Looks like the troops are getting tired of Rumsfeld's $h!t.

You know, if the troops need more armor protection then say "ok" and get it to Iraq. Don't give some bogus reply like we are making it as fast as we can, b/c that is BS. Also, don't let these guys do there time and then hold them up from going home b/c you can't find anyone else to go over to that hell hole. How would old Rumsfeld and Bush feel if they were over their fighting w/hard hats and machineguns and then when it was time to go they were given one more year? I guess Bush wouldn't know what it's really like to fight in a war.

Rumsfeld faces tough questions from troops

Defense chief speaks to soldiers heading to Iraq

Wednesday, December 8, 2004 Posted: 5:46 PM EST (2246 GMT)

CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait (AP) -- After delivering a pep talk designed to energize troops preparing to head for Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld got a little "talking to" himself from disgruntled soldiers.

In his prepared remarks, Rumsfeld urged the troops -- mostly National Guard and Reserve soldiers -- to discount critics of the war in Iraq and to help "win the test of wills" with the insurgents.

Some of soldiers, however, had criticisms of their own -- not of the war itself but of how it is being fought.

Army Spc. Thomas Wilson, for example, of the 278th Regimental Combat Team that is comprised mainly of citizen soldiers of the Tennessee Army National Guard, asked Rumsfeld in a question-and-answer session why vehicle armor is still in short supply, nearly three years after the war in Iraq.

"Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to uparmor our vehicles?" Wilson asked. A big cheer arose from the approximately 2,300 soldiers in the cavernous hangar who assembled to see and hear the secretary of defense.

Rumsfeld hesitated and asked Wilson to repeat his question.

"We do not have proper armored vehicles to carry with us north," Wilson said after asking again.

Rumsfeld replied that, "You go to war with the Army you have," not the one you might want, and that any rate the Army was pushing manufacturers of vehicle armor to produce it as fast as humanly possible.

And, the defense chief added, armor is not always a savior in the kind of combat U.S. troops face in Iraq, where the insurgents' weapon of choice is the roadside bomb, or improvised explosive device.

"You can have all the armor in the world on a tank and it can (still) be blown up," Rumsfeld said.

Asked later about Wilson's complaint, the deputy commanding general of U.S. forces in Kuwait, Maj. Gen. Gary Speer, said in an interview that as far as he knows, every vehicle that is deploying to Iraq from Camp Buehring in Kuwait has at least "Level 3" armor. That means it at least has locally fabricated armor for its side panels, but not necessarily bulletproof windows or protection against explosions that penetrate the floorboard.

Speer said he was not aware that soldiers were searching landfills for scrap metal and used bulletproof glass.

During the question-and-answer session, another soldier complained that active-duty Army units sometimes get priority over the National Guard and Reserve units for the best equipment in Iraq.

"There's no way I can prove it, but I am told the Army is breaking its neck to see that there is not" discrimination against the National Guard and Reserve in terms of providing equipment, Rumsfeld said.

Yet another soldier asked, without putting it to Rumsfeld as a direct criticism, how much longer the Army will continue using its "stop loss" power to prevent soldiers from leaving the service who are otherwise eligible to retire or quit.

Rumsfeld said that this condition was simply a fact of life for soldiers at time of war.

"It's basically a sound principle, it's nothing new, it's been well understood" by soldiers, he said. "My guess is it will continue to be used as little as possible, but that it will continue to be used."

In his opening remarks, Rumsfeld stressed that soldiers who are heading to Iraq should not believe those who say the insurgents cannot be defeated or who otherwise doubt the will of the military to win.

"They say we can't prevail. I see that violence and say we must win," Rumsfeld said.

 

Why don't you get the story straight before ranting?
This is why the Democrats will continue to lose creditability and suffer damage to their parties.
They just can't get over their hate and dislike for Rumsfeld and Bush.

May I also remind you that Kerry, a dumocrat that voted against the funding of the troops who ran for president didn't help things either.

Quote from Todays News @ MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6676765/
"In a related development, it was revealed Thursday that a reporter claims to have helped the soldier prepare the question directed at Rumsfeld. The Poynter Institute, a news media think tank, published on its Web site an e-mail attributed to reporter Edward Lee Pitts of the Chattanooga Times Free Press that states Pitts worked with the soldier since he wasn't allowed to question Rumsfeld himself.

"Before hand we worked on questions to ask Rumsfeld about the appalling lack of armor their vehicles going into combat have," says the e-mail, which was sent to newspaper colleagues.

"I have been trying to get this story out for weeks — as soon as I found out I would be on an unarmored truck," the e-mail said."

Once again a leftist reporter making up his own story and then reporting it as if it is news just like Dan Rather Gate.

Chattanooga reporter's e-mail to colleagues
http://poynter.org/forum/?id=misc

just had one of my best days as a journalist today. As luck would have
it, our journey North was delayed just long enough see I could attend a visit today here by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. I was told yesterday that only soldiers could ask questions so I brought two of them along with me as my escorts. Before hand we worked on questions to ask Rumsfeld about the appalling lack of armor their vehicles going into combat have. While waiting for the VIP, I went and found the Sgt. in charge of the microphone for the question and answer session and made sure he knew to get my guys out of the crowd.

