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 Greetings! You are reading an article from The Mudville Gazette. To reach the front page, with all the latest news and views, click the logo above or "main" below. Thanks for stopping by! December 13, 2004 Quotes of the WeekBy GreyhawkThe Mudville Gazette proudly spotlights our quotes of the week. Are they poor choices of words or accidental statments of truth? Did they say what they mean or mean what they say? Let's go through the looking glass, and you can be the judge: When Army Sergeant Dennis Edwards spoke at Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School in Massachusetts, students and teachers "...listened in rapt silence as he told chilling tales of battlefield horror in Iraq and criticized President Bush's motives for going to war". The centerpiece of his presentation was his description of how "...he and two other soldiers shot and killed a 10-year-old boy in Iraq who pretended to be wounded and suddenly fired an AK-47 rifle. The boy was found to have explosives attached to his body, Edwards told the stunned audience." One minor problem: he made the whole thing up. Brian MacQuarrie's Boston Globe story relates the reaction to the news from the students and faculty at the school, and gives us quote number one: "His confession has also saddened Dennis-Yarmouth teachers and students, who said they felt honored and captivated by his appearance." Yes, how sad that there wasn't really a dead little 10-year-old boy. No word whether "grief counselors" were available to help them "move on". Speaking of gullibility and a willingness to believe anything about those wacky Arabs, Tyler Golson relates his experience teaching English in Damascus, specifically his shock at learning his students weren't Hamas or International Answer members when they revealed to him their support for George Bush. Tyler responds, and provides quote two: Way to build the bridge, buddy. (Hat tip here and here.) Quote three is an overlooked comment in the notorious email exposed by the Drudge Report. Edward Lee Pitts, the reporter who planted the question about armored Humvees, explains his motivation: I have been trying to get this story out for weeks- as soon as I foud (sic) 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. Fortunately it has also been handed off to the blogs. Posted by Greyhawk / December 13, 2004 1:04 PM | Permalink 16 Comments |
November 26, 2010America@war [Greyhawk]
I think anyone who's ever pondered the "comment" option - once only available on blogs and bulletin boards, now ubiquitous on almost any web site - will appreciate this:
The so-called faculty of writing is not so much a faculty of writing as it is a faculty of thinking. When a man says, "I have an idea but I can't express it"; that man hasn't an idea but merely a vague feeling. If a man has a feeling of that kind, and will sit down for a half an hour and persistently try to put into writing what he feels, the probabilities are at least 90 percent that he will either be able to record it, or else realize that he has no idea at all. In either case, he will do himself a benefit. That's wisdom from the past, captured for posterity at the US Naval Institute, shared via the web on the institute's 137th anniversary. From their about page:
"The Naval Institute has three core activities," among them, History and Preservation: The Naval Institute also has recently introduced Americans at War, a living history of Americans at war in their own words and from their own experiences. These 90-second vignettes convey powerful stories of inspiration, pride, and patriotism. Take a look at the collection, and you'll see it's not limited to accounts from those who served on ships at sea, members of the other branches are well-represented. I'm fortunate to have met USNI's Mary Ripley, she's responsible for the institute's oral history program (and she's the daughter of the late John Ripley, whose story is told here). She also deserves much credit for their blog. ("We're not the Navy nor any government agency. Blog and comment freely.") We met at a milblog conference - Mary knew (and I would come to realize) that milbloggers are the 21st-century version of exactly what the US Naval Institute is all about. Once that light bulb came on in my head, I mentioned a vague idea for a project to her - milblogs as the 21st century oral history that they are. "Put that in writing," she said (of course - see first paragraph above!) - and here's part of the result. Shortly after the first tent was pitched by the American military in Iraq a wire was connected to a computer therein, and the internet was available to a generation of Americans at war - many of whom had grown up online. From that point on, at any given moment, somewhere in Iraq a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine was at a keyboard sharing the events of his or her day with the folks back home. While most would simply fire off an email, others took advantage of the (then) relatively new online blogging platforms to post their thoughts and experiences for the entire world to see. The milblog was born - and from that moment to this stories detailing everything from the most mundane aspects of camp life to intense combat action (often described within hours of the event) have been available on the web... And et cetera - but since you're reading this on a milblog, you probably knew that. And you know that milblogs aren't just blogs written by troops at war, that many friends, family members, and supporters likewise documented their story of America at war online in near-real time, as those stories developed. The diversity in membership of that group is broad, the one thing we all have in common is the impulse to make sense of the seemingly senseless, and communicate the tale - for each of us that impulse was strong enough to overcome whatever barriers prevent the vast majority of people from doing the same. Everyone at some point has some vague idea they believe should be shared - we were the people who, from some combination of internal and external urging, found and spent those many half hours persistently trying to write it down. But where will all that be in another 137 years? Or five or ten, for that matter. That's something I've asked myself since at least 2004 - when I wrote this:
Membership in the ghost battalion has grown in the years since, and an ever growing majority of those abandoned-but-still-standing sites are vanishing. Have you checked out Lt Smash's site lately? How about Sgt Hook's? If you're a long-time milblog reader you know the first widely-read milblog from Operation Iraq Freedom and the first widely-read milblog from Afghanistan are both gone from the web. If you're a relative newcomer to this world you may never even have heard of them - or the dozens upon dozens of others who carried forth the standard they set down. If you have a vague notion that something should be done about that, (a notion I've heard expressed more than once...) then you and I and the good folks at the US Naval Institute are in agreement. Preserving the history documented by the milbloggers is just one of the goals of the milblog project, the once-vague idea that we're now making real. And it's a big idea, if I say so myself - too big to explain in one simple blog post, so stand by for more. Likewise, it's too big a task to be accomplished by just one person. So if you're a milblogger (and exactly what is a milblogger? is a topic for much further discussion on its own) I'm asking for your help. All I'll really need is just a little bit (maybe just one or two of those half hours...) of your time, and your willingness to tell the tale. We've already made history, it's time to save it. (More to follow...) Posted 4:02 PM | Permalink |
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The Mudville Gazette is the on-line voice of an American warrior and his wife who stands by him. They prefer to see peaceful change render force of arms unnecessary. Until that day they stand fast with those who struggle for freedom, strike for reason, and pray for a better tomorrow.
 
 
 Furthermore, I will occasionally use satire or parody herein. The bottom line: it's my house. I like having visitors to my house. I hope you are entertained. I fight for your right to free speech, and am thrilled when you exercise said rights here. Comments and e-mails are welcome, but all such communication is to be assumed to be 1)the original work of any who initiate said communication and 2)the property of the Mudville Gazette, with free use granted thereto for publication in electronic or written form. If you do NOT wish to have your message posted, write "CONFIDENTIAL" in the subject line of your email. Original content copyright © 2003 - 2011 by Greyhawk. Fair, not-for-profit use of said material by others is encouraged, as long as acknowledgement and credit is given, to include the url of the original source post. Other arrangements can be made as needed. Contact: greyhawk at mudvillegazette dot com  Tending Distant Far from hearth and home, watching What tales we'll tell When things grim Some distant sunset, vision fading Saluting fallen friends whose names - Greyhawk, Baghdad, December 2004 |
>Edward Lee Pitts, the reporter who planted the
>question about armored Humvees, explains his
> motivation:
Ha ha ha! What a tool! Thinking that he might be in personal danger and wanting to find out why! I mean, seriously, what was he _thinking_? Get out there and report naked, the same way we expect our soldiers to fight!
density,
appropriate name. hey tell us this: how much time have you spent in the military?
you go from lack of armor on some subset of vehicles to full nakedness of our soldiers as if they have no equipment at all, when truth of the matter is they are the best equipped military in the history of the world.
typical idiotic liberal logic: ie none. Dense, is the sky falling where you live?
One thing I don't understand: at what point did that 'sic' after 'found' come in?
But..but...Michael...a representative of the mainstream media has uncovered the disturbing fact that some vehicles might be destroyed if hit by ordnance! Therefore they're all under-armored! WHAT MORE DO YOU NEEEEED?
Connected with him once I understood his butt was in danger too. Wasn't about JFK2 for once.
‘foud’ and was auto corrected, but wrong in original, but now made wrong again.
Quote three is an overlooked comment in the notorious email exposed by the Drudge Report. Edward Lee Pitts, the reporter who planted the question about armored Humvees, explains his motivation:
I have been trying to get this story out for weeks- as soon as I found (sic) 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.
This seems like a rare example of good reporting to me.
Since many are apparently missing the point, a paraphrase:
"I started caring furiously the minute I discovered my own ass was on the line!!!"
I cared before, I care now, but I'd start caring "furiously" if my butt was on the line too. Furiously? Maybe feverishly, certainly selfishly and probably accompanied by lots of whining and complaining. Call the reporter self-serving if you want...or credit him with a brilliant idea for getting his question asked. But I'm pretty darned tired of people suggesting that he "used" that GI. Any soldier with the guts to ask that question had more than enough guts to tell some punk reporter to stuff-it if he didn't agree with what he was being asked to do. Mr. Pitts obvious glee at "getting one past the handlers" seems a little sophomoric, but it's hardly a stretch of journalistic ethics to have done the deed.
