So Much for Wilson as "Liberal Stooge" Theory
In case you actually care who asked the goddamned question in the first place, from this week's Editor and Publisher:In his first public account of last week’s controversy, Spc. Thomas Wilson says that he came up with the now famous armor question for Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld on his own, without the help of oft-criticized reporter Edward Lee Pitts. And he adds, "If this is my 15 minutes of fame, I hope it saves a life."
The account appears in next week’s edition of Time magazine.
After his convoy arrived at Camp Arijan in Kuwait, Wilson found hundreds of fully armored vehicles promised to another unit months down the road. Wilson says he asked if the 278th could use them in the meantime, and was told no. That inspired his question about the shortage of armor, which he showed to Pitts.
The reporter, far from being the protagonist, suggested that he find “a less brash way of asking the question," but Wilson “told him no, that I wanted to make my point very clear."
The Time account continues: “As for Rumsfeld's brusque response -- that even a fully armored vehicle ‘can be blown up’ -- Wilson says, ‘Personally, I didn't like that answer.’”
Everyone evidently shook hands and made nice after the encounter, but one officer suggested Wilson should have asked the question in a more "proper forum." Wilson quite astutely replied: “What would the proper forum be?”
Thanks to the always pithy Roger Ailes (no, not that one) who also astutely notes, "Of course, the only thing that matters is the answer to the question, not who asked it. Unless you're a servile, knee-jerk Bush apologist."
posted by Jane Hamsher @ 12/21/2004 03:59:00 PM
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