Posted on 03/18/2007 3:58:18 PM PDT by RedRover
I have to agree with you on the way Frank conducted himself during the interview. He was not appearing on 60 Min to argue his case, his attorneys will do that. He conducted himself in an honorable manner, speaking from the heart.
Pelley did provide some insight into what these Marines had gone through. The shit hole Haditha was and will be for some time to come. Was he actually surprised when Frank answered him- no one was in control of Haditha when 3-1 arrived. The Fallujah flashback stunned me..wonder if Pelley knew the blood at Justin's feet was that of Sgt. Byron Norwood? I doubt it. The losses of the Ohio unit while in Haditha. The terrorist video. When will the American public understand and see the 'evil' our men and women are facing in Iraq?
Darryl
Not only did SSGT Wuterich speak from the heart, he wss thoughtful in his responses. He did not blame or question other Marines' actions that day. He made it clear his responsibility as squad leader was to keep his remaining men alive.
Pelley's reporting did expose the realities of the Haditha environment. The photos from Fallujah were pretty graphic in describing how hesitation can lead to death and casualties for our men in combat. I give Pelley credit for making the point that several of these Marines were quite experienced at combat.
Very little has been made about the 20 Marines, mainly from Ohio, being killed just 3 months earlier in Haditha. It was a huge story at the time. Six Marine snipers were ambushed without ever returning fire. Just two days later a massive bomb took out 14 more Marines in one vehicle at Haditha. I had never seen the video that Pelley showed; I'm guessing it's the one the terrorists claimed was of the 6 Marine snipers after killing them.
Some of us do realize what our troops face and are willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, without hesitation. I hope others eyes were opened after this 60 minutes segment. Stay strong. You have much to be proud of along with the other Marines' families.
Thanks for the transcript. I had watched the interview. How it was conducted was expected.
Amen to that, Girlene.
Unfortunately, just a three-day time-out.
Brian Montopoli: Your interview that aired on Sunday, with Marine Sergeant Frank Wuterich, has generated…some criticism from those on the Internet who think you may have been too hard on Sergeant Wuterich – one blogger wrote that it was "one of the most outrageous displays of media bias ever." Can you talk to me a little bit about that, and a little bit about trying to be even handed in an interview like that?
Scott Pelley: I was tormented by that story, to be honest. We've been working with Frank Wuterich and his wife and his lawyers for many months now – about eight months – to get that interview done and on the air. And let me just say, my personal feeling is, I hate what happened to those soldiers, and the civilians. It is a tragedy on all sides, and one that the insurgents clearly intended, because the Marines were attacked in a residential neighborhood. This worked out exactly the way the insurgents would have had it.
Was I hard on him? I gave Frank the opportunity to answer the tough questions. If I had thrown softballs at him, at the end of the interview, people would have said, "Well, we don't really know what happened there, because Pelley didn't ask him any hard questions." So we did go at him vigorously on all of the points that he wanted to make. Questions we wanted to ask, and points that he wanted to address. I think that when you interview anyone with vigor and facts and passion, you find that the answers are all the more legitimate and believable.
The other thing I'll say about that is, this was an unusually long story for "60 Minutes." Most pieces on "60 minutes" are about 12 minutes long, this piece was 26 minutes long. And the reason for that was all the context – we reported a lot of stuff that you hadn't heard before. How hostile Haditha was. How hostile the average residence was. What the Marines had been going through before Frank Wuterich's battalion went into the city. The terrible losses the Marines were taking. So our hope was to give you the context that Wuterich and his men weren't through a happy city and decided to take 24 innocent civilian lives. It's a great deal more complicated than that, and I think all of that came through in the story.
It's interesting, I've been in touch with Frank since then, and he says we did exactly what we said we would do, and he believes he was treated fairly, and he was greatful for the opportunity. And that's really all I care about – is that I'm fair, and we did what we said we would do.
Pinging you to the post above.
B U M P
Scott Pelley's interview about Frank Wuterich's 60 Minutes interview at Post #266.
I didn't see 60 Minutes, but this is quite revealing.
I watched the interview. All I saw was the standard BS such clowns ask. These guys and gals are snakes in the grass, but with a twist. They often really are not very informed about much of anything. They just appear that way to the general public. For starters. Why would Pelly asked.... Ohhh Frank you really don't mean that.... Of course Frank meant every frigen word he said. They where under attack. You don't carry roses to the door and ask if you can search for armed insurgents. This whole interview was BS IMHO. The sargeant should never had granted the interview. Fools waddling to their refrig to restack their arms with diet pepsi and bags of chips then waddling back to the moron box have little background in think about why our soldiers and Marines must do what they do when under fire.
Funny you mentioned when Pelley asked (I mean stated), "Oh, Frank, you really don't mean that." That part of the interview was in the pre-airing clip and I saw the clip.
I thought the same, Unc.
And it made my blood boil for Frank. Wish I'd been there at that moment. Bitch slap comes to mind. But then, Pelley would have had me investigated for acting 'first'. I don't know how Frank did the interview without blowing a gasket. Testament to his character, IMHO.
Praying for Team Wuterich's family and his squad. We are blessed with their bravery. Keep it going!
Yes, lily. I was thinking about you yesterday : )
There are more interesting developments in the Corps...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1805834/posts?page=30#1
but that's not why I was thinking of you ; )
A week away from FR felt like I was in rehab going cold turkey or something!
I did get to see 60 Minutes...wormy reporter.
I missed you!!!
I missed you!
You and me both, don't ever want to listen to Pelley again.
This is the piece of “news” that was put out earlier, right? The one where so many jumped on him for not being all whiny, groveling, crying and blowing snot bubbles of regret out of his nose?
If this is that one, thanks but no thanks.
I strongly dislike Pelley.
I noticed a thread earlier and cannot believe a Naval officer would do this. I think it's got to be a lying poster at Kos.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.