Editor: Disclosure was needed on armor query

cnn ^ | 12-10-04

[LouAvul]

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (AP) -- A newspaper should have told its readers promptly that an embedded reporter had helped frame a question that a serviceman asked of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld this week in Kuwait, the publisher says.

The question to Rumsfeld from Spc. Thomas "Jerry" Wilson, 31, of Nashville, Tennessee complaining that many military vehicles in Iraq are not adequately armored, has touched off a storm of new publicity about the issue.

"In hindsight, information on how the question was framed should have been included in Thursday's story in the Times Free Press. It was not," the paper's publisher and executive editor, Tom Griscom, said in a note to readers published Friday.

[phoenix0468]

BushisTheMan wrote:

This reporter is a SLIME!!!!!!!

.........................................

Can I get an AMEN!!!

[NY Attitude]

Probably none. I think I remember reading that the reporter did this on a one-on-one situation.

[rodguy911]

Rummy was set up and the soldier who asked the question must have been Butthead's brother he is so dumb. On Hannity today a spokesman,a solider from the front, said that the humvees that needed the steel got it "early" on all the rest the "upgrades" are all "recent" requests. This whole thing is more bogus rat/bs and as usual only one side is being reported.

[FierceDraka]

Okay, not the Fox guys. I was thinking more of the weasels from NYT, LAT, KC Red Star, etc.

[Bernard]

And, of course, you have to wonder why the Army had so many vehicles without armor plating in the first place, don't you?

As I understand it, this goes back to the 1990's, when military budgets were less generous than they might be now. The Marines decided that all their Humvees would be armored, while the Army decided to go for quantity and only have a percentage armored.

As a result, the Marines ended up with all their Humvees being armored, while the Army ended up with a percentage being armored. Part of this would have to do with the intended use of the vehicles.

This would make a nice background filler to the original story, wouldn't it? Of course, it would require research and verification. You can't just depend on some anonymous Internet poster for your facts.