AIRING TONIGHT ON 60 MINUTES: IN HARM'S WAY (CBS DOES IT AGAIN...A LAST MINUTE HIT ON BUSH)

CBS News - 60 Minutes ^ | 10-31-04 | CBS News

[Gimme]

I used to watch 60 Minutes very past tense.

[PISANO]

Pentagon hasn't provided enough fully-armored vehicles to protect them

However the MAN who is running for POTUS VOTED against FUNDING our troops fighting in IRAQ. But because he is a Dim THIS WILL NOT be mentioned.

The possibility of a C-in-C who just months before taking office voted against FEEDING, CLOTHING, ARMING and EQUIPING his OWN troops leaves me dead COLD. God forbid this clown Kerry wins on Tuesday!!!

[Former Dodger]

Not for nothin' (Brooklynese) but the troops they are talking about are National Guardsmen.

I mean this in the nicest way, but REGULAR ARMY gets the GOOD STUFF first. Most of the reasons for the delays are more in the hands of Congress (pork barrel projects syphoning funds) than the President.

Additionally, soldiers have been modifying their vehicles for years, this is not new. Tankers in WWII had to add steel, sandbags, etc, because the Nazi tanks had huge powerful guns...

STRIKE 3! CBS, you're outta here!

[Capt. Tom]

I don't watch 60 minutes, but I did tonight to see how they would bash Bush.

The very first scene had Croft asking a father- Do you think your son would be alive today if his Humvee had armor.

Then Croft went on to explain how the soldiers were using plywood and scrap metal from Iraqi junkyards to protect themselves. Then Croft talked about a 400 million dollar military budget that didn't provide armor in Humvees for out troops. Those stories and more.

I shut it off and came down to FR. Glad to see you started a thread on this Bush bash. - Tom

[Florida native]

I decided to see exactly how CBS would portray this story. In the promos they showed the Ashley Simpson lip-sync goof and whether the Constitution be changed for someone like Arnold.

First up was the story of lack of armor for the troops featuring an Oregon National Guard Unit.

I listened to the entire thing, and came away with the feeling this was more a hit on Congressional raiders of the Military budget for their pork barrel pet projects. This is money that was originally slated for maintenance, parts, weaponry, bullets, armor, etc that was to go to our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The last thing Steve Croft said was that President Bush has approved over $800 billion in spending for armor and equipment for our troops. Therefore, it may have been a very subtle "lets get in one more jab at Bush" but it seemed more of a negative for Congress and pork barrel theft of a military budget than anything else.

After that, I tuned to something more enjoyable.

[Capt. Tom]

someone hacked my tagline.
This is a try to correct it.
If it is corrected it will read; Don't confuse the Bushies with the dumb Republicans - tom

[10000Taxes]

Here is the text of my email to cBS:

To: 60m@cbsnews.com
Subject: What is wrong with you people
Date: Oct 31, 2004 7:26 PM
One last hatchet job against our President before the election. That makes what,
five now this year? You sicko's should count your Blessings that you live in the
land of the free and the home of the brave. That is, if you believe in God.

Maybe if we are all incinerated by the wacko Muslim extremists, I won't have to
be exposed to your crap show any longer.

And Uncle Walter suggesting that the Republicans and Osama are in collusion...
Must have forgot to take his meds, huh?

[hosepipe]

[ CBS, AP and NY Times should have charges brought against them for trying to affect the outcome of an election. Even insinuating that it may happen, will give them all black eyes. ]

Never happen ... The RINO Colin Powells son is running the FCC... baby RINO.. a lot of horn no backbone.. the FCC's budget 280 million dollars is being flushed as we speak... like last year 270 million dollars.. The FCC is a toilet..

[unspun]

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Sep/29/ln/ln06a.html
Posted on: Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Guard gears up for duty with modern equipment

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS — Spc. Salvare Tumaneng, 26, pulled open the Velcro strip on his desert camouflage body armor to show the bullet-proof plate inside — so new that it's still wrapped in clear plastic.

Hawai'i Army National Guard Spc. Salvare Tumaneng, of Kalihi, left, adjusts to his newly issued body armor with help from Spc. Ronald Lee, of Liliha. They leave for training next week.

Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

"All of this equipment is kind of restricting, but if it's going to save our lives, I'd rather have it," Spc. Ronald Lee, 19, said yesterday. "I guess we're taking it for granted right now. We'll have to see when we get there."

"There" is Iraq. More than 2,000 Hawai'i soldiers with the Army National Guard's 29th Separate Infantry Brigade have been gearing up for their year-long deployment to the Balad area north of Baghdad, and will be leaving for training in Texas early next week.

The brigade's first combat test since the Vietnam War will begin on the Kuwait border in February or March, when the unit, traveling in heavily armed convoys, crosses into Iraq.

The approximately three-day trip will take 29th soldiers through the deserts of the south, through or near Baghdad, and about 50 miles north to Logistical Supply Area Anaconda in the Sunni Triangle, a region where attacks on U.S. forces have been most frequent.

It's the latest wave of Hawai'i-based troops with orders to the Middle East. About 10,000 Schofield Barracks soldiers are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the 29th, with about 670 reservists with the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry attached, are citizen soldiers leaving family and jobs at home.

