Text 6392, 85 rader
Skriven 2004-12-19 08:56:00 av FRANK SCHEIDT (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av ED HULETT
Ärende: Rumsfeld vs. the troo
=============================
-=> Quoting Ed Hulett to Alan Hess <=-

 AH> Rumsfeld's response leaves questions unanswered
 AH> 
 AH> By Clarence Page
 AH> 
 AH> December 16, 2004
 AH> 
 AH> WASHINGTON - If you don't like the message, knock the messenger, as an old
 EH> spin
 AH> doctor's motto goes. That's how some people are reacting to a soldier's
 EH> question
 AH> that knocked Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld off his game during
 AH> a town hall session in Kuwait last week.
 AH> 
 AH> Spc. Thomas Wilson, a scout with a Tennessee National Guard unit, asked
 EH> Mr.
 AH> Rumsfeld why soldiers still have to fortify their canvas-covered Humvees
 EH> with
 AH> "hillbilly armor," scrap metal and ballistic-resistant glass that they dig
 EH> out
 AH> of landfills for protection. After a brief moment of stony silence, the
 EH> comment
 AH> brought a spontaneous eruption of "hooahs" and applause from other troops.

 EH> I found this, you might find it interesting. 

 EH> It says that of 830 vehicles requiring armoring up, only 20 hadn't
 EH> been at the time
 EH> the plant asked the question.

 EH> <quote>

 EH> "The first point is that you'll recollect that one of the questions
 EH> was the status of the 278 ACR; in other words, the date that we had the
 EH> visit by the secretary of Defense, we had a question about their
 EH> up-armoring status. When the question was asked, 20 vehicles remained
 EH> to be up-armored at that point. We completed those 20 vehicles in the
 EH> next day. And so over 800 vehicles from the 278 ACR were up-armored,
 EH> and they are a part now of their total force that is operating up in
 EH> Iraq.  Q On the 278th, can you repeat this? At the time the question
 EH> was asked, the planted question, the unit had 784 of its 804 vehicles
 EH> armored? 

 EH> GEN. SPEAKES: Here is the overall solution that you see. And what
 EH> we've had to do is -- the theater had to take care of 830 total
 EH> vehicles. So this shows you the calculus that was used. Up north in
 EH> Iraq, they drew 119 up-armored humvees from what we call stay-behind
 EH> equipment. That is equipment from a force that was already up there. We
 EH> went ahead and applied 38 add-on armor kits to piece of equipment they
 EH> deployed over on a ship. They also had down in Kuwait 214 stay- behind
 EH> equipment pieces that were add-on armor kits. And then over here they
 EH> had 459 pieces of equipment that were given level-three protection.
 EH> And so when you put all this together, that comes up with 830.

 EH> Q At the time of the question -- summarize this, now -- that unit that
 EH> the kid was complaining about was mostly armored?

 EH> GEN. SPEAKES: Yes. In other words, we completed all the armoring
 EH> within 24 hours of the time the question was asked.

 EH> Q If he hadn't asked that question, would the up-armoring have been
 EH> accomplished within 24 hours?

 EH> GEN. SPEAKES: Yes. This was already an existing program."

 EH> <end quote>

 EH> IOW, this entire teepot tempest is just left-media hype in an attempt
 EH> to bash Rumsfeldt and the Bush administration.

 EH> You can read the entire news conference here:

Yet much of the American "news"media use that exchange between 
Rumsfeld and that soldier as a reason for Rumsfeld to *resign*!

I have this dream:  That one day we can read the newspapers and 
believe almost everything they print ... [sigh] ... but, then, 
I've always been an idealist ...

... "Quit quoting me, you blubbering twit!" ÄÄ Confucius

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