Our newly-minted Defense Secretary Robert Gates went to Iraq yesterday. The army arranged for him to meet with grunts on the ground to get their advice on what to do in Iraq. MSNBC has one story this morning. The headline was
U.S. Soldiers Tell Gates to Send More Troops
There was even one direct quote from a soldier. Spc. Jason Glenn of Mount Grove, Missouri, told Gates
"Sir, I think we need to just keep doing what we’re doing. I really think we need more troops here. With more presence on the ground, more troops might hold them (the insurgents) off long enough to where we can get the Iraqi army trained up,"
More below the fold.
While the body of this story says Gates "received the same answer time and time again," the only soldier quoted in the story is the above-mentioned Glenn. Reading further, you learn that the soldiers Gates talked to were chosen by the Army to express their views but that
Defense officials travelling with the defense secretary said they did not know how the soldiers who met with Gates were chosen from the 134,000 troops in Iraq.
There's another disclaimer following that one:
While unscientific and perhaps not representative of troops’ thoughts overall, the soldiers’ views are among those Gates is weighing as he drafts recommendations for Bush.
So let's see what we have here. We have a "fact-finding" secretary of defense seeking advice from pre-picked soldiers. We have a soldier recommending that the president do what the president has already said is not working. We have a major network posting a headline that couldn't have been written any better by the administration, while burying the truth more than halfway down the page. And, finally, we have an American public who can look at that headline and say, "Oh, well if the soldiers think we need to send more troops, we'd better do it. Anything for the soldiers."
Only it won't be for the soldiers. It'll be for the gigantic ego that resides in the White House and is willing to use anything, even our soldiers, to avoid the truth of the mess he has created.
Cherry-picking by the pols, pandering by the media, business as usual.