Protective gear

Unlike some past National Guard units that deployed to Iraq with outdated equipment, the 3,600 soldiers of the 29th — a number that includes some Mainland-based elements — will be equipped with the chest and back "Small Arms Protective Insert" plates and a host of other new gear.

Made from boron carbide ceramic, the SAPI plates can stop an AK-47 round. Every soldier with the 29th has the plates, and new Kevlar vests with specially designed pockets for them, officials said.

"I think our soldiers will be as outfitted for combat as you possibly can be," brigade commander Brig. Gen. Joseph J. Chaves said yesterday. "Every other active component unit that has crossed the border into Iraq — we'll have the same items."

More than half the brigade — including frontline soldiers — will have newer M-4 rifles, a shorter, lighter version of the M-16A2. Through the Army's "Rapid Fielding Initiative" to better equip combat troops, the soldiers will receive advanced optic and laser sights, fire-resistant gloves and the Advanced Combat Helmet, which is lighter and cut higher in the back to provide greater head mobility.

"We're happy to see the (SAPI) plates, because we know we'll be more protected," said Tumaneng, from Kalihi, who works with administrative and personnel issues with the brigade's headquarters and headquarters company.

The new gear will be distributed to the soldiers after they arrive at Fort Bliss, Texas, next week for several months of intensive training. Following that, they'll leave in January for combat certification at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La., before flying to Kuwait.

Some of the 29th soldiers will begin leaving Hawai'i as early as Saturday. Most will be flying out Monday through Wednesday of next week on charter flights.

Their first taste of a combat zone will come months from now when all the soldiers travel by convoy some 550 miles to the Balad area and LSA Anaconda to replace the 81st Brigade, a National Guard unit based out of Washington state.

"To most of the soldiers, it will be their first time in combat. They'll realize getting off the plane (in Kuwait), it's a different story," said Tumaneng, a student at Leeward Community College and security guard who has been with the Guard for eight years. "A lot of (Guard) soldiers were going to school, not knowing they were going to be called to active duty and have to defend their country."

Lessons on the road

Roadside bombs remain one of the greatest threats in Iraq, and to minimize the possibility of injury, U.S. soldiers on convoys are taught to drive about 150 feet from other vehicles, switch lanes for long stretches on highways and watch for insurgents, who sometimes drop gasoline bombs on vehicles from bridges.

Chaves said the 29th shipped about 800 Humvees and trucks to Texas for training, and the unit will pick up a large number of "up-armored" Humvees with thick steel armor and bullet-proof glass from the departing 81st Brigade in Kuwait.

"We'll be taking some equipment with us from Fort Bliss and Fort Polk to Kuwait and Iraq, but we're going to pick up the majority of our Humvees in Kuwait," he said.

The soldiers will spend at least a week at one of the U.S. camps in the desert of Kuwait practicing live-fire skills one last time before heading north as a motorized infantry unit.

"They accept (having to convoy) just as a way of doing business," Chaves said. "I don't think they look at it as anything different or anything special from any other mission they've got."

A week ago, Chaves returned from a reconnaissance of Kuwait and a day spent at LSA Anaconda in Balad. A 1st Division soldier died Monday in Balad when he was shot by a sniper while manning an observation post.

But Chaves said "it seemed to me stability was moving along pretty progressively in that area, and in talking to soldiers at Anaconda, they all felt pretty good about the situation and the way the countryside is developing in that area."

Lee, who is from Liliha, said "you learn about the enemy attack methods, the IEDs (improvised explosive devices). I'm worried mostly about IEDs because I think I'll be driving."

He's less worried about the Sunni Triangle, a region north and west around Baghdad.

"You hear all this bad stuff about it, but if you just do some research, some people say it's not that bad," Lee said.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.

[nuconvert]

You know, all the RNC has to do, is say "We're looking into the possibility of filing charges....". That would be enough to make news and make the public think and give the media outlets black eyes. They don't even have to go thru with it. They should announce it tomorrow and let it hang out there for a week or 2.

[Dave Olson]

I saw the segment shortly after it started, so maybe I missed something. But outside of saying they couldn't get an on-air response from the Defense Department, I didn't see 60 Minutes tie these problems to President Bush. There was plenty of criticism against members of Congress for taking the money that was supposed to fund the military's needs and diverting it to their own pork projects instead.

[unspun]

An expose of this 60 Minutes hit piece was just posted on powerline.com. Just afterward, the site went down.

[tabor]

I wish you were right. My 81 yr old father, a WWII vet, watched the 60 Minute's piece tonight, and apparently bought it hook, line and sinker. It amazes me he utters every single Democratic talking point he has heard from the MSM, and nothing I can say can make him change his mind. He thinks I'm the deluded one! His wife, my stepmother, hates GWB with a vitriolic passion. She never liked him- hates his "swagger", hates the way he talks, and, duh, they both think he's stupid. I think he's a real man, and a darn good one. I'm so very much more well-informed than they, am blessed intelligence, yet they won't listen to a thing I say. Families against families...........very upsetting.

[unspun]

I hope General Franks does. Even more, I hope Bush shows some real, tough leadership about this. I hope he is paying attention to this, from the Gallup internals:

(Who can better handle) the situation in Iraq

2004....Oct 29-31.......2004 Oct 22-24
Kerry.....49%...............44%
Bush......47%...............53%
Same.......4%................1%
Unsure.....0%................2%