(Georgia) State flag flap stirs dust in Iraq | Atlanta J-C

[Ediacara]

State flag flap stirs dust in Iraq

By JIM GALLOWAY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Late Friday afternoon, toward the end of a long day in Baghdad, U.S. Army reserve Capt. Ken Hutnick of Alpharetta scored some time with a satellite phone.

He called stateside.

Not because he needed to hear the voice of his wife, Suzanne, or the gurgle of his 20-month-old daughter, Katharine. Hutnick called because Georgia's never-ending fight over the state flag had stretched clear to Iraq.

He and his unit have become wrapped up in it -- accused of fraud, in fact.

More at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

[rexcat]

1. It would seem that the "flagers"

in Georgia are off their rockers, but I doubt anyone can say anything positive about these rightwingnut bigots.

[hadrons]

2. nice to know ....

This summer, Hutnick had asked his sister in Perry to send him one of the new state flags. She did. He and his fellows, based at Fort Gillem, liked it. Last week, Hutnick sent her an e-mail:

"We took the attached photos with the new Georgia flag. If you can get these to the governor, I bet he would get a kick out of them. . . . Tell him Georgia's finest, Company H of the 121st Infantry, have been flying this flag over our TOC in the heart of Iraq, Baghdad International Airport, and that we would like to present it to him when we get home. Good publicity for him and the unit."

Nice to see they have time to shill for the GOP in Iraq

Almost immediately, a flood of Internet protests hit Georgia's political circles. Flaggers, who reject the new flag as a compromise despite its Confederate roots, challenged the authenticity of the photo- graph.

Fake, they said. Perdue's computer-literate henchmen had painted pixels in the shape of Georgia's newest flag, they deduced.

Hutnick, sweating in Iraq, saw many of those messages, relayed by his sister.

"We kind of take it as a personal insult -- when we're over here running missions and stuff," he said in a telephone interview. Hutnick has replied to some of the e-mails from flaggers. The general drift of his response has been simple: He and his crew don't need this distraction. Please stop.

Nice to know that Flaggers/Freepers know what's really important in "supporting the troops"

Ken Waters is a flagger, getting ready to run in a state House race in Paulding County. He followed the Iraq-flag flap closely. He now thinks "those brave soldiers were used as political pawns" by the governor and the Perry Chamber of Commerce. But he has decided that the photo of the state flag in Iraq is "probably real, though I have no way of knowing for sure." Then again, Waters said he might come to the state Capitol to meet Company H next month. Then he could see both flag and soldiers with his own eyes.

Nice to know that its really governor Sonny and the Perry Chamber of Commerce and not Bush who's using "those brave soldiers were used as political pawns"

[onehandle]

3. Let me the Hell out of Georgia

Someday we'll be in a nice blue state.

[Rose Siding]

4. Funny! I bet he trusts his vote to a Black Box in GA

but has to see the flag and the soldiers with their own eyes. Some priorities!

[IndianaGreen]

5. As if our GIs did not have enough shit to worry about

now they are accused of faking a photo by the flaggers!