In the last half of the 20th Century, Hollywood star Bob Hope was famous for his Christmas shows for American military. These shows took place in areas of conflict where Americans where deployed around the world. Hope’s compensation was that he could edit the recordings of the shows and run them as television specials.
His formula was a variety type show of musicians, dancers, comics and always a particularly voluptuous Hollywood star. My favourite was when he took Rachel Welch, a lady who could just stand there and you could appreciate her. It was Hope’s contribution to the American service men’s morale.
It was obvious the other day that Donald Trump was also aware of Hope’s formula. He took his wife Melania to Iraq to meet the troops. It guaranteed him a positive response from the men. He might be on the outs with his generals but he was appreciated by the rank and file who got selfies with Melania.
Trump might have got a mixed reaction to his speech though when he told the troops that he intended to bring them all home. His line was that “We’re no longer the suckers, folks.” And he told them that he is committed to bringing them all home despite the advice of the experts.
To placate the service people he was talking with, he told them he had no plans to leave Iraq. He told them Iraq was a good staging point if at some later date, America went to war with Syria or Iran.
He told the troops that the United States cannot continue to be “the policemen of the world.” Trump said, “It is not fair when the burden is all on us.”
You have to figure that Mr. Trump’s words were annoying to the Arab countries as well as allies who have backed up the United States over the years.
The Trumps’ visit to the Iraq airbase was kept secret until Air Force One returned to the relative safety of Washington.
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Copyright 2018 © Peter Lowry
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