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...
So you were against the war? Think it's a failing mission? Think the justification was all wrong?
Red6
There is some history here. In WWII, allied forces in US had lots of equipment, but not the best. The main battle tank was too weak, nicknamed "tommie-cookers" for their propensity to explode. The main battle tank we have now has been tested and the Army knows the Israeli Merkava is much better.
In Vietnam, the Army refused the M-16, then when it was adopted, changed the cartridge so that the rifles would jam.
And, in Vietnam, half the casualties were by mines.
There are many anti-mine vehicles from wars in South African and Rhodesia conflict. We could use them.
The uparmoured Hummvees should be the only vehicle in an area with mines and car bombs everywhere. Myself, I would prefer all tanks and armoured bulldozers, more use of artillery.....
no pity for Sec of Defense. He is a tough old coot, and should have kept his mouth shut. Reminds me of Patton slapping soldiers.
I am no soldier, and would comments from those with experience using Merkava and up armoured HummVee. Thanks
With just a little bit of effort, you added a highly important fact to this story. Yet in their rush to frame Rumsfeld as "cold" toward soldiers' concerns, the so-called mainstream media didn't bother to look in their own archives. Round out the story and present the reader/viewer with a balanced report? Not gonna happen.
PROTECTING THE TROOPS -- (Senate - February 11, 2004)
[Page: S960] GPO's PDF
---
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, last night a group of Senators went out for dinner at Walter Reed Hospital with the soldiers who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, many of whom are undergoing important medical treatment and rebuilding their lives and strength to return to their families, and some to return to service to our country. These are our best. These men and women with whom we had the good fortune to eat dinner last night are really some of the finest people you could ever meet. They have given more to this country than any of us will ever give, and they have done it with a sense of loyalty and a sense of patriotism that all of us admire.
As I talked to these soldiers and asked them about their experience, I asked them about their injuries: What happened when you were in Iraq?
The story that comes back more often than not is that these soldiers--many of them--were in Humvee vehicles, which is our modern jeep, traveling in Baghdad and other cities and localities in Iraq, when their vehicle was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade or a homemade bomb that was detonated. Many of them were seriously injured. One brave soldier from South Dakota lost his right arm. The Army captain in the next Humvee was killed, and he believes he was lucky to escape alive. I asked him what Congress could do to help.
He said: We are getting good medical treatment, and our families are being treated fine. But can you do something about those Humvees? The Humvee doesn't have armor plating on the sides, armored doors to protect us and other soldiers.
You think to yourself, of the billions of dollars we have spent in Iraq, we don't have armored doors on the Humvees so that these soldiers can come home safely?
I asked the Secretary of the Army: What is this problem? He came back to me and reported that there are 8,400 Humvees in Iraq that don't have armored doors. The soldiers, last night, said they would improvise. They would get sheets of steel and cut them and place them on the sides of the Humvees
[Page: S961] GPO's PDF
We should do better. I said to the Secretary of the Army: Isn't this a priority? He said: It is our highest priority to build the 8,400 doors for these Humvees. He told me that many will be made in my State at the Rock Island Arsenal . I visited the Rock Island Arsenal and saw the first sets of doors come off for the Humvees, and the workers were so proud. They knew they had done something significant.
I said to the commander at the arsenal : How long will it take us now? We need 8,400 sets and we are also doing them at Anniston. He said: We are going to get these doors built in one year.
One year? In World War II, we were building bombers in 72 hours and ships in 30 and 60 days, and we need 1 year to make the armor-plated doors to protect the Humvees so that fewer of our men and women in uniform will have to go to Walter Reed Hospital for prosthetic devices and medical treatment.
I said: Why is it taking one year? He said: Because there is only one steel-fabricating plant left in America, and it is in Pennsylvania. It makes the steel that we can convert into the armor plating for these doors. We are using
everything they produce as fast as they produce it.
So when the issue comes up about loss of manufacturing jobs, and loss of American jobs, and loss of our industrial base, it is more than a cold discussion of statistics; it is a discussion about the reality of our economy and the reality we face. Whether you live in North Carolina, where we have lost textile jobs, or you live in Illinois, where we have lost steel jobs, the fact is, as we lose these jobs, we lose our capacity. When it comes to something as basic as steel, that capacity plays out so that our soldiers in Iraq today are more vulnerable to enemy attack because we cannot produce the steel in America.
Vietnam - Won by the soldiers, lost by the media.
If you read the thread you'll see why.
Although the issue is probably a fairly common complaint (surely in the top3), it is still pretty rare for such public and global media coverage of grienveces.
It is so because most Military over there would not 'go that far'.
One if few thousand WOULD and the reporter just brought one of them along, helped coach on the question, got his guy called, and then reported on it. (Doing so giving the impression it was "so bad" that even during this Q&A session the issue comes up in a face-to-face with the Sec.of Defense)
It is indeed rare, and that is the intent. To make the perception appear things are worse than they are in reality... in other words.. same ole' same ole'
no, i was in favor of the war. im against the rebuilding effort. i believe in eliminating our enemies not building them up stronger so we have to fight a better equipped army in the future.
wow, we killed saddam. there are over a billion saddams out there and we are supposed to get so excited that we arrested one of them?
The person that they should have had up there answering questions is Clinton!
After years of decimating military budgets including enormous cuts in replenishment and spare parts, it is clear that the real problem, not the symptom, but the root problem was brought on by Billy Boy!
This should serve as a prime example that you don't simply revamp an entire military overnight or even over a couple of years. It takes a while and when cuts run as deep as they did during the Clinton years, well, this is what we have; spare parts and armor replacement debacles!
I really wish Rumsfeld would have tagged dickhead with this! Maybe headdick is the better term.
No one can be blamed for not forseeing such an action. Most of the people killed are Iraqi's......the entire warfare against the liberation seems to be coming up from the last level of hell.
Pretty hard to predict and I presume that we are doing our best to get outfitted for this type of attack.
But, it passed and wasn't spent wisely.
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.
Everyone that saw the clip heard this. It must be at the top of the minds of many of these soldiers over there. But instead of address the issue that the question raised, let's debunk the author and claim a MSM conspiracy..yep, that's conservatism that is.
The 2 years.
Okay...enough of this embedded reporters garbage!
Patton would have shot the reporter before he let him near his troops.
Sorry.
My old unit used the M1097 Humvee.
Zero armor.
And we would have gone into combat with it.
We were light towed artillery.
Did we think about it?
No.
We were artillery.
Not infantry or armored cav.
Ok I'm out... sick of the retards that can't differentiate between a complaint and the way that complaint is made (via manipuation by a reporter, distorting reality)
Get a clue.
Excellent find. Thanks for posting it, because it perfectly underscores the points you and I have made in this thread. To put it bluntly, the modern media sucks big time.
But instead of address the issue that the question raised, let's debunk the author and claim a MSM conspiracy...
Ummm... just like the Air National Guard story? Did you believe that too?
All I'm hearing from Rummy is logistics gobbilty goop.
Remember WWII? The Hedgrows were killing our tanks. Our firepissers figured out a way to plow'em up and go through.
A bunch of REMF'S sitting around waiting for this or that doesn't cut it.
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