IVAW gives advice to State Dept. then promptly ignored
Yes, according to junior space cadet, and newly-elected board member TJ Buonomo, he tried to give advice to the State Department earlier this month. Keep in mind that Buonomo spent a few months in the Army as a second louie (after soaking the US tax payers for an Air Force Academy education), so he introduces himself to a State Department “official” as a “former US Army Intelligence Officer”.
Buonomo, in his own words, “I was discharged from the Army for vocally supporting the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney and for denouncing American imperialism as a betrayal of our revolutionary principles”. But he sure throws around that “US Army Intelligence Officer” around like he’s proud of it. And he writes like he’s in high school.
So anyway, after he cleared up his status to the State Department “official” he pretty much got a “no comment” answer. “Numerous attempts to contact the State Department’s Office of International Labor and Corporate Social Responsibility by phone and email have not been responded to.”
Probably because the State Department doesn’t answer letters from pseudo-experts who end their sentences with prepositions. It makes them sound like cranks.
But Buonomo’s whole schtick is that he went to an Iraqi labor conference, well, once the shooting stopped. So he thinks that short stay makes him an expert on labor relations in Iraq – such an expert that he presumes he can advise the State Department.
Of course, to someone who spent 14 months in uniform and calls himself a “former US Army Intelligence Officer” I’m sure a week or so in Iraq seems like time enough to know every thing.
So let’s hear one more time how significant it was that Obama’s veteran adviser met with IVAW at the Democrat National Committee.
Category: Antiwar crowd, Foreign Policy, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Phony soldiers
I didn’t know IVAW sent members to a labor conference in Iraq. I’m so glad I left that organization.
I guess I’m new to this blog and the world of IVAW. But my honest question is why didn’t/doesn’t the IVAW have the foresight to relate to people like me who see what I perceive as crap behind the invasion justification ie WMD, but at the same time am still proud of my military service in Iraq and reaped the benefits of military service with no real regrets. IVAW has no appeal because I perceive it as having no credibility and is more of a tool of fringe groups that are both naive and just plain out there. Take this TJ guy. The MSO does not count training time, so is he really an “officer?”
On the flip side is IAVA which sounded good when first coming across it, but now myself and virtually all other of my military collegues (enlisted and officer) find it rather pretentious and self-serving among their top two people. A number of us volunteered to assist, but we all came to the independent viewpoint that we were being used for the personal benefit of others, which would be kind of like joining IVAW.
Thanks for allowing me to rant a bit.
My question is this: Why even bother? I mean, no one pays any attention to IVAW at all anymore. Look at any media or film the put out, the number are extremely low.