Disconnected Rumblings

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

Rummy on the Defensive

THESE are the things we NEED to be discussing. It amazes me that some things are being completely ignored in the news. And I think you all know how I feel about the failures of the media. Well they actually come through, but then again they had to this time.



U.S. Troops in Kuwait Fire Complaints at Rumsfeld
"'Now why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles? And why don't we have those resources readily available to us?' the soldier asked.

Rumsfeld asked the soldier to repeat the question.

The soldier said, 'A lot of us are getting ready to move north (into Iraq) relatively soon. Our vehicles are not armored. We're digging pieces of rusted scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass that's already been shot up, dropped, busted -- picking the best out of this scrap to put on our vehicles to take into combat.'

'We do not have proper armament vehicles to carry with us north.'"
So what did he say to that question? Did he say that he was upset as well that more armor did not come as fast as they would like? Noooo. In good old Rummy fashion he replied with his sarcastic wit.
"Rumsfeld conceded that 'not every vehicle has the degree of armor that it would be desirable for it to have,' and said the Army was hurrying to provide more armored vehicles, adding 400 per month.

But Rumsfeld added, 'As you know, you go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time.'

'If you think about it, you can have all the armor in the world on a tank and a tank can be blown up. And you can have an up-armored Humvee and it can be blown up,' Rumsfeld said."
Check out the video here.

Some response from Washington, I know, I know, from a Democrat senator, but still.
" In Washington, Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd (news, bio, voting record) of Connecticut called Rumsfeld's comments about the armor 'stunning,' and said in a letter to the secretary, 'Your response -- 'You go to war with the Army you have' -- is utterly unacceptable.'"
Yeah we really need to face these things. Talk about them and fix them.
posted by digitaljay @ 10:24 PM MST

1 Comments:

On Fri Dec 10, 09:59:00 AM MST, Blogger digitaljay said...
Ok well I am offended. Instead of having a discussion on how we can better equip our troops, you launch into berating a reporter who asked a soldier to ask a question to Rumsfeld. You further go on to call this soldier a "candy pants little whiner". And "sugar britches Wilson" Yuck.

You even go on to say that he isn't even a combat troop just a "Rear Eschalon M.F." "crying about how tough life is". As if to say that unless you are combat, you have nothing to complain about. Well correct me if I am wrong, but alot of the soldiers who have been killed by improvised explosive devices (roadside bombs) are not necessarily combat troops no?

See here is the problem I have with most of you Republicans, you think that it is more important to not "embarass the secretary of Defense" than to ask the critical questions that need to be asked. That is dangerous. Just ignore it and it will go away right?

Notice THIS part of the story that you linked in your comment Rep Bud:

"But Tom Griscom, publisher and executive editor of the Times Free Press, said Pitts did nothing wrong.

'Lee was trying to pursue a story,' he said. 'If he couldn't ask Rumsfeld the question, then clearly he said to the soldiers, 'This is something you should talk about.' But they decided to ask the question. ... That response from the troops was a clear indication that this is an issue on their minds.'

Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, agreed.

'I think this is different from planting a question,' he said. 'Even if it was the reporter's idea, if the soldiers said, 'Hey, that's a good question,' that doesn't mean it's illegitimate.'"

Your whole argument Rep Bud is seriously flawed. You see ALOT of troops applauded that question from Wilson, so obviously it wasn't a question that the other soldiers didn't have, that was PLANTED by some horrible journalist, but rather a question that they felt was VERY warranted.

I have never been a soldier, but you know what, I want my friends and fellow countrymen to have the BEST armor, the BEST supplies in the world! And if they don't have it, I want to know about it. I want the soldiers to bring it up, not to worry about embarassing the Sec of Defense!
 

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