Paper regrets readers not initially told reporter involved in soldier’s question to Rumsfeld
Here comes the spin the neo-cons are trying to use to defuse the “why don’t we have decent armor” question from Specialist Wilson to Secretary Rumsfeld. See, there was an embedded reporter who knew he wouldn’t be able to ask any questions, so he coached Wilson on the armor question. It’s the damned liberal media!
C’mon, fellas, you gotta do better than that. Do you suppose Wilson was going to ask Rummy, “Would you consider our current war planning excellent or merely good?” but then the evil reporter planted seditious questions in the soldier’s head? Yeah, that’s it, because it was so obvious from all the supportive hooting and applause from the rest of the soldiers that no one else was even thinking about the problem with the “hillbilly armor” on their Humvees. Geez, the soldiers have probably bitched about that so long and so loud to this embedded reporter that he was just helping them transform “what the fuck’s up with this under-armored Humvee bullshit?” into a more pointed and respectful question.
The reporter must have been working overtime to brainwash the rest of the soldiers, too, given that others asked questions like
Q: Yes, sir. Specialist Anderson, Alpha Company, 2nd Platoon. And my question is I was curious to know why I, as a single soldier, cannot enlist in the regular Army, but I can enlist in the National Guard and be deployed with a family care plan?
Q: Mr. Secretary, Specialist McKobiak (sp), 116th Calvary Brigade. My question is what is the Department of Defense, more specifically, the Army side of the house, doing to address shortages and antiquated equipment that National Guard soldiers, such as the 116th Calvary Brigade and the 278th ACR are going to roll into Iraq with?
Q: Mr. Secretary, Lieutenant Colonel Alan Kronolog (sp). I’m the Inspector General for the 116th Brigade Combat team. We’re helping – or trying to help about 150 soldiers get their contingency travel pay. We’ve gone through the chain of command; we’ve tried IG channels. These soldiers have gone – some since July – without getting travel pay. Thousands of dollars, they’re having creditors call them at home, call their spouses at home, threatening collection action. We have a big problem. There seems to be a problem with the Defense Finance Accounting Service. Can you help us to understand that problem, Mr. Secretary or even better, can you point us to a resource that will help us get these soldiers paid? [Applause]
Q: Specialist Skarwin (Sp?) HHD 42nd Engineer Brigade. Mr. Secretary [Cheers] my question is with the current mission of the National Guard and Reserves being the same as our active duty counterparts, when are more of our benefits going to line up to the same as theirs, for example, retirement? [Cheers] [Applause]
Q: Good morning, sir. Staff Sergeant Latazinsky (sp), 1st COSCOM (sp), Fort Bragg, [Cheers] North Carolina. Yes, sir. My husband and myself, we both joined a volunteer Army. Currently, I’m serving under the Stop Loss Program. I would like to know how much longer do you foresee the military using this program?
Now, being the fair and balanced blogger that I am, I should also highlight some of the other, not-so-tough questions posed to Secretary Rumsfeld:
Q: Staff Sergeant Kobeck (sp) with Charlie Company 171 Aviation. With the recent success of the elections in Afghan, what message will you take back to the States to the people that say we couldn’t get it done?
Q: Chaplain Malone (sp), the 642nd Aviation Support Battalion. Mr. Secretary, my job is to support the spiritual fitness of the soldiers that you see in the room today. I am also here to support the morale of these soldiers. And the soldiers that you see here today have asked me to ask you this question on their behalf. Would you be kind enough, sir, to put us on your aircraft today and take us to Disneyland? [Cheers]
Q: Yes, Mr. Secretary, Specialist McCullough (sp), Alpha Company 1st of the 112th Infantry. There’s a lot of soldiers here from Western Pennsylvania and we were wondering if we were going to be given the opportunity to watch the Steelers win the Super Bowl this year? [Cheers] [Applause]
Q: Sergeant Carr (sp), 3 in the 116 Armored Cav from Oregon. [Cheers] Mr. Secretary, with the recent re-election of our commander in chief to another term in office, the U.S. people sent a message to the world that we are committed to fight this war on terrorism. Specifically, in regards to non-NATO countries, how has this message affected their posture or willingness to renegotiate their relationship with the United States?
Yeah! We showed them stinky Europeans, didn’t we? We’ll follow Bush and Rumsfeld through the inept war planning and management in order to send a strong message! And we’ll install a puppet regime in Afghanistan as well! Now when do we get to fly to Disneyland and watch the Super Bowl?
