Rumsfeld Set Up; Reporter Planted Questions With Solider

[Gem]

RUMSFELD SET UP; REPORTER PLANTED QUESTIONS WITH SOLIDER

Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter Edward Lee Pitts is embedded with the 278th Regimental Combat Team, now in Kuwait preparing to enter Iraq, and is filing articles for his newspaper. Pitts claims in a purported email that he coached soldiers to ask Defense Secretary Rumsfeld questions!

From: EDWARD LEE PITTS, MILITARY AFFAIRS
Sent: Wednesday, December 8, 2004 4:44 PM
To: Staffers

Subject: RE: Way to go

I 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

Does anyone else find this completely unethical? I have no problem with the questions asked...but I think that a reporter using troops to get the scoop on making Rumsfeld look bad sets a poor precedent...are future q&a sessions going to be cancelled because the leaders involved can't be sure who they are giving answers to...the troops or members of the media looking to get a quick smear story?

Rich Lowry said today, "If you ask Rumsfeld why he isn't protecting the troops, if you desert and go to Canada, if you sue the military...the media will make you a star and will cover your story every five minutes...but if you are in Falluja doing your job and doing it with great pride...you're invisible and the media won't touch you."

 

[nakedemperor]

Valid question, but completely unethical. Edward is the Pitts.

 

[CSM]

Something doesn't sound right here. Not sure what, but something is wrong with this story.

 

[Fmr jarhead]

There are some very bright people in here....who was it who asked, "why is a aviation guy asking that question?"

Seems your instincts were correct.

What a piece of work this reporter is.....he will probably get promoted, too.

 

[CSM]

Well, it seems that Mr. Pitts does indeed work for said newspaper and that he is indeed embedded with the 278th RCT. If the e-mail is indeed true, he will be back in the US before you can say "Allah Akbhar" and rightfully so. I bet a nickel to a donut that at least two soldiers in the 278th are catching a raft of crap right now from their fellow soldiers. If they did indeed collaborate with this reporter to embarass the VIP, they would be in for some UCMJ non-judicial punishment at the very least. The release of this e-mail (if true) would be a primary piece of evidence in those proceedings.

 

[Fmr jarhead]

No doubt....I think it would be more than fair to say they will deserve whatever demotion and other punishment that is doled out, if this is true.

 

[no1tovote4]

The thing of it is the soldier would not have asked the question if they were not sympathetic to the point being made. If the question was accurate, regardless of where it came from, then it needed to be worked on. However there is a chain of command, it should not have been dealt with from the press but within that chain. If you don't get an answer from your immediate supervisor keep going up the chain until answers are given, don't jump everybody and go directly to the public.

 

[Gem]

no1,

I agree, the question was a valid one. One that I feel Rumsfeld answers honestly, to his credit. However, I am more concerned with the potential fallout of a reporter not only using soldiers on the ground to get his questions answered...but then bragging about it.


(This is, of course, still up for debate, the email is presently on Drudge, but it hasn't been confirmed as of yet)

 

[CSM]

The thing of it is the soldier would not have asked the question if they were not sympathetic to the point being made. If the question was accurate, regardless of where it came from, then it needed to be worked on. However there is a chain of command, it should not have been dealt with from the press but within that chain. If you don't get an answer from your immediate supervisor keep going up the chain until answers are given, don't jump everybody and go directly to the public.

It goes further than that...I suspect the soldiers had indeed asked the question of their chain of command prior to this event and that they already had the answer and the answer was very similar to the one Rumsfeld gave. I know soldiers very well and I have no doubt that the reporter colluded with these two soldiers specifically to embarass the Secretary. The soldiers probably thought of it as a prank and kind of neat to yank Rumsfeld's chain, not realizing how much trouble they could get into. For that reason alone I would rule out the firing squad, but not much else.

 

[CSM]

As I suspected, the unit already had been informed of the status of armored vehicles as evidenced by this story filed by Mr. Pitts earlier:

http://www.greene.xtn.net/index.php?table=news&template=news.view.subscriber&newsid=117612

The fact that the unit KNEW it was taking over armored vehicles once they got there, the fact that most unit members were being flown into Iraq as opposed to driving and the fact that the scrounging going on was not truly necessary indicates to me that the entire event was indeed staged to embarass Rumsfeld. The reporte should be sent home post haste and those two soldiers severly reprimanded.

 

[Zhukov]

I don't know. It's too neat. Which make's it somewhat suspect.

Of course, even if it is true, we all know reporters are jackasses. Have we learned anything new here?

The question was relevant. The soldier willingly asked it. The Secretary answered it.


I think we should spend at least twice as much as we do on defense. Let's hear those who criticized the Secretary's answer argue for that legislation.

 

[no1tovote4]

Often it seems like soldiers today assume that they should be impervious to attack and that their job should be a safe as working at the bank. I am sure if we had infinite resources we may be able to make that true too, however we must choose and prioritize. I think even a soldier should be able to understand that priorities are sometimes in conflict and some money that would normally be spent on their armour may have needed to be spent elsewhere until funds were available. (Remember the funds that Kerry voted against?)

 

[Doc Holiday]

It's another example of the media trying to make the news instead of reporting what happened.