Some of you might have heard about this already. I saw this and just had to share it with you all.
Matt Lauer sure seemed to have gotten an answer he didn't expect when a soldier in Iraq took a shot at the news media. Live from Camp Liberty in Iraq in the 7:30am half hour of Wednesday's Today, after one soldier told Lauer morale is "always high," Lauer countered that there are "people at home wondering how that could be possible with the conditions you're facing and with the attacks you're facing. What would you say to those people who are doubtful that morale can be that high?" Captain Sherman Powell retorted: "Sir, if I got my news from the newspapers also, I'd be pretty depressed as well." Lauer gave him a chance to expound: "What don't you think is being correctly portrayed?" Powell answered that "we are very satisfied with the way things are going here and we are confident that if we're allowed to finish the job we started we'll be very proud of it and our country will be proud of us for doing it."
Mark Finkelstein, a contributor to the MRC's NewsBusters.org blog, posted an item about this minutes after it aired on the August 17 Today. The MRC's Michelle Humphrey enhanced the posting with RealPlayer and Windows Media video of the exchange, which you can view in Finkelstein's posting at:
newsbusters.org From outdoors, as he stood in front of a crowd of Army soldiers, Lauer set up his session with them:
"Good morning to you from Camp Liberty here in Baghdad, Iraq. Temperature 116 degrees. As I mentioned, there are 134,000 American troops serving in Iraq from all parts of the country. The average age by the way, 28 years old. And they face daily challenges. Not only the enemy and insurgents attacks but also brutal elements. We will talk to some of the them about those challenges right now. Let me introduce some of the troops behind me. I've got Chief Warrant Officer Randy Corgess, Specialist Steven Chitterer, a Captain Sherman Powell and Sergeant Jamie Wells [all name spellings a best guess since no names appeared on screen]. Nice to have you all here. And to all of you, thanks for joining us. Talk to me a little bit about morale here. We've heard so much about the insurgents attacks, so much about the uncertainty as when you folks are going to get to go home. How would you describe morale?"
Chief Warrant Officer Randy Corgess: "In my unit morale is pretty good. Every day we go out and do our missions and people are ready to execute their missions. They're excited to be here."
Lauer: "How much does that uncertainty of knowing how long you're going to be here impact morale?"
Specialist Steven Chitterer: "Morale is always high. Soldiers know they have a mission. They like taking on new objectives and taking on the new challenges and training the Iraqi army. And now they are motivated, ready to go."
Lauer: "Don't get me wrong here, I think you are probably telling me the truth but a lot of people at home wondering how that could be possible with the conditions you're facing and with the attacks you're facing. What would you say to those people who are doubtful that morale can be that high?"
Captain Sherman Powell: "Sir, if I got my news from the newspapers also, I'd be pretty depressed as well."
Lauer: "What don't you think is being correctly portrayed?"
Powell: "Sir I know it's hard to get out and get on the ground and report the news, and I understand that, and I appreciate that fact. But for those of us who've actually had a chance to get out and go on the patrols and meet the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi police, and go on patrols with them we are very satisfied with the way things are going here and we are confident that if we're allowed to finish the job we started we'll be very proud of it and our country will be proud of us for doing it."
Lauer: "Perhaps we deal with the insurgency so often that we don't spend enough time talking about the average Iraqi citizen that perhaps welcomes you here with open arms. What kinds of experiences have you had in that area?"
Sergeant Jamie Wells: "Pretty much every day we go on patrol. Everybody is really psyched to see you shouting 'mista, mista.' 'Americans,' come here. Everywhere you go, the kids just adore you. They'll do anything to get chocolate from you and say hi. If you have a camera you're a freaking God to them."
Now that's an Iraqi attitude we haven't heard about on U.S. TV.
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