Secret Service dressed up for Iraq Thanksgiving

[Robb]

Not by any means am I positive, but sure looks like the guy, wearing fatigues for *'s Turkey Day...
Agent in front of No. 10 Downing:


...Same guy over Bush's right shoulder? Too much hair for a combat soldier?


...and the only guy in the room with his back to the president (over Bush's left shoulder)? Is that an earpiece on the right ear?

:shrug:
Probably just too much time on my hands.... ;)

[blm]

1. Great eye, Robb.

Good one to spread around.

[liberalnurse]

10. Oh Boy.......

They are not suppose to get a photo taken. My cousin was in the Secret Service. He is private now.

Here is his web site......Check out Executive Protection on the left.

www.axissecurity.com


Hey, he was doing his job......

[Paschall]

2. Isn't that first photo...

...from a bad Virginia Westwood ad?

[louis-t]

3. Could be him...

handsome devil idn't he? Where are the other 699 in the entourage?

[louis-t]

4. By the way.....

In the first photo, the earpiece is in his left ear.

[Robb]

5. Left, right...

...Actually makes more sense, the guy in the third photo is kinda leaning into his left shoulder.

Hard to tell if it's the same guy, although he is quite a looker. Should start a fan club! :)

[wndycty]

6. Whats the point of this. . .

. . .I am no fan of the man but we do expect him to be protected and the secret service must do its job. By the way nephew is in one of those pics and he is not a secret service agent. Lastly does it really help the DU to "expose" federal agents?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

15. I'm sorry, but I hate like hell that American tax dollars are...

...going to the heavy-duty protection of a man that was NOT legally elected as President of this country.

He and others perpetrated a coup in December 2000, and they have carried out policies contrary to the wishes of the majority of Americans since that day.

Additionally, if the SS guy didn't want to be exposed he shouldn't have been stupid enough to have been facing the camera. By the way, he wasn't the only SS guy to have his picture taken that day...they were way too easy to spot, IMHO. That's not our problem, that's the problem of the people that are training them.

[uncle ray]

19. but do they have to dress as soldiers?

.

[DoYouEverWonder]

20. Then they shouldn't be used by the pResident

has props for his photo ops. The secret service and the press corp were required to change into army uniforms in order to blend in. The only reason why they would need to blend it would be to make it look like W was surrounded by soldiers.

BTW: Could you ask your nephew what time W served the turkey? There has been a lot of discussion about whether or not W's photo op was in the AM or PM. Thanks.

[HFishbine]

7. Wow

Disguised secret service to protect the president? Shocking!

[CityZen-X]

8. SS Protecting Bu$h*t From Our Troops?

Seems like the SS were there to make sure that none of the troops put their military training to good use!

[LuminousX]

9. Secret Service don't trust anyone

All it takes is one person at the right time. The Secret Service do everything to prevent that from happening. It is an interesting catch, but nothing politically noteworthy.

Every President has secret service protection even when they go on Army bases.

[Patriot_Spear]

11. So your saying the SS didn't trust our troops around Bush*, interesting...

I think that's very telling, don't you?

[CityZen-X]

12. Another Catch

They were there to make sure Cheney didn't become Resident!

[Patriot_Spear]

13. The SS is REALLY not going to like your paying such close attention...

...really not going to like it.

[happyslug]

14. Look at his lapel

No rank, no insignia, he is NOT an miliary person. If he was enlisted he would have his rank on both lapels (Generally Sewed on but may be metal and attached by pins). Officers have Rank on one lapel and service designation on the other.

Also see No "US ARMY" over Right jacket pocket (I know even people in the service call it a shirt but technically it is a"jacket") AND no name over left pocket.

AND AS TO BUSH HIMSELF, WHY IS HE IS THE CHOW LINE WITHOUT A HAT!!!!! Notice the rest of the servers have hats on. One has a Boonie the other white envelope hats (what my father called overseas caps from his WWII days). Like I want Bush hair in my food.

[Bucky]

21. "Like I want Bush hair in my food."

good one

[OldSoldier]

24. Name over right pocket, US ARMY over left

On the nomenclature tag for a BDU shirt, it's called a jacket. We called 'em shirts so you wouldn't confuse them with the field jacket.

[JailBush]

16. Someone analyzed this picture - or a similar one - on another thread

I don't know if they enlarged it, or if it was a bigger picture to begin with, but there was much more detail. You could clearly see a cord trailing from one "solider's" ear. I believe some of the soldiers' uniforms lacked insignia, too. I spotted something else a little odd in one of the photos - a U.S. flag on George Bush's shoulder was backwards - or maybe it was just George Bush's head that was backwards.

