Don't talk to the press

Don't talk to reporters, camerapersons, photographers, anybody from the press, anytime, anywhere, about anything for any reason. Here's a good example why.

Colonel Thomas Spoehr, the director of materiel for the Army staff, told New York Times reporter Michael Moss the following:

The Army had become aware of a new type of armored vest for the soldiers. It is made of boronic carbon plates which are second only to diamonds as the hardest substances known to man. The older armored vests would stop shrapnel but not modern bullets. The new vests will stop most all the ammo being used against our boys in theaters around the world today. The new vests are also significantly lighter than the old, 16 pounds versus 24 pounds. The new vest, called The Interceptor, costs about $1000 each and the Army began ordering them. They are extremely difficult to make and require great precision in their manufacture.

The Army wasn't satisfied because it knew that there existed certain types of ammunition that, if our enemies could get hold of them, would defeat even the new vests. So the Army told the vest suppliers to go to work to develop even better armor than the new vests which were the best in use in the world today. The Interceptor would stop an AK-47 fired from ten feet. The suppliers came back with some modifications which added 2 pounds of weight and $300 cost to the vests, but the vests could now protect the soldiers from ammo which is still not being used against them as yet. The Army set the new specifications in January of this year and by March had already begun to distribute the new vests to the troops in Iraq. That's fast, by any measurement.

Here's what reporter Michael Moss of The New York Times wrote:

For the second time since the Iraq war began, the Pentagon is struggling to replace body armor that is failing to protect American troops from the most lethal attacks of insurgents.

The ceramic plates in vests worn by most personnel cannot withstand certain munitions the insurgents use. But more than a year after military officials initiated an effort to replace the armor with thicker, more resistant plates, tens of thousands of soldiers are still without the stronger protection because of a string of delays in the Pentagon's procurement system.

Col. Spoehr was adamant that the advanced ammo was not and is still not being used against our soldiers but that we will be ready if it ever is. That's not what Moss wrote. Why not?

Let's look at what Moss wrote. "For the second time since the Iraq war began, the Army is struggling to replace body armor that is failing to protect American troops from the most lethal attacks of insurgents." That sentence alone contains two lies and a misrepresentation. 3 months from specifications-to-delivery is lightening fast, not struggling, lie number 1. The enemy is not using the advanced ammo against our troops, lie number 2. "Insurgents" is the common MSM misrepresentation of our enemies (Cindy Sheehan calls them "freedom fighters"). They are TERRORISTS.

Then Moss goes on to claim that, "The ceramic plates in vests worn by most personnel cannot withstand certain munitions the insurgents use." That's a lie. Moss was told specifically that the munitions were not yet being used against our troops.

Moss wrote, "But more than a year after military officials initiated an effort to replace the armor with thicker, more resistant plates, tens of thousands of soldiers are still without the stronger protection because of a string of delays in the Pentagon's procurement system." Well, this sentence contains a stupid mistake as well as another lie. Moss confused The Interceptor vests, which the Army has been distributing for over a year, with the newly modified armored vests which the Army has been distributing since March. A stupid mistake. And this after only 3 months from specifications through design, prototyping, testing, re-design, further prototyping, further testing, Army approval, manufacturing and quality control specifications designed and implemented, manufacture launch, quality control testing, delivery to the Pentagon and then delivery and distribution to Iraq. That's not "a string of delays." Another lie.

TAGS: Interceptor, body armor, boronic carbide, New York Times, lies, misrepresentations, stupid mistake