Posted on 12/20/2004 7:18:37 AM PST by Pikamax
Soldier Says He Asked Rumsfeld 'Armor' Question Without Aid of Embed
By E&P Staff
Published: December 19, 2004
NEW YORK In his first public account of last week’s controversy, Spc. Thomas Wilson says that he came up with the now famous “armor” question for Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld himself, without the help of oft-criticized reporter Edward Lee Pitts. And he adds, "If this is my 15 minutes of fame, I hope it saves a life."
The account appears in next week’s edition of Time magazine.
Wilson, who serves with Tennessee’s 278th Regiment in the National Guard, tells Time that he befriended Pitts, an embed for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, at California's Fort Irwin, where his unit trained. Later, in Kuwait, after Pitts learned that only soldiers could ask questions at the upcoming town hall meeting with Rumsfeld in Kuwait, he urged Wilson to come up with some "intelligent questions."
After his convoy arrived at Camp Arijan in Kuwait, Wilson found hundreds of fully armored vehicles promised to another unit months down the road. Wilson says he asked if the 278th could use them in the meantime, and was told no. That inspired his question about the shortage of armor, which he showed to Pitts.
The reporter, far from being the protagonist, suggested that he find “a less brash way of asking the question," but Wilson “told him no, that I wanted to make my point very clear."
Wilson says he also came up with three alternate questions on his own.
The Time account continues: “As for Rumsfeld's brusque response — that even a fully armored vehicle ‘can be blown up’--Wilson says, ‘Personally, I didn't like that answer.’”
But he added, “I hope I didn't do any damage to Secretary Rumsfeld.”
Following the meeting, Wilson told Rumsfeld he did not intend to put him “on the spot” or show disrespect, and the two shook hands. Most soldiers were “overwhelmingly positive” afterward, Wilson says, but one officer suggested he should have asked the question in a more “proper forum.”
Wilson says he replied: “What would the proper forum be?” He adds: “If it costs me my career to save another soldier, I'll give it."
LOL!
Sadly, I think this soldier WAS the embed.
I've responded to this before, which YOU conveniently ignored. Up-Armoring Humvees does NOT afford the same protection as building armored ones. And higher production rates on NEW armored Humvees was ONLY initiated AFTER the soldier asked the question.
There can be only ONE reason for this - That Rumsfeld's department was not doing what it could to protect the troops he is SUPPOSED to be responsible for. He is trying to fight a war without giving the troops everything they need and without listening to the his senior leadership. He's trying to take a page out of the Robert McNamara school of SecDefs and it's working all too well.
Unfortunately the problem with you guys is that you won't realize how wrong you were until the Muslims strike again and our Army is in such a sad shape from this war that we won't be able to respond properly. You can either keep drinking the Kool Aid, or write letters to your congressmen and Bush asking for Rumsfeld to be sacked. I spent 8 1/2 years as a Marine and a Soldier and confidence in this man among my circle is at an all time low in light of recent events.
FYI - Read my post history. I'm the farthest thing from a liberal you'll find, but I know incompotence when I see it, and far too many of my friends in the military agree with me for me to be comfortable with Rummy. The best decision Bush could make would be to ask Rumsfeld to tender his resignation immediately after the elections.
He screwed up. Send him to the Russian front. Siberia.
Like I thought, the facts mean squat to you.
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