNC has reciprocated. They are just showing us that they are still being affected by BDS.
Shame on the DNC! Have you no common sense of decency?! Are you that desperate for whatever empty victory such an embarrassing act may bring, that you would sully the memories of your country’s fighting men and women who died in combat? Howard Dean, you and George Soros are indeed the lowest grade of human being imaginable. I hope the two of you are happy with yourselves when this backfires on your bought-and-paid-for-party’s candidates this fall – and it will – just wait and see.
Which begs the question, where did Michael Moore get the footage?
How are they going to spin this? I’ll answer myself: There’s no way in hell to spin this. They are sick.
right. see my updates.
What do you expect for the same people that showed how they supported the troops by putting pictures of Canadian troops on their web page? The DNC has just shown them selves to be in league with the enemy by showing this Jihadist propaganda. If there are any adults with a pair in the Bush Administration please charge these people with treason and sedition now! I know wishful thinking.
This is the party of the trolls that infest this site. Sad that most of them don’t realize how anti-American their democrat party has become.
At what point can we round these people up as subversives?
Not sure where Moore got his footage from. Probably from a jihadi website run by one of his friends.
# 20 MM
it certainly wouldn’t surprise me if he happily donated the footage free of charge …
if moore got the clip from, say, a wire service,that still allows us to bring up all those jihadis posing as stringers, esp. back in the ‘04 timeframe …
/the dnc — proving you can be more stupid than the rnc!
What’s dirty, filthy, never clean?
An orifice of Howard Dean
# 19 JA
sadly, at this point, simply saying nothing is prolly their best and most honest defense …
rooster,
They realize it and it’s okay by them. lgm’s latest post on the Bush called them jihadists thread – he called the varmint who are killing our soldiers -patriots.
utterly speechless.
i can’t fathom the vacuum in which these people live.
The peace now crowd never gets it. Our BLOOD has been committed for a cause. To quit is to only cheapen the sacrifice.
Level of committment makes no difference, it’s the committment in itself that holds our honor. 100 days, 100 years, 100 lives, 100,000 lives…no difference, it’s the committment that MUST be perserved. Otherwise it will all be for nothing.
100 years…fine by me, and fine for every drop of blood we shed.
Does anybody appreciate the delicious irony of this situation? The Democrats are the party of armed conflict as long as it’s peacekeeping, but when it’s a war to rid a country of an evil dictator who had WMD’s, oops… it’s a war that must be ended. If it’s a war that must be fought to restabilize a country… it’s no longer a winnable political platform. I’m sure the people of Kosovo and Somalia are weeping bitter tears today.
If a Dem president had invaded Iraq, there’s no question it would suddenly be okay for us to stay. Now that Iraq is a campaign issue (I thought it was the economy) it suddenly seems really important to exploit it and pull out so that they can attract as many voters as possible to their bandwagon. If the Dems can use footage of our troops being blown up so disrespectfully, how low will they sink to win the presidential election?
I second that motion.
Here is part of the problem:
And you wonder why they “support the troops” but have no clue what our troops even look like.
And let their 7 years of predictions that ‘Chimpy is going to turn America into a fascist police state where all of our civil liberties are gone and he rounds up all the patriotic liberals who questions BusHitler!!’ come true?
Please.
In an Absolut World: FBI purges DNC.
Absolutely. Democrats are of course on record being tough on Saddam, believed that he possessed WMD’s, and Bill Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation act, but the moment GWB actually does something about it – they claim that he lied us into war to steal their oil.
Oh, to be able to look into alternative universes where Al Gore would have been elected president, and see what would have happened with a democrat in office …
The party of elitest, defeat, you are unable to succeed without us, we know better than you, do as we say not as we do, everyone is a racist if they disagree with us, we know how to spend YOUR money better than you do, …etc etc but i regress,,,,
They will use whatever means they can be achieve the end they want. No matter who or what it cost.