Wow, Army Sergeant Dennis Edwards was found to be making up war stories, what's he gonna do next, run for President?
>appropriate name. hey tell us this: how much
> time have you spent in the military?
I guess it takes a military mind to understand why sending unarmored jeeps into an ambush zone is considered acceptable.
The other soldiers' reaction would seem to indicate that the question was neither unfamiliar nor unwelcome. I don't doubt that the reporters overstated the crowd reaction; I'd guess it was a few loudmouths rather than "the whole room" that burst into applause, but it's not as though there was a shocked hush and some dire muttering. And Rumsfeld's response was classic dumb-politico quote fodder. "You go to war with the Army you have"? Buddy, we're at war with the Army we had two years ago. In this day and age there is no reason for that to be the case.
I certainly understand that there is a mission to be carried out here, and I don't expect that the troops will be cowering in the bunker because their truck has sandbags on the floor instead of a purpose-built blast deflector. But the fact of the matter is that the military command is not doing its utmost to ensure that the armed forces in Iraq have the equipment needed for their mission. I would gladly pay extra taxes if it meant that some kid in the back of a hummer had more under his ass then the seat of his pants, and in fact I've done that through private donations. But I'm not being given that option.
Dense, you're grossly mis-informed in the matter. But I'll blame that on media spin, not personal failing. Virtually everything you've stated in your comment is wrong - see the 5 or so other entries on the topic (or any other MilBlog) on this site. Joe Galloway (no friend of the current admin) used the term 'miraculous' in his report on the progress made over the last 2 years.
That 'tax' bit is the underlying motivation of the left on this issue (I'm not claiming that's your political leaning) rest assured. But money isn't the problem here. As I said, read a few of the other entries here.
As to whether the reporter 'sneaking' his question in was valid or not, who cares? The Spec certainly wouldn't have asked it had he not been inclined to already.
The point of this particular post was simply the reporter's own motivation (self preservation - a natural instinct to be sure), but worth noting lest anyone mistakenly think he gave a damn about the lives of the GIs he was covering.
Bear in mind I'm in Iraq - not a requirement to have an opinion on the issue, but like the reporter's position it's something to weigh when considering my opinion.
>Joe Galloway...used the term 'miraculous'
>in his report on the progress made over
>the last 2 years.
But you can improve from "suck" and still suck.
>The point of this particular post was simply the
>reporter's own motivation...but worth noting
>lest anyone mistakenly think he gave a damn
>about the lives of the GIs he was covering.
So, what, if your own personal interest is tied up in a particular issue, you're not allowed to ask questions about that issue? I'm not sure what point you're trying to get across here. I didn't see the reporter claiming any kind of moral superiority here. Or is it the "hey I did pretty good" nature of the email? Whatever.
So I'm looking at your other posts, and I'm not really seeing convincing statements that the current situation is acceptable. My point here is that with American industrial capacity there's no reason why every vehicle patrolling in Iraq should NOT be properly equipped. You talk about "can-do attitude and perseverance", but why isn't that just as applicable to the guys up in Detroit? Iraq is clearly a dangerous place that requires a level of protection higher than canvas doors.
The fact that soldiers are bolting pieces of scrap metal to the sides of their overgrown SUVs does not make everything okay. Vietnam is often used as a comparison, but the most obvious example of vehicles changing to meet their requirement--the ACAV--was a conversion kit that was designed and installed at FMC. (And the later-model gun trucks consisted of an ACAV on the back of a truck.) Other posts discuss long-ranged aircraft removing armament and armor to improve speed, but those lighter aircraft were clearly not expected to perform the same way in combat. You wouldn't pull all the guns off a Hellcat and then send it out to intercept Kamikazes, and a long-range recon plane would be expected to flee rather than fight.
I'm sure that these issues are being addressed, and quickly. My feeling, though, is that they are not being addressed as quickly as possible, and that there is a general sense that "it's being taken care of and so it's not a problem anymore".
While I'm here...
"And if you think about it, you can have all the armor in the world on a tank and a tank can be blown up." Thanks, Mister Secretary. That's a real confidence-builder, that is.
Oh come on, Density is right guys. You don't go to war unless you have every damn thing you need right down to the bullet. THEN you crank up those tanks.
Right?
And until women in Iraq have free and unrestricted access to abortion, the entire war is a complete and abject failure.
"Tanks can be blown up" was no surprise to anyone who knows tanks. Had all the devastating impact of "the sun rises in the east".
At least, on my world it does.
It's pretty simple.
We aren't going to armor every single multipurpose vehicle in the Army. No matter who's ass is on the line.