{"id":50765,"date":"2025-01-04T09:52:42","date_gmt":"2025-01-04T17:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=50765"},"modified":"2025-01-04T09:52:42","modified_gmt":"2025-01-04T17:52:42","slug":"when-a-famous-war-reporter-stood-up-to-rumsfeld","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/04\/when-a-famous-war-reporter-stood-up-to-rumsfeld\/","title":{"rendered":"When a Famous War Reporter Stood Up to Rumsfeld"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reprinted with permission from Greg Mitchell\u2019s newsletter Between Rock and a Hard Place<\/a>.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Friday afternoon, President Biden posthumously awarded<\/a> the Presidential Citizens Medal to my old friend Joe Galloway. No one could accuse veteran war reporter Galloway of being anti-military or unpatriotic (although some tried). He served four journalistic tours in Vietnam and was the only civilian awarded the Bronze Star during that war, for rescuing wounded American soldiers. He covered numerous conflicts after that, including the Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and co-authored the book \u201cWe Were Soldiers Once and Young<\/em>, \u201c which was made into a popular movie, starring (ahem) Mel Gibson but with Barry Pepper playing Joe.<\/p>\n

Along with a team of fellow writers for Knight Ridder, he provided the most skeptical coverage of the invasion of Iraq \u2013 a sadly rare thing \u2013 and wrote for me when I was the editor of Editor & Publisher<\/em>. In a more recent movie, Shock and Awe<\/em>, on that Knight Ridder team, Joe was played by Tommy Lee Jones.<\/p>\n

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We met several times and spent a long time hanging out in Vegas after a conference (where I had arranged for him to provide the main speech and slide show). By early 2005 he was stating that the United States should withdraw from Iraq, then an unpopular opinion. Later in the year he was invited to lunch by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and I wrote about it for E&P<\/em>. It would be included in my book on the media and Iraq, \u201cSo Wrong for So Long,\u201d for which Galloway and Bruce Springsteen each wrote a preface. I\u2019ve republished his account below.<\/p>\n

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Lunching with Rumsfeld<\/h3>\n

November 3, 2005<\/strong><\/p>\n

It started Tuesday with ordering a tuna fish sandwich and ended more than an hour later with the guest\/reporter telling the Secretary of Defense, \u201cI’m going to keep kicking your butt.\u201d And in between? Let Joe Galloway tell you, including this exclusive: What’s so funny about Rummy’s bathroom?<\/p>\n

For at least two years, Knight Ridder military editor and columnist Joe Galloway has been one of the most persistent and harshest critics of Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld’s handling of the Iraq war, and other military issues, from an informed position. Galloway is one of the celebrated war correspondents of our time, winner of a Bronze Star for valor during the Vietnam conflict, and co-author of the book We Were Soldiers Once… and Young<\/em>.<\/p>\n

About six weeks ago, perhaps recognizing Galloway’s credibility and the growing chorus of criticism from others, Rumsfeld’s office invited the correspondent to what it called \u201ca private lunch\u201d at the Pentagon. No one told Galloway why, but he didn’t have to guess. \u201cI knew they weren’t planning to give me some kind of ribbon,\u201d Galloway told me today.<\/p>\n

Asked if he spiffed up for the meeting, Galloway acknowledged that he did \u201cput on a tie,\u201d then took the metro to the Pentagon from his apartment on the Potomac in nearby Arlington, Va.<\/p>\n

Well, as it turned out, the lunch wasn’t quite private, as the two men were joined by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, two other brass, and a Pentagon spokesman. \u201cFive to one, they had me surrounded,\u201d Galloway said. \u201cI’ve been doing this for 47 years and it was the first time I had a command performance with an audience like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did it go? \u201cI had a fun time,\u201d Galloway revealed. \u201cI don’t know about the rest of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

They met in Rumsfeld’s \u201chuge\u201d office around a conference table. Galloway had ordered a tuna sandwich on the way in and found that Rummy was also eating tuna, but salad style. When Rumsfeld noticed that Joe had eaten the tuna but left the bread he ribbed him about that \u2013 imagine, waste at the Pentagon!<\/p>\n

Rumsfeld, Galloway related, was cordial and smiling throughout, but quickly demanded to know why he himself wasn’t hearing all the negative stuff about the lack of progress in Iraq and the military grumblings that the writer was picking up on. Galloway reminded him that someone in Rumsfeld’s position was not likely to get much bad news passed up the chain of