Army Officials Respond to Caim of Obama Snub

Once again conservative pundits and dissafected Hillary fans went nuts for this soldier, Capt Porter, who wrote a letter saying Barack Obama snubbed the soldiers. However, the Army has come out to refute such claim. The Utah National Guard unit that this soldier belonged to is doing further investigation. I have sent them an email, and am waiting for a reply, and will post any updates as necessary.

WASHINGTON - The latest chain e-mail smear against Barack Obama: He "blew off" troops at an Afghan base to shoot hoops for a publicity photo.
The letter was apparently written by a Utah Army National Guard intelligence officer in a linguist unit at Bagram Airfield who claimed the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee was rude to G.I.s.
"As the soldiers where [sic] lined up to shake his hand he blew them off," wrote the Task Force Wasatch "battle captain."
But angry Army brass debunked the Obama-bashing soldier's allegations, which went viral Thursday over the Web and on military blogs such as Blackfive.
The e-mail claims Obama repeatedly shunned soldiers on his way to the Clamshell - a recreation tent - to "take his publicity pictures playing basketball."
"These comments are inappropriate and factually incorrect," said Bagram spokeswoman Army Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green, who added that such political commentary is barred for uniformed personnel.
Obama didn't play basketball at Bagram or visit the Clamshell, she said. Home-state troops were invited to meet him, but his arrival was kept secret for security reasons.
"We were a bit delayed ... as he took time to shake hands, speak to troops and pose for photographs," Nielson-Green said.
-E-mails to the officer who made the charges and a call to his wife were not returned.

Here is the letter that was sent out. Many suspected the story as a piece of bunk trash, but nothing was formally released until the Army came out with their statement. I have also included the link to Utah National Guard website.

I don't know CPT Porter personally (a friend of a friend), but here is his assessment of Barack.
"As you know, I am not a very political person. I just wanted to pass along that Senator Obama came to Bagram Afghanistan for about an hour on his visit to "The War Zone". I wanted to share with you what happened. He got off the plane and got into a bullet proof vehicle, got to the area to meet with the Major General (2 Star) who is the commander here at Bagram. As the Soldiers were lined up to shake his hand, he blew them off and didn't say a word as he went into the conference room to meet the General. As he finished, the vehicles took him to the ClamShell (pretty much a big top tent where military personnel can play basketball or work out in with weights) so he could take his publicity pictures playing basketball. He again shunned the opportunity to talk to Soldiers and thank them for their service. So really, he was just here to make a showing for the Americans back home that he is their candidate for President. I think that if you are going to make an effort to come all the way over here you would thank those that are providing the freedom that they are providing for you. I swear we got more thanks from the NBA Basketball Players or the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders than from one of the Senators who wants to be the President of the United States . I just don't understand how anyone would want him to be our Commander-and-Chief. It was almost that he was scared to be around those that provide the freedom for him and our great country.
If this is blunt and to the point I am sorry but I wanted you all to know what kind of caliber of person he really is. What you see in the news is all fake."
In service,
CPT Jeffrey S. Porter
Battle Captain 

I have one update to add. I emailed to Utah National Guard and was told the situation is being resolved internally, and was directed to these comments made by the author of the letter. The person who responded to me also stated the remarks below appear in two previously released statements on various media sources.

“I am writing this to ask you delete my email and not forward it. After checking my sources, information that was put out in my email was wrong. This email was meant only for my family. Please respect my wishes and delete the email and if there are any blogs you have my email portrayed on I would ask if you would take it down too. Thanks for understanding.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/07/24/2008-07-24_army_officials_refute_claim_of_barack_ob.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/25/politics/animal/main4293326.shtml