[Johnyawl]

17. If the flag is sewn on the right shoulder...

...it's always "backwards".

It's the one bit of flag etiquete that the military reverses, because of how it looks.

The blue & white star field should always be on the left, if the flag is displayed flat, on a wall or similer surface. This works fine on the left shoulder, as the flag appears as it would if it were on a staff, being carried into battle; i.e., stars forward next to the staff, stripes streaming behind.

However if you take the same patch, and move it to the right shoulder, the flag now appears to be moving in the other direction, that is retreating. Can't have that, so the military reverses it, so once again the flag patch simulates a flag on a staff, moving forward.

It's a long held tradition, has nothing to do with how stupid bush is.

Simpler flag designs, such as the Union Jack, the French, Dutch & German tricolors, and the Canadian Maple leaf, don't have that problem, as they are the same, coming and going.

It's be interesting to know if the militaries of other countries whose flags are different one end from the other (such as Australia, New Zealand, and Italy)do the same thing. Or do they take the simpler route, and just not put the flag patch on the right shoulder.

[Zomby Woof]

18. that's true on aircraft too

Like on the shuttle, the flag on the right side has the canton facing "forward".

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. almost off topic

but the French tricoleur has vertical stripes, so it doesn't look the same from both sides; and the British Union Flag actually has the white diagonal stripes on the clockwise side slightly thicker (when viewed in the standard, 'pole to the left' view). So it too looks different front to back (or upside down). The idea of 'flying upside down' to show distress can be applied to it too.

Union Flag

[DoYouEverWonder]

22. I posted a similar thread on Saturday

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=795223

There are a handful of men in these photos who were dressed like the troops. The same men appear numerous times in the photos that were released to the press. IMHO, this was a major abuse of power on W's part to use these men and expose their identities just for a photo op and a boast in the polls.


BTW: Not sure, but is this the same fellow?

[mbali]

26. They weren't undercover

Just blending into the crowd so as not to be too conspicuous. Standard procedure for the Secret Service. Thus, they weren't "exposed" since their identities and roles are not a secret. Also, there are other people around the President who wear earpieces - most of the advance team wear them and, although they are often assumed to be Secret Service, they're staff, not security.

There were likely some agents or military security actually undercover in the vicinity - but, of course, we don't know who they are because they're good at what they do. They don't stand around with earpieces that you can easily see. They're a little more sophisticated than that.

Regardless of what we think of him, the president is entitled to - in fact required to have - Secret Service protection (he is the only protectee who is forbidden by law to decline Secret Service protection).

We have plenty of things to go after Bush about. This ain't one of them.

[mbali]

25. Not unusual or sinister

Secret Service agents often dress to blend in with the setting in order not to appear too conspicuous. They aren't undercover, but also try not to stand out like sore thumbs. So when the President goes to a black tie affair, the agents wear tuxes. When the President goes golfing, the agents dress casual. And so on. It's not unusual at all for some of the agents traveling with the President to a military installation to dress in fatigues.

[DoYouEverWonder]

27. The same secret service

people don't normally turn up in most of the pictures from one particular event. Usually, the photographers avoid them, first in order to protect their identities and second to show Bu$h with 'real' people.

In this case, W was so afraid for his own security that he avoided being with the real troops as much as possible. The real troops in the pictures were nothing more than extras for W's photo op, he could care less about them otherwise and obviously didn't feel safe without surrounding himself with the excessive amount of security that he feels he needs to protect his chicken shit ass even when he's among his own troops.

[mbali]

28. Sorry . . .

people don't normally turn up in most of the pictures from one particular event. Usually, the photographers avoid them, first in order to protect their identities and second to show Bu$h with 'real' people.

Just not true. The press does NOT avoid taking their picture - if they're in the shot, they're in the shot. You probably just never paid any attention before.

In this case, W was so afraid for his own security that he avoided being with the real troops as much as possible. The real troops in the pictures were nothing more than extras for W's photo op,

Completely different issue.

he could care less about them otherwise and obviously didn't feel safe without surrounding himself with the excessive amount of security that he feels he needs to protect his chicken shit ass even when he's among his own troops.

First, it's hardly been demonstrated that this is an "excessive amount of security" - particularly since you likely have no idea how much security the President normally has around him or how much security other Presidents have had when traveling in war zones.

Second, decisions about the amount and nature of presidential security are not made by the president or the White House. The Secret Service makes these calls based upon their own assessments and procedures.

You're really barking up the wrong tree on this one.