William1865:
Moreover, it is absolutely valid to compare the US to other countries and show how we are superior.

MIB:
As it turns out, a reporter from the Chattanooga Times Free Press named Edward Lee Pitts staged this whole thing.

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.\"

fantomas:
On the home front, Rheumy & Co. are planning to slash spending on the F/A-22

KeyWest Guy:
Not so fast, my oft-wrong friend. The soldier who asked the question says the question was his and his alone.

So don't dismiss the opinions of the soldiers by claiming they were prompted to ask the tough questions. MIB, why do you hate the troops?

Wilson, of Ringgold, Ga., says he met and befriended Edward Lee Pitts, an embedded reporter from the Chattanooga Times Free Press, at California’s Fort Irwin, where his unit trained. Later in Kuwait, after Pitts learned that only soldiers could ask questions at the upcoming Rumsfeld meeting, he urged Wilson to come up with, as Wilson recalls, some “intelligent questions.” Wilson decided on one after his convoy arrived at Camp Arijan. The camp had hundreds of fully armored vehicles waiting for a unit scheduled to arrive in July. When Wilson asked if the 278th could use them in the meantime, the answer was no. Wilson then devised a question about the shortage of armor and showed it to Pitts. Even though the reporter “suggested a less brash way of asking the question,” Wilson says, “I told him no, that I wanted to make my point very clear.” Wilson says he also came up with three alternate questions on his own.

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.” But as a George W. Bush supporter, he adds, “I hope I didn’t do any damage to Secretary Rumsfeld.”