Think about it folks.
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...
Industry mobilizing to produce up-armored Humvees
Army News Service
Release Date: 2/18/2004
By Heike HasenauerMISHAWAKA, Ind.(Army News Service, Feb. 18, 2004) -Humvee production in February has ramped up from 25 to 30 vehicles daily at an AM General factory in order to meet the demand in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Acting Secretary of the Army Les Brownlee visited the plant Feb. 13, located about 10 miles east of South Bend, Ind. He thanked workers for their service to the nation, and reinforced their resolve to get the best Humvees to the troops as fast as possible.
Today the work ethic at the factory is much as it was at manufacturing plants across America during World War II. Then U.S. industry produced a staggering amount of materiel for the war effort, including 350,000 jeeps, Brownlee told plant officials.
About 1,200 AM General workers in northern Indiana base their livelihoods on Army contracts to build the High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicles, better known as Humvees. The company has produced more than 170,000 Humvees since the vehicle was introduced in 1985, according to company spokesman Craig C. Mac Nab.
President George W. Bush’s proposed 2005 defense budget earmarked millions of dollars for up-armored Humvees. Hundreds of others have already been approved for production this fiscal year, so AM General president and chief executive Jim Armour has been preparing for an increased workload to ultimately speed delivery of the Humvees to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 2000, the Army awarded a seven-year contract to AM General for the production of some 31,474 Humvees through 2007.
When the new Humvees leave the plant in Mishawaka, some of them go to O’Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt, a leading vehicle armoring firm near Cincinnati. Brownlee also visited this plant in Fairfield, Ohio, where the vehicles become up-armored Humvees, known as the M1114 version Humvee.
Roughly 3,500 up-armored Humvees have been produced to date and are being used in peacekeeping missions in Somalia, Haiti, the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq, O’Gara-Hess officials report.
The M1114 weighs about 2,000 pounds more than the standard Humvee and includes 200-pound steel-plated doors, steel plating under the cab and several layers of bonded, ballistic-resistant glass to replace zip-up plastic windows, said Jim Bussey, O’Gara-Hess project manager for engineering contracts.
The up-armored Humvees provide greater protection to Soldiers on military patrols and reconnaissance missions. The reinforced steel plating and ballistic-resistant windows provide increased protection from rocket-propelled grenades, small-arms fire, shrapnel and explosive devices and land mines, Bussey said.
While some employees at AM General and O’Gara-Hess had family members in Iraq and Afghanistan, many more said they knew someone whose son or daughter was on duty in harm’s way. And they knew all too well the importance of what they were doing to help save lives.
An up-armored Humvee on the factory floor at O’Gara- Hess -- the engine compartment a tangled maze of melted metal -- attests to the fact that steel reinforcement saves lives. Five Soldiers were riding in that Humvee in Afghanistan when it ran over a land mine, Bussey said. The Soldiers sustained only minor cuts and bruises because the up-armored cab remained totally intact.
If that wasn’t reason enough to validate what employees at the two plants are doing, Brownlee shared a personal Soldier story that underscored the importance of what America’s assembly plant workers are doing.
During one of his many visits to wounded Soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., Brownlee met with the sole survivor of a grenade attack on four U.S. Soldiers in Baghdad.
The Soldier had lost a leg and eye in the attack, Brownlee said. He “flatlined” twice during his evacuation. And because his heart had stopped twice and he was generally unresponsive, his doctors feared he had suffered brain damage.
Brownlee spoke to him nonetheless, he said, and held his hand. “His face was covered with bandages,” Brownlee said. Just his right eye was exposed.
“There aren’t a lot of things you can say to Soldiers like that,” Brownlee said. But Brownlee thanked the man for his sacrifice and told him he’d check up on him in a few weeks. As he walked away, he turned to wave goodbye to the young man.
What the Soldier did next shocked Brownlee and a nurse who witnessed what happened: The Soldier sat up and gave Brownlee a perfect salute, he said.
“He lost an eye and a leg, but not his courage,” Brownlee said. “That’s the kind of Soldier you’re supporting today with the up-armored Humvees you’re building.”
And when someone asked him if he thinks we should be in Iraq, he says emphatically, “All you have to do is look into a Soldier’s eyes over there to know what we’re doing is right. They know why we’re there. And all of you can be proud of what you’re doing to help keep them safe.”
Thanks for the ping....been listening to Rush on this...
In the video I saw, the cheers were too loud to have come from only the media. The camera was centered on the soldier who asked the question. Two or maybe three of the six or eight other soldiers in the picture were cheering.
I thought the most disturbing part of the whole thing was the cheering. It makes it look as if there is a LOT of disgruntled troops, and that's just what the Libs like to hear.
Too bloody right.
My kids will be at MOBStat in a few weeks, and we SRP this weekend. Rendezvous with Destiny time.
You're quite welcome!
Think about it folks.
>>The reporter just 'sought out' someone he knew within the company would >>would 'go that far'.
>That would mean that the reporter picked the soldiers who would speak. That >doesn't seem likely.
"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."
Oh yeah, sounds like an anti-American scumbag to me.
As for Fallujah, there was a lot of faints and misleading propaganda about going in there to assess the enemy's reaction (If you search within the FR you will find the MSM don't like be used in psych ops)....They watch CNN also.
Please, please don't hold your breath until The Obsolete Media says it on the front page or as their lead story.
They are still distraught that Impeached Ex President Clinton or one of his lackeys could not have a third term in office to do more damage, that they forget or chose to ignore the safety/morale of our military and the defense of our home land.
The Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, Hanoi Jane etc wannabes are only interested in getting a story or creating a story for their next paycheck.
They howl about "Their" First Amendment rights to report the news, but care not one bit for the soldier who dies to preserve that right.
.
The reporter framed it up.
The reporter is an anti-American scumbag.
I think the sarcasm tag was left off...
Yeah, which he says he STARTED to care about, 2 weeks ago, when he found out he was going to be in one of those 'unarmored' vehicles.
IMO he isn't doing this for THEM... its all about HIM. (again even IF it is a valid issue, he engineered the THIS story to alter the preception of 'how mad' the troops are over it MOSTLY becuase he was concerned with his own safety)
LOL!
The two soldiers didn't have enough guts to ask this on their own? Strange...
I think some people on this thread have forgotten that the MSM is also the enemy.
I read somewhere early this morning, that this particular unit is in unarmored humvees while in Kuwait. However, they'd were to be flown into a duty station in Iraq and replace a unit that has armored vehicles, they will be taking over these units. This info coming from this reporter himself. I'll have to find where it was that I read this. If so, I'll post a link.
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