Posted on 12/09/2004 9:22:17 AM PST by Nascardude
Edited on 12/09/2004 10:05:10 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
RUMSFELD SET UP; REPORTER PLANTED QUESTIONS WITH SOLIDER
Thu Dec 09 2004 11:49:38 ET
Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter Edward Lee Pitts is embedded with the 278th Regimental Combat Team, now in Kuwait preparing to enter Iraq, and is filing articles for his newspaper. Pitts claims in a purported email that he coached soldiers to ask Defense Secretary Rumsfeld questions!
From: EDWARD LEE PITTS, Chattanooga Times Free Press military reporter
Sent: Wednesday, December 8, 2004 4:44 PM
To: Staffers
Subject: RE: Way to go
I just had one of my best days as a journalist today. As luck would have it, our journey North was delayed just long enough see I could attend a visit today here by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. I was told yesterday that only soldiers could ask questions so I brought two of them along with me as my escorts. Before hand we worked on questions to ask Rumsfeld about the appalling lack of armor their vehicles going into combat have. While waiting for the VIP, I went and found the Sgt. in charge of the microphone for the question and answer session and made sure he knew to get my guys out of the crowd.
So during the Q&A session, one of my guys was the second person called on. When he asked Rumsfeld why after two years here soldiers are still having to dig through trash bins to find rusted scrap metal and cracked ballistic windows for their Humvees, the place erupted in cheers so loud that Rumsfeld had to ask the guy to repeat his question. Then Rumsfeld answered something about it being "not a lack of desire or money but a logistics/physics problem." He said he recently saw about 8 of the special up-armored Humvees guarding Washington, DC, and he promised that they would no longer be used for that and that he would send them over here. Then he asked a three star general standing behind him, the commander of all ground forces here, to also answer the question. The general said it was a problem he is working on.
The great part was that after the event was over the throng of national media following Rumsfeld- The New York Times, AP, all the major networks -- swarmed to the two soldiers I brought from the unit I am embedded with. Out of the 1,000 or so troops at the event there were only a handful of guys from my unit b/c the rest were too busy prepping for our trip north. The national media asked if they were the guys with the armor problem and then stuck cameras in their faces. The NY Times reporter asked me to email him the stories I had already done on it, but I said he could search for them himself on the Internet and he better not steal any of my lines. I have been trying to get this story out for weeks- as soon as I foud out I would be on an unarmored truck- and my paper published two stories on it. But it felt good to hand it off to the national press. I believe lives are at stake with so many soldiers going across the border riding with scrap metal as protection. It may be to late for the unit I am with, but hopefully not for those who come after.
The press officer in charge of my regiment, the 278th, came up to me afterwords and asked if my story would be positive. I replied that I would write the truth. Then I pointed at the horde of national media pointing cameras and mics at the 278th guys and said he had bigger problems on his hands than the Chattanooga Times Free Press. This is what this job is all about - people need to know. The solider who asked the question said he felt good b/c he took his complaints to the top. When he got back to his unit most of the guys patted him on the back but a few of the officers were upset b/c they thought it would make them look bad. From what I understand this is all over the news back home.
Thanks,
Lee
EDWARD LEE PITTS FILED STORY ABOUT THE TROOPS BEFORE THE POW-WOW WITH RUMSFELD
Developing...
Your questions make no sense since they have no basis in fact.
Those are YOUR assertion; you prove them.
"After you've made the drive through Baghdad without armor I might have more regard for your opinion."
My old artillery unit was light towed.
We used the M1097 Humvee.
NO armor, not even Kevlar hoods or doors.
We would have gone to war like that.
You said you haven't slammed any serviceman?
You just did.
My old unit.
"I don't just talk about it and fly a ribbon on my car or sport a bumpersticker. "
Really?
I served my country, not as a contractor either.
"My job is to support the troops."
Then do so.
And quit whining.
"Those are YOUR assertion; you prove them"
Really?
From YOUR post 1157:
"Do you believe that America can do absolutely no better? "
Funny, you have to prove that.
Not me.
I am not the one who said that.
Checkout 'eagle eye'.
He claims he hasn't slammed anyone in uniform...
That is the same mantra from every sleezebag who has dished Rummy and then dished our military on this thread.
Then when they rebuked by one of us, they squeal like the programmed rats, they are, "I didn't dish our servicemen! You Bushbots are all the same!"
What? Your skin is thinner than C-rat toilet paper?
You 'would have' gone to war as you described. I'm sure you would have. But you didn't, did you?