So during the Q&A session, one of my guys was the second person called on. When he asked Rumsfeld why after two years here soldiers are still having to dig through trash bins to find rusted scrap metal and cracked ballistic windows for their Humvees, the place erupted in cheers so loud that Rumsfeld had to ask the guy to repeat his question. Then Rumsfeld answered something about it being "not a lack of desire or money but a logistics/physics problem." He said he recently saw about 8 of the special up-armored Humvees guarding Washington, DC, and he promised that they would no longer be used for that and that he would send them over here. Then he asked a three star general standing behind him, the commander of all ground forces here, to also answer the question. The general said it was a problem he is working on.

The great part was that after the event was over the throng of national
media following Rumsfeld- The New York Times, AP, all the major networks -- swarmed to the two soldiers I brought from the unit I am embedded with. Out of the 1,000 or so troops at the event there were only a handful of guys from my unit b/c the rest were too busy prepping for our trip north. The national media asked if they were the guys with the armor problem and then stuck cameras in their faces. The NY Times reporter asked me to email him the stories I had already done on it, but I said he could search for them himself on the Internet and he better not steal any of my lines. I have been trying to get this story out for weeks- as soon as I foud out I would be on an unarmored truck- and my paper published two stories on it. But it felt good to hand it off to the national press. I believe lives are at stake with so many soldiers going across the border riding with scrap metal as protection. It may be to late for the unit I am with, but hopefully not for those who come after.

The press officer in charge of my regiment, the 278th, came up to me
afterwords and asked if my story would be positive. I replied that I would write the truth. Then I pointed at the horde of national media pointing cameras and mics at the 278th guys and said he had bigger problems on his hands than the Chattanooga Times Free Press. This is what this job is all about - people need to know. The solider who asked the question said he felt good b/c he took his complaints to the top. When he got back to his unit most of the guys patted him on the back but a few of the officers were upset b/c they thought it would make them look bad. From what I understand this is all over the news back home.

Thanks,
Lee
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is disgusting, this is why I'm against the media and embedded reporters in the middle of battle.
Some people disagreed with me here but I think you guys will start to understand
where I was coming from!

 

looks like TF users are getting tired of reading the Dog's posts...:usaflagwa

 

Sourdough.. the reporter submitting the question to the soldier may indeed be true... I was watching that live when it was asked and the rest of the soldiers in the place did indeed applaud pretty loudly when the soldier asked the question..

It's not like the question was not a valid question to ask. The applause indicated as much. Not only that, Rumsfeld's response gave it validity. In my opinion, Rumsfeld did a a very good job answering the question.

This is not as big of a deal as media has made it out to be either.

As for the reporter's comment: "I have been trying to get this story out for weeks — as soon as I found out I would be on an unarmored truck," the e-mail said."

Duh, no sh!t! The armored vehicles that are there are more likely to be used where they are needed, for those people in the most dangerous of positions!

 

I don't think its that big a deal either but what is bad about it is once again the media
making up a story and presenting it like they had nothing to do with it.
The guy and his intentions was never known until today and was left out of the origional stories on purpose.
They would never mention Kerry or anyone that voted against funding the troops either if it doesn't fit their agenda, its funny how that was left out of the story.
Just a reminder here....

 

Is EVERYTHING a republican/democrat issue to you?

Heck, here is what Bush said today when asked what he thought of the soldier's question:

"If I were a soldier overseas wanting to defend my country, I'd want to ask the secretary of defense the same question."

 

I agree with what the president and the soldier said, yes.
The soldier should be able to ask these questions, yes.
Why don't they also reveal that the problems also have to do with other issues such as the people who voted against funding the troops?

Is everything a republican/Democrat issue with me?
It is when the media is nothing more than abunch of Liberals who do nothing
but attack a president and his administration in a time of war.
How can you not be suspicious after Rather Gate and everything else that
has happened the past election year.

You may not agree, but the media in this country is anti-American when all
they do is run negative stories, showing body counts, etc everyday and then
run a story about a prison scandal when its under investigation by the military.

The other side did everything they could to ruin Bush, Ashcroft from telling
lies to movies, books.
I don't think anyone has been attacked more than this administration from the media and the left in a time of war.

So you see, the answer to the question is yes, I'm very suspicious about anything the media does when they don't reveal everything in the origional
story.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/12/09/rumsfeld.reporter/index.html

The question was planted by a reporter, here is CNN's version of the story.
This is what I'm saying...

Its the media's agenda not the military or the soldier that is planted here.
They are planting a story and acting like they have nothing to do with it and reporting
it as news.

Maybe you don't get it?
But at least now you know where I stand, Ol Venice dogs post here is incorrect, it only reports the other side of the story.

 

Let me ask you a question now.
You ask Is EVERYTHING a republican/democrat issue to you?

Can I watch CBS news and Dan Rather and believe its fair and balanced and that I will get the truth?


1)Everything is a republican/democrat issue pretty much in todays society, sadly.
The news media of any type have their own agendas to pursue for either side so you
very seldom get the truth of the issue, just bits and pieces.

2)The politicians of today everything is this way.

3) College professors and teachers discriminate and treat people differently when they
find out their political affiliation is not to their liking.
I know this is true because I've heard ex-students talking about this on the radio from
CU-Boulder.
They claim that they were treated badly or given lower grades than other students, it happens right at the time the professors find out about them being conservatives.
I'm not claiming there isn't any on the other side either.

I'm not saying its all Democrat or Republican but you see there is more of this than most people will ever know.

 

Most definitely you would think that with a republican president and a republican majority in both houses that such a bill would get passed easily. Oh well.