{"id":23238,"date":"2005-12-02T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T06:35:28","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-05-19T06:35:28","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T06:35:28","slug":"troops_throw_french_fridge_from_baghdad_control_tower2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2005\/12\/02\/troops_throw_french_fridge_from_baghdad_control_tower2\/","title":{"rendered":"Troops Throw French Fridge from Baghdad Control Tower"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

RUSH: I want to share with you excerpts from a letter I got today, an e-mail letter…<\/line>Dear Mr. Limbaugh,<\/line> I can\u2019t even begin to tell you how proud I am knowing that you are behind that microphone and honoring our troops here in the Iraqi theater. Thank you, sir, for your unwavering support for all of our airmen, soldiers, sailors, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen fighting the global war on terror — especially those in the current battle for Iraq that are assigned under my charge. I\u2019m extremely proud of all my troops. I\u2019m also very proud of my coalition brethren who engaged in combat operations here. The list of honorable warriors also includes members of the Iraqi armed forces. Fifteen years ago I never would have imagined having my own boots on the same ground over which I chased Iraqi Air Force MiG fighter jets across the sky in hot pursuit. But times have changed. [So this guy was in the first Gulf War.] We get you live on Camp Liberty radio Baghdad, 98.0FM. I listen to you at eight p.m., Iraq local, each day whenever I can. At that time of the night I may be likely on my way driving back from the Halliburton Kellogg Brown &amp; Root operated chow hall. Friday is usually lobster and steak night and pretty damn good. Driving back from chow, I\u2019ll try not to hit any protected wild dogs or gazelles that run across the road, and I\u2019m not kidding. There are protected wild dogs and gazelles here that we can\u2019t hit. <\/line>We don\u2019t care, though. It\u2019s the threat of rocket and mortar attacks that have more of my concern. But we have to have a sense of humor here. Every once in a while something hilarious does happen and my troops and I just bust a gut laughing. And here\u2019s one such story. The most recent chuckle involved launching a dilapidated refrigerator made in France from the catwalk on top of the Baghdad International airport control tower. The control tower stands about 200 feet above ground and the refrigerator reached terminal velocity quickly after leaving the catwalk prior to impacting the ground. It may not sound a bit funny to many people, however, military necessity dictated removal of the refrigerator, made in France, from the tower cab. This necessity arose because of a loud and annoying chronic squeal the French refrigerator made each time it powered itself on. The squeal was often heard as background noise in the radio transmissions made from the tower. At first this background noise was misconstrued by coalition military aircraft and civilian airliners as enemy electric radio jamming countermeasures on our radio frequency. But the noise, coupled with the drain in electric power from the refrigerator made in France, weakened our radio output power transmissions and drowned out our voice. <\/line><\/p>\n

We considered for two-tenths of a second conducting an in-depth staff study of the apparent noise jamming reports we received, but my senior NCO solved the problem by pulling the electrical plug from the wall connecting the refrigerator made in France. That worked for about a week after which time the same refrigerator made in France began to stink. The sunlight through the tower cab windows somehow turned the inside of the refrigerator into a large yogurt culture. The only course of action we deemed appropriate was to get rid of that refrigerator made in France. Option one involved several flights of stairs, would need to be surmounted downward as we would need to carry the large icebox down the stairs. Option two involved using the building\u2019s elevator, which was also made in France. This was too risky since the elevator only worked when it felt like it, and only between the hours of ten and 1400, and only after much stroking with preventive maintenance technicians. It\u2019s always the belt, the flimsy rubber belts, the motor made in France that rendered the elevator made in France useless to us to move the refrigerator made in France out of the building. <\/line>No French technicians were around to fix any of this stuff and we couldn\u2019t read the French placards on any of the machinery. Thus, in order to avoid any lower back spinal disk vertebrae compression fractures, at the time we settled on option three. We launched the refrigerator made in France from the catwalk. It was a decision made out of military necessity. It came crashing down. It hit the sidewalk; exploded wide open. There was also a rather large smelly dust cloud that lingered for quite some time after impact. It attracted some attention but it wasn\u2019t really clear with all the dust what really happened after impact, but after awhile we didn\u2019t pay much attention to any of it. We moved on and we\u2019re still moving on. Now there\u2019s no loud squeal in the control tower radios. The radio transmitter is at full electrical power and the safety of flight for coalition air operations has increased exponentially. None of my comments are intended to imply any political leanings one way or the other. Mr. Limbaugh, war is ugly — and it is, and some refrigerators are ugly. There are things in the hearts of men that are far uglier than war itself, and my troops and I are fighting for those cherished ideals of democracy. <\/line>Democracy is our strategic weapon in the global war on terror — and from what I can see from my airmen, Iraqi counterparts, Iraqi families and children, it\u2019s working here in Iraq. I\u2019ll never forget the images of this war. It\u2019s horrible. But we really believe this is worth the fight, and it\u2019s those stupid, priceless moments shared with my troops like the above story, throwing the Made-in-France refrigerator off the catwalk atop the Baghdad Control Tower that I know I will cherish forever. Thank you again for supporting my troops out here in Iraq. I\u2019m honored by your gracious support. I admire your courage and wish you continued success in spreading the message of war fighters fighting for freedom to your audience because that\u2019s what this war is all about. And we will win the battle for Iraq. In fact, we are kicking some ass. <\/line>Thanks, Rush, for staying awake through this e-mail. <\/line>Mega dittos from Baghdad. May God bless you. <\/line>Very respectfully,<\/line>Tazz<\/line>PS. Enclosed is a picture of all the guys that work in this control tower, the air traffic control section. <\/line><\/line><\/p>\n

