Rumsfeld: Let Them Have Body Armor

I guess we shouldn't be surprised.

After Wednesday's rough-and-tumble press conference, which was not the first time soldiers have had tough questions on the subject of armor, Rumsfeld complained to the White House that they should have sent him into that conference with body armor.

Well, not really. YubaNet.com made that up, but it's appropriate. The best headline I've seen so far is from France: "Please, sir, can I have better armor?"

The right wing bloviators are making sure we all know that some reporter helped the soldier frame his question. Limbaugh's making it sound like the Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter's some kind of Mangiafuoco, pulling strings all over the place to embarass Rumsfeld. But you won't hear any of them quoting this part of Lee Pitt's email:

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.

This is what made the story - not the question, not the response from Rumsfeld, but the reaction from everyone there. It was a question everyone wanted answered, including me.

Of course, people like Rush have to find a way to deflect it, and all they have is Pitts behind the scenes. Anything to deflect attention from the real question: When are the troops going to get the protection they need? If such questions are politically embarassing to this administration, perhaps they should do something about it.