Can you say that you wouldn't have wanted better after you'd seen the results of the enemies efforts?
You're saying 'I woulda, I coulda' but you didn't and you don't seem to really give a hoot about those that did and those that are.
It is easy to puff your chest and boast from your chair.
No slams on the troop. No insults. Can't help it if you feel bad for what I've said.
I've not met any troops who have wished for less armor. Have you?
And, yes, I put in time in uniform as well.
This armor issue is real whether you believe it or not, whether you like it or not. I didn't raise it, but I can tell you it isn't going away.
Lol!
Yeah, check out his post under yours.
Shows how supportive he is.
I never said the armor issue wasn't real.
So what about your comment in 1157?
Are you going to address YOUR comment or not?
Go back and re read YOUR statements. You made assertions that are false.
They don't have anything to do with what I said.
Again, too many 'freepers' cannot handle anyone outside the groupthink. You don't know the difference between a troll and a differing opinion.
But as I said before, I might have more regard for your opinion if you've been where the troops have been. No, not just talked about it or 'woulda/coulda/shoulda'.
Park your vehicle on a corner in an Iraqi town or city and then tell me you don't want better protection. Better yet, tell the troops that they don't need it. Go ahead, ye who proclaim support, TELL THEM THEY DON'T NEED IT!
That's right, send a letter to Stars and Stripes and tell them that you don't think they need better. Bet you won't do it because you really don't believe it. You really do want them to have better, don't you. And you probably don't truly believe that America has done all she could to get it to them, that there is nothing more that can be done. Do you?
Prove it.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1297858/posts?page=1157#1157
"Do you believe that America can do absolutely no better? "
If you're going to put words in someone's mouth, at least back it up with quotes.
Do you not understand the concept of asking a question?
(Oops, there I go, asking a question, and a rhetorical one at that! Bad EE....BAD EE...)
That was a Q.U.E.S.T.I.O.N. that I posed to someone else, not words put into anyone's mouth.
In fact, that was a 'closed ended' question hopefully prompting a direct 'yes' or 'no' answer. I never did get an answer from that person. Nor from you.
But I'm done for tonight, I'm outta here. Watch some TV for me, I'm sure you're good at it.
And people should accept the machinations of the founders of "groupthink" as pure fact, the mainstream media.
Excuse those who think out of the mainstream media box.
JMO, EE you don't.
Uh, what kind of weapons did the VC have? AK-47's and RPG, no different today
Do you not understand the concept of "Military Bearing" and "Professionalism"?
During the Clinton Administration, if I'd addressed the SecDef the way that Spec4 did, I'd have been busted down so fast my head would've spun.
Do you also not understand that the reporter BRAGGED ABOUT PLANTING THE QUESTION?
Look at the way it was framed.
Look at the fact that it was PLANTED.
Oh yeah, you don't CARE about fact.
You've already proven that much.
Thanks.
"That was a Q.U.E.S.T.I.O.N. that I posed to someone else, not words put into anyone's mouth."
And you worded it so that it sounded like someone HAD said America couldn't do better.
Which is why you cannot defend your comment.
No one has said such.
I read Steel Wolf's remarks and, as usual, he hits it square on the head and with great insight. I have to admire the way he states his case, too, much better than I do.
I see virutually no tv and get almost no radio, so I can get the front end of a story and not get the follow ups.
IMO, if this had been a conservatively minded reporter and the clinton or (gasp!) algore or kerry administration, I truly believe that freepers would cheer this guy morning, noon, and night. But when the shoe is on the other foot, it ain't so funny. I've seen that many times when it comes to namelableing and photoshopping. It is ok to call her 'hitlery' but don't dare do it to Mrs. Bush. It is ok to call janet reno a wookie, but not ok to do something similar to a conservative or republican.
To me, it isn't a matter of the motive of the question as much as it is the fact that the question can be asked. If there was no armor issue, then there could be no questions on it. Maybe the administration should do more to aleviate the problem AND the perception of the problem than they are.
And I do believe that more can be done.
Good night, I'm tired.
I wish I had pictures for you because you don't seem to understand written words and you cannot stay on focus.
You, too, are more interested in the motives and the delivery of the question than getting the results. That seems pretty dam clear.
I keep saying that the troops need the best, that they don't feel they are getting it, and I'm getting a lot of argument from you and a small group.
Why? Why are you more interested in the motive of the question and the delivery than getting the problems solved?
Why is it that you will expend a great deal of energy trying to dismiss the question rather than solve the problems that inspired the question?
Sorry, I must go, it is late.
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