RUSH: I don\u2019t know if this is before they threw the fridge off the catwalk or not, but I got the picture. It\u2019s a fabulous picture, and I want to thank…. I\u2019m not going to mention the name here. This elevator story may get some people in trouble so I don\u2019t want to mention the name of the guy who sent it. He knows who he is and he\u2019ll hear this at some point. But when you get e-mails like that, and we get them frequently. Sergeant Clay Smith and his videos which are now, by the way, available for free iPod downloading at RushLimbaugh.com — and you get those, and you get these e-mails, and we get these phone calls from people who have come back — the people that are there, people that are in the midst of it — and then you compare and contrast their attitude, the things they say to what you hear from the likes of John Murtha and John Kerry and Nancy Pelosi and there\u2019s a huge disconnect. <\/line>I\u2019m going to tell you something. When it comes on the scale of balance, comes time to weigh who\u2019s telling us the truth, I\u2019m going to trust the people who are wearing the uniform, who are in the theater of battle, who are risking their lives, and who are the ones who volunteered to do all this. I\u2019m going to believe them. They know what\u2019s happening when Murtha says they can\u2019t win; when Murtha says that they\u2019re worn down; that they\u2019re living hand-to-mouth; that they don\u2019t have the proper equipment. Well, maybe they don\u2019t have a decent refrigerator in the control tower at Baghdad International, but they took care of that themselves as they\u2019re trained to do. <\/line>I much rather believe and put my faith in the people who have the guts and the courage to carry out the policies necessary for this country\u2019s assured freedom despite the best efforts of a major political party in this country which is trying to undercut them. It\u2019s infuriating, and it\u2019s a shame at the same time. But believe me, the party, the Democratic Party, the American left that\u2019s attempting to undercut the mission, to cut and run, to quit, to give up, attempting to demoralize the warriors and fighters that are actually engaged in this battle, they are the ones who are being undercut. They\u2019re stabbing themselves in the back, in the front. I don\u2019t know if they\u2019re actually able to hit their hearts because I don\u2019t see much evidence they have any. This is a cold, ruthless bunch of people, selfish, self-focused. It\u2019s all about them. <\/line>Even in the midst of their fellow citizens who have volunteered to go to war, to defend and protect this country and its Constitution, some of them are dying, even in the face of that, the American left and its leaders can think only of themselves — and it\u2019s not about you, and it never has been about you, and every effort you leftists and you Democrats make to make it about you just causes a greater distance between yourselves and the American voter, which you will see soon enough. You would think they\u2019d be able to see the evidence of this in the last two elections. But they haven\u2019t gotten the message yet, and they may well never get it. <\/line>BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/line>RUSH: I just got an e-mail from the military man that just sent me the e-mail that I read. His name is “Tazz.” That\u2019s his nickname. He said, “Hey, go ahead and read that story about the refrigerator made in France. I wouldn\u2019t have sent it if I was afraid it would get around. I mean, I\u2019m already in Baghdad. What else can they do to me? Send me to Abu Ghraib?” (Laughing) So his name is Tazz. He\u2019s a fabulous guy, apparently.<\/line>END TRANSCRIPT<\/line><\/p>\n

*Note: Links to content outside RushLimbaugh.com usually become inactive over time.<\/p>\n

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RUSH: I want to share with you excerpts from a letter I got today, an e-mail letter…Dear Mr. Limbaugh, I can\u2019t even begin to tell you how proud I am knowing that you are behind that microphone and honoring our troops here in the Iraqi theater. 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