Have you heard the demands this past week for Donald Rumsfeld’s head on a platter? Before you start sharpening your knife you may want to hear John Podhoretz’s editorial in the New York Post. John fills you in on what you may have missed from the MSM reporting on Rummy’s trip to Iraq. Here is what was reported:
Rumsfeld offers a pretty frank answer. He acknowledges shortcomings in the production line, claims they’re the result of physical limitations, and then says, “As you know, you go to war with the Army you have. They’re not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time.”
What? How dare Rumsfeld be so flip!
And, here is what Rummy actually said to the troops:
“I talked to the general coming out here about the pace at which the vehicles are being armored. They have been brought from all over the world, wherever they’re not needed to a place here where they are needed. I’m told that they’re being — the Army is — I think it’s something like 400 a month are being done, and it’s essentially a matter of physics. It isn’t a matter of money. It’s a matter of production and capability of doing it.
“As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time. Since the Iraq conflict began, the Army has been pressing ahead to produce the armor necessary. I can assure you that Gen. Schoomaker and the leadership in the Army and certainly Gen. Whitcomb are sensitive to the fact that not every vehicle has the degree of armor that it would be desirable for it to have, but that they’re working at it at a good clip.”
Also, the MSM does not bother to tell you that:
…it turns out that very nearly all (800 out of 820) of his unit’s Humvees are, in fact, armored — and that the guardsman was coached to ask his question by a pompous and self-regarding newspaper reporter.
Just one more reason to follow the blogs!