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Joe 6-pack A young American soldier is killed in action in what some view as an ill conceived military action. A grieving parent holds the President of the United States personally responsible, and writes the president a letter to that effect. The parent is given a private audience with the Commande r in Chief, and leaves disaffected and largely unsatisfied. The parent l ater relates that during the meeting the leader of the free world makes the implication that the soldiers death was largely his own fault for b eing too aggressive. The level of media coverage surrounding the story i s entirely unprecedentedlargely by its absence. Captain (retired) James H Smith, is a decorated Viet Nam veteran whose son, Jamie Smith was killed in action in Somalia in Octob er 1993 as part of Task Force Ranger. Needless to say, most Americans re main largely unaware of his exchanges with then President, Bill Clinton. The recent media lionization of Cindy Sheehan provides a stark contrast w ith the minimal coverage afforded to Captain Smith. If one has any doubt s regarding the existence of a bias in the mainstream media, an intellec tually honest comparison between the two cases will go far to eliminatin g them. Since the media insists on telling the story of Cindy Sheehan, i t is only proper that an effort be made to tell the Story of Captain Smi th: ========================== THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON October 7, 1993 Mr and Mrs James H Smith 10 Mallard Lane Long Valley, New Jersey 07853 Dear Mr and Mrs Smith: Hillary and I were very sorry to learn of the loss of your son. Specialis t James E Smith's death is a great loss for our nation, as well as for us personally, and our hearts go out to you in your sorrow. Our efforts in Somalia have helped bring security and stability where ana rchy, famine, and suffering once prevailed. You should know that your so n and his fellow service men and women have preserved the lives of hundr eds of thousands of Somalis. Your son's courage, and his commitment to t he ideals on which America was founded, will long be remembered with pri de by his fellow citizens.
To accept yo ur letter would be contrary to all the beliefs I, my son and the Rangers hold so dear, including: loyalty, courage and tenacity. During the battle for Anzio, in World War II, an inept indecisive field c ommander sent the Rangers into battle where they were slaughtered. Fifty years later the Rangers again were ordered into battle, where they were surrounded and outgunned. But this time it was not the fault of the fie ld commanders. No - this time it was the fault of the Commander in Chief , the President of the United States. Your failure to provide the reques ted combat support reveals a lack of loyalty to the troops under your co mmand and an extreme shortage of moral courage. I had the honor to meet the Rangers who fought along side my son and were with Jamie when he died. I had Rangers, with tears in their eyes, apologize for letting m y son die or their failure to break through and rescue the trapped Range rs. Trucks and Humvees cannot re place the requested tanks, armored personnel carriers and Spectre gunshi ps. As a combat veteran I know that there are no certainties on the battlefie ld; however, as an Infantry Officer I will always speculate that signifi cantly less casualties would have resulted if you, as Commander in Chief , provided the Rangers with the requested combat support - equipment wit h which Rangers routinely train and for which approval should have been automatic. The Rangers were pinned down for twelve hours - long hours wh en the Rangers were fighting for their lives and a Delta Force medic fou ght to save my son. Jamie bled to death because the requested armor supp ort was not there to break through to the Rangers. "Driving on to the Ranger o bjective", or "Surrender is not a Ranger word" are not hollow phrases to the men of the black beret. These soldiers understand the word tenaciou s and wanted to complete their mission. As Ranger after Ranger told me, they were hitting Aidid's forces and command structure hard. But, the Un ited Nations was actually impeding Ranger missions by offering sanctuary to Aidid's supporters. Your willingness to allow this dangerous situati on demonstrates a lack of resolve in supporting the men you sent into ba ttle. Until you as P resident and Commander in Chief are either willing or able to formulate a clear foreign policy, establish specific objectives and, most importan t, support the men and women in uniform, I will "Lead the Way" in insuri ng that you no longer send America's finest to a needless death. When yo u are capable of meeting these criteria, then I will accept your letter of condolence.
The MSMs inat tentiveness to Captain Smith is likewise, not the result of Captain Smit h going away, and he apparently is willing to speak when asked. com provided the following account of an interview of Smith conducted by WABC Radios Steve Malzberg: =============================== Disabled Vietnam vet retired Capt. James Smith, whose son James was kille d during the disastrous raid in Somalia memorialized in the movie "Black Hawk Down," took exception Sunday to ex-President Clinton's recent atte mpt to blame President Bush's father for the 1993 debacle during a recen t interview with Washington, DC, TV station WJLA. "He seems to forget that when Bush number one sent troops into Somalia he sent them in by the tens of thousands. And they had complete armor, mec hanized infantry, artillery, air cover support," Smith told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg. While Bush the elder was president, the Somali warlords "decided to keep a low profile because they knew if they stuck their head up they were go ing to get it shot off," he insisted, adding, "So Bush number one did it correctly." But things changed when President Clinton took over, the former soldier t old WABC. When his son's Ranger unit was sent to Mogadishu to capture notorious Som ali warlord Mohamed Farah Adid, they didn't have the artillery, helicopt er gunship or tactical air support they needed, he told Malzberg.
Although then-Defense Secretary Les Aspin was forced to resign over the d eadly blunder, Smith said he had no doubt that the decision to under-equ ip his son's unit came directly from the White House. When he testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the episo de, the former soldier said reporters privately agreed, telling him, "Le s Aspin had nothing to do with this. They knew there was no way Les Aspi n made that decision on his own." Smith recounted his trip to the White House to meet Clinton, an invitatio n he suspects was prompted by advanced word on his damaging Senate testi mony. Instead of taking responsibility, the Vietnam vet said, the president "bl amed Les Aspin, he blamed the Defense Department, he blamed the Joint Ch iefs ... At one point, Smith recalled, Clinton even attempted to blame the Rangers "for being too aggressive." "The three of us just leaned over instantaneously and he backed off of that one." After the exchange, Smith refused to shake the commander in chief's hand, handing him instead a 3rd Ranger Battalion patch. "I honestly believed that the Rangers had died in vain, that the failure to provide proper combat support would have made the difference," he lam ented. Smith also revealed that he has another soldier son now in Special Operations who recently served in Afghanistan. During a recent conversation with his son's Special Ops commander, he ask ed, "Sgt. Major, are we doing this one right or is this just a knee-jerk reaction?" After a moment's hesitation, Smith said the commander responded, "Sir, we 've got a real commander in chief this time. Both Jamie Smith and Casey Sheehan are American heroes who made the ultim ate sacrifice. The parents of both have reacted in the manner they both no doubt see as appropriate, and while I believe that Ms Sheehan is doi ng a disservice to the memory of her son by politicizing her reaction, t hose on the left could make a similar argument that Captain Smith has do ne the same. My conclusion then is not about either Captain Smith, Denis e Sheehan, ...
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