Is this any worse than CNN’s Anderson Cooper airing video of an American Soldier being shot in the head by a jihadi sniper?
But hey, they support the troops, but not the war.
Disgusting. What can you expect though from people who worship the likes of Moore?
Do you have proof of these WMDs? Don’t give me any crap about all of the other intelligence agencies or the leftovers the troops have found.
See, it was just a big conspiracy by Bush/Rove/Cheney/Halliburton!
/sarc
So, lemme see if I get this straight…
Libs say that Hillary using Osama Bin Laden in an ad is verboten – terrible – scare tactics – Republican-esque…
DNC thinks it’s ok to use the image of bombing US Troops in its ad – no problemo – ( wait for the other excuses )…
Ok – just wanted to make sure I got that right….
The enemy of my enemy…does not apply here. The simple fact is that the same propaganda that recruits terrorist will recruit leftist votes. And visa versa.
It’s sad to say, but honestly there comes a point where you become numb to this stuff when you have a loved on in Iraq or Afghanistan. It’s not that you don’t become outraged, but what can your response be? People who do this kind of stuff do it because our soldiers are nothing more than objects to them — they see a tool to advance their agenda, they don’t see a husband, father, son, daughter, wife or mother. They don’t think for a nano-second how it feels to see a video like that knowing that your loved one is walking in that very sand.
It is a “values system” deficit they have and there is no amount of outrage that will change their sick and disgusting treatment of our military members. So, we should voice what we know to be right– fight for justice, but don’t expect change from the liberal anti-military crowd.
DNC using Jihadi Propoganda vids to make a political statement against the war??? I am shocked…absolutely shocked!!!!
The dems think this ok, yet does anyone else remember all of the screeching from the left when a Bush ad for his re-election showed a photo of him on the phone on 9/11? These are sick, sick life forms (I can’t call them people or humans any more).
Hey Feebs! Nice to see ya!
This is a network news clip, filmed shortly after the invasion ended. IED incidents were just starting. The two soldiers were not injured, although their hearing may have long term damage.
It’s just to shock people who don’t know any better. Sadly, it works because so many people are ill informed.
I’ve seen that scene before. I believe it was on the Military Channel sometime last year, and I believe it was about a particular unit and their experiences dealing with IED’s. It may have been on the Discovery Channel, on Future Weapons. I’m not sure which. I don’t believe either soldier was seriously hurt, but I’m not sure.
When all the change is gone, when you can no longer MoveOn, when hope is fading, you can always count on the Dems to return to what has always worked for them, fear. Whether it is scaring senior citizens over Social Security, blue collar folks over health insurance, or white collar folks with job insecurity they always return to prey on the most basic of human instincts. They promote fear to arouse the “fight or flight” response and then come in like everybodies momma to soothe the trembling child.
I would expect no less out of them and those who support them are merely sheep being protected by the sheepdogs, whom they refuse to acknowledge even exist unless they happen to take a dump on their fine Persian rug.
BTW it is really old footage and I remember seeing it and the entire clip does show the soldiers getting away with nothing worse with rattled nerves and a constant buzz in their ears.
Let these new Demon-crat ads be a lesson to John McCain. HE MUST GET IN THE GUTTER WITH THESE DUMBO-CRAT BUTTHOLES AND GO NUCLEAR ON THEIR UNPATRIOTIC ASSES STARTING NOW!
Grunt – that can’t be….
Conservative Republicans are the fear-mongers…. aren’t they?
/sarc
wise_man said:
Who said anything about Bush? If the libs keep this behavior up it’ll get to the point where right wing jingoists take power. How did Germany go from a Weimar Republic to a “Wehrmacht Republic” in less than 50 years? Ponder that my friend.
morning jrl!!!
Michelle, surely you knew DNC has al Jazeera on speed-dial, right?
Here is my question to the Democrats. Is the goal of a war to have no casualties? If you have a casualty do you abandon a war?
Now lets carry that over to the streets. Is the goal of the police department to have no casualties? If the police have casualties in the streets do they abandon that neighborhood?
Seems like the same logic to me. Create a casualty and with the Democrats you win the war. Kill a policeman and you take over a neighborhood.
How about 3000 dead Kurds?
This is funny, in a horrible way. Howard Dean, the MSM, and all the liberals go CRAZY when the NCGOP runs an ad showing clips of a man saying racist things…but their national party puts an ad, right on their webpage, of soldiers getting hit with IED’s? Remind me why this ad is okay, but the Wright ad should be pulled and the NCGOP should get a good spanking?
It’s just sickening.
Semper Fi my brothers
…still “clinging bitterly” to their hatred of America, 30 years after Vietnam.
I am so sick of the spineless, weak-kneed, slime who’s morals are lower than whale crap on the ocean floor, who keep promoting the scum who are killing our military people. It’s going to take another thousand or so deaths over here to bring some of them to their senses. I said SOME, because you will never bring them all around to America’s side, no matter how many people die and how much property damage they do. They’re all brain dead.
DagneyT, #55, that’s why they were so incensed over wiretaps.
“Hello, al Jazeera, Dan Rather speaking.”
“Yes, this is the DNC, can we get footage of Americans being attacked by al Qaeda?”
“Certainly, would you like to Super-size that with footage of Michael Moore, or the Value footage with bin Laden smirking?”
“Just the plain footage please, we can get any CNN anchor to smirk.”
“Thank you, would you like fries with that?”
“Yes please – and don’t forget the toy, Howard Dean loves to play with them in the tub.”
Again where are all our trolls to speak out about this. Never mind, we know this is how they truly feel.
So once again for me, this is another annoying time. My husband is training in TX and on to KS this weekend. So we will have 6 weeks before he actually leaves (won’t get to see him again though), then 15 months and another 4-5 weeks inbound to KS with the obligatory R & R somewhere in between those 15 months. I have no patience for any dimocrap and the fact that none of the trolls are on here denouncing these ads sicken me. The dims & our trolls are gleeful at the deaths and injuries of those who serve.
This is disgusting and you’re right Aloha Guy, they do cling bitterly to their hatred of this country, especially the military.
Hang in there Terrg, and all the best to your husband. And my personal thank you.
Terrg = Terrig
Yeah, wise_man, Dems are also such wonderful hindsight is 20/20 Nostradamuses as well. They really boggle an actively engaged mind that believes in common sense. I would like to ask the Dems some questions about their “hindsight:”
1) If Iraq was a “War For Oil” then where the hell is our payoff? I mean Iraq is sitting on tons of surplus, so that must mean it’s ours, right?
2) If Iraqi terrorists are “patriots” or “freedom fighters” (as lgm asserts) then whose freedom are they fighting for?
3) If Iraq develops into a strong nation that can take care of itself, and is a loyal US ally, how is this a “bad thing?”
4) How can you support the troops but not the mission? The reason behind such a oxymoronic statement has always alluded me?
5) Why do you feel the need to always undercut the progress of our military and harangue them (Gen. Petraeus) during hearings on Capitol Hill?
These are just some questions I know I’ll never get answers to. Hey, Obummer, he cares so much about attracting the “Republican vote” perhaps he can answer these questions.
boo frickn hooo!!! the libs the libs waaaahhh!! Im pro war btw…yahu!!!
Scooter and Lgm in conference:
http://www.trolls.com/catalog/pixlarge/08mf2.jpg
wood chuck to grey squirrel…come in grey squirrel lol…thats funny Terri!
What was your point? To show how totally meaningless your posts are when you drop in, mock, and drop out.
Do you serve, ever been in the military, or have someone in your family serving in the military? Just looking at your immature comment, I think not.
Thank you for summarizing how truly thoughtless, unfeeling, and assinine the anti-military crowd is.
Now bugger off!!!
Thanks AlohaGuy, I’m just so annoyed at these clowns. There are so many people (see trolls here for example) who buy into this stuff. I understand what I just posted above was childish, I sometimes can’t help myself.
I do miss my Hawaii home though. Hope that things are well out there.
EmJem, he’s an idiot just like his troll brothers in arms, keyboard warriors all.
this story doesn’t really have a point so why should i?
why do you hate Americans terrig?
Back on my diet, the troll number 2 is truly senseless.
I wonder where al-Moore got his footage?
#76 m
the going evidence is a network news crew circa 2003 …
Then why are you responding? Oh, yes, to be the proverbial thumb in our collective eye, right? Yet, your point was somehow…. meaningful?
If you support the military then why do you mock them and their families? Where in Terrig’s post does she indicate her “hate?” I guess she overlooked their support. Where’s yours by the way?
You see, this military spouse doesn’t think you give a crap. That’s okay, I’m used to this country and its politicians cutting and running on wars and its military.
Again, your presence on this blog only promotes you as a useful sock puppet and not the master puppeteer.
wise_man is a democrat
You should also get used to alot more war emjem24…and i do support the troops hun, i don’t need to be a repub or whatever party to do that..why do i care what you think again?
Supporting the troops is not just while the war is going on. To truly support them, we should give the same G.I. benefits that W.W.II troops received, if not better. They deserve health care for life, and free college tuition. Unfortunately, most Republicans, including the President, won’t support it. I guess all the help they can receive is a yellow ribbon on their gas guzzlers and a lapel pin. I’m sure they can feed their families on that.
caligulajones, I had a column published last year in the Augusta Chronicle about that very same thing. What do all these “troop supporters” do besides slap a magnet on their car? Do they help out with a meal, mowing the grass, handyman service, babysitting, etc. Generally not. Again, I am in a place where there is no FRG support for this deployment which will be close to 18 months by the time it’s said and done. This time we’re back on the mainland though so at least family is somewhat closer.
I don’t understand why those who serve aren’t given a GI Bill they deserve, the benefits they deserve, etc. Just because one is an Officer though doesn’t mean he/she couldn’t benefit from more college as well. My cousin’s son is a freshman at University of IL, at Champaign. He said some of his profs are rude and downright nasty to him. He was here with his Dad last month and he told us he wants to go back into the military as an Officer when he’s done. He is working a part-time job even with a GI Bill. Doesn’t make much sense does it? He has a wife and a two year old with another on the way later this summer.
i absolutely agree, we need to take care of these people when they return, this shouldn’t even have to be said, it should be a given.
Sure, I see your support all day long, scooter. Why don’t you come over and lend a helping hand with cutting the grass? Why don’t you go out and help out a family who wait at home for their loved one. You can agree all you want, you do nothing. We see your support and support like yours is neither wanted or needed.
Now, I’m back on my diet.
terrig, go back under that rock that you slithered out of…nobody wants to hear your hate speech any longer!
btw, ive sent about a metric ton of goods to our forces overseas..so put your blinders back on and continue nodding in unison..there ya go..thats it..
Disgraceful!! The DNC has some hefty explaining to do, especially to the families of our troops.
Slither back yourself. You are a hate monger of the first order. I don’t believe you sent one iota of anything to the troops, unless of course you work for the post office, would I believe it.
Put your blinders on and get back to your he** hole.
Now I’m really on my diet.
I don’t really care what you believe terrig…get back on that diet of blood n bile already.
I mean, God forbid people get to see the real images of war and not the typical modern, clinical black and white footage of death from a far off helicopter…
# 88
kindly stfu — thx. …
kindly kiss my brown eye buckaroo. thx
kindly kiss my brown eye buckaroo. thx
um, even tho ya said it twice, not happening …
thanks for stopping by buck
for a story that doesn’t have a “point” the troll sure seems interested in this thread …
the stange and bizarre fascinates me, what can i say?
too easy …