We say nothing as our troops die in Iraq- Fred Grimm in Miami Herald

[KaryninMiami]

Send him a thank you email if you have a minute. It's a good piece and an important one to pass around. [e-mail]


http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/12322636.htm


"You're To Blame for deaths of Marines" (print title)
BY FRED GRIMM
Miami Herald

"We say nothing as our troops die in Iraq" (on line title)


These losses are on you.

Fourteen Marines died in Iraq last week when a roadside bomb exploded near their AAVP7A1 troop carrier. Designed to travel through surf, traverse, hit the beach and carry troops inland at maybe 20 mph, it was definitely not designed to withstand the most-effective weapon in the insurgency's arsenal.

And that's on you.

U.S. Marines, 500 miles from the Persian Gulf, are being bused around in lightly armored amphibious landing vehicles. And you won't get off your ass and raise hell.

These troops were among 34 killed by roadside bombs in the past two weeks. In May and June, 73 American soldiers died in Iraq from explosions near their inadequately armored troop carriers. Mostly Humvees. Some outfitted with Army-supplied bolt-on armor kits that don't protect the undercarriage. Others rigged by soldiers themselves with scrap metal and sandbag carpeting. ''Hillbilly armor,'' they call it.

Since May 2003, roadside bombs account for nearly half our dead and wounded in Iraq.

You knew this. Couldn't have missed it. So many stories about hillbilly armor in newspapers, TV news, on 60 Minutes, in news magazines. Surely one or two must have seeped through when you tuned in for the latest on Michael Jackson.

And you must have read local stories about young soldiers from Florida blown up in their Humvees: Pfc. Nathan Clemons, Sgt. Javier J. Garcia, Sgt. Carlos J. Gil, Lance Cpl. Marcus Mahdee, Spec. Robert Allen Wise, Michael Woodliff.

You probably remember the Tennessee National Guardsman who embarrassed Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld in December. He asked Rumsfeld why he hadn't procured armor to protect his troops.

The real answer: Because you didn't make him.

OBLIVIOUS TO PLIGHT

You allowed the Pentagon and Rumsfeld to pretend armor was no big deal. ''You go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you might want,'' Rumsfeld responded. If you had been paying attention, such a flip answer would have sent Rummy packing.

You allowed the president to remain oblivious. You didn't protest when your congressmen, from both parties, snatched money out of the military budget to pay for pork-barrel projects. You let them protect well-connected contractors even after it was obvious that they weren't up to fixing the problem.

Of course, Rummy, when he visited Iraq, didn't run the 10-mile terror gantlet from the airport to Baghdad in a tinny Humvee. Nope. He was snug inside a Rhino Runner, a reinforced steel bus manufactured by Weston-based Labock Technologies. The Pentagon VIPs and private contractors in Iraq know the Rhino, as opposed to the Humvee, will ward off bombs. The Pentagon brass may ride Rhinos. But they won't certify them. Not for our soldiers.

The military moves No. 1 prisoner Saddam Hussein around in a Rhino. Our soldiers get something far inferior.

And that's on you.

OTHER DIVERSIONS

Truly armored vehicles like the Rhino Runner would cut military casualties in half and eliminate the insurgency's most effective weapon.

But Americans, so very bored with Iraq, have been preoccupied with gay marriage, John Bolton's disposition, the outing of Valerie Plame and Carrie's chances on American Idol.

Unfortunately, armoring military vehicles doesn't fit on either side of America's political divide. It's not a liberal or conservative issue, not Democrat versus Republican. Doesn't matter if you were for the war or against the war. Americans, and their advocacy groups, can't seem to get excited about an issue unless it pits them against a known political enemy.

So you didn't raise hell when 14 young Marines perished in an amphibious landing craft in the middle of the damn desert.

Their deaths are on you.

[wolfgirl]

1. kick n/t

[faithnotgreed]

2. like someone said here: we have to support the media that does report

any of the hard truths

[KaryninMiami]

4. Exactly. Please write to him and write to the Herald.

Note that today's Miami Herald front page (and yesterday) is all about Dan Marino. Guess football sells better then war.

[steve2470]

3. kick nt

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. ''You go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you might want,''

This statement makes me want to hurl.... what a frigging moron. They can pay Hallibacon, KBR, Blackwater, and all the rest HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS, but they can't protect the people whom they sent there to protect (so say) us.

Rumsfeld may have a high position in this clusterf*ck of an administration, but to me he's just another egotistical, attention getter. I hope he sleeps like he should... little if at all.

[tsuki]

6. You go to war, he doesn't. Chickenhawk Rumsfield.

[arewenotdemo]

16. Precisely!

It says everything one needs to know about the White House press corpse that it made that repugnant Nazi into a celebrity.

[Rebellious Republican]

7. Done, sent my email. Kick it up!

:kick:

[KaryninMiami]

9. Gracias-- keep those emails going out! :)

[yowzayowzayowza]

8. Cindy Sheehan ...

should add this to her indictment. Can't ever spread this kinda stuff wide enuf.

[gratuitous]

10. Except when I did raise hell

So many "responsible" media outlets -- broadcast news, cable programs, radio jocks, and yes, even some newspapers like the Miami Herald -- called me a traitor, or soft on terrorism, as if those phrases had some immutable, inherent meaning. When I marched in the streets with thousands of my fellow citizens, those same media outlets couldn't take the cameras off the guy with the rainbow fright wig or some other "visual" person with the implication that the entire crowd was made up of eccentric folks. Our numbers were consistently, almost systematically undercounted, and when George W. Bush dismissed every one of us as a "focus group," what was the Miami Herald's response? Did they raise hell on our behalf, or just report what Bush said without comment?

In the run-up to war, according to analyses of the media, pro-war spokespersons held a 97-3 edge over folks who were against this invasion. And to this day, the entry fee for getting anti-war views aired, no matter how mild, is that you had to have supported it at some point in the past. Peaceniks need not apply, apparently, when it comes to talking against the prosecution of this war.

So now, some of your very own Florida boys are dying because of the poor execution by the Defense Department. Join the crowd from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Oregon, California and all the other states. I'm sorry it's so distressing for you, Mr. Grimm. Who did the Herald endorse in the Florida governor's race? How about the 2004 presidential race? John Kerry, Jonathan Edwards, Wes Clark and several other Democratic candidates made highly critical comments about the poor planning and lack of armor in Iraq. How did that play in the Miami Herald? Was it an issue, or was it just he-said, he-said-something-else "even-handed" coverage?

Yeah, maybe I personally didn't do enough, though I think I rather did quite a bit. But Mr. Grimm, you and the rest of the media come to the table on this issue with dirty hands, and it's not from printer's ink. If my hands are stained with blood, yours are positively drenched in it.

But welcome to the fight at last. One last hint: If you're looking for who is to blame rather than a scapegoat, start at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bread_and_roses]

12. Their deaths are not on me

I opposed this war.

I voted agaisnt these war-mongering profiteers in 2000 and 2004

I oppose the occupation.

I voted and marched and wrote and worked for a year to help turn this County into a little dot of blue in a sea of Upstate NY red.

Not on me. Those deaths lie squarly on the shoulders of the lying, profiteering imperialists currently in power and on those who voted for them.

[arewenotdemo]

17. well said

[Cha]

13. Cindy Sheehan is sayin' something and

getting smeared by the insane wingnuts for her thanks.

But, there's more of us to Thank her for what she's doing for Humanity.

[Q]

14. I and many other 'liberals' opposed this 'war' before it began...

...and oppose it to this moment. We were called unpatriotic and anti-American...many times by FELLOW DEMOCRATS.

The blood of innocents and the death of American Soldiers rest on the hands and heads of those who gave the lying, insane 'president' a blank check to wage war upon anyone HE defined as 'terrorists'.

Republicans AND Democrats are to blame...though they'll point fingers at each other when it comes time to accept responsibility.

[Inland]

15. I emailed my thanks for saying it clearly and concisely. nt

[Vinca]

18. Sadly, many of us raise hell and the media doesn't listen.

If we raise hell in Washington - as Conyers has done repeatedly - we get nowhere because we're in the minority. It's a good article, but don't lay the guilt trip on this segment of the population. We're trying.

[Inland]

19. Got a nice litle reply from Fred Grimm, so we know the encouragment works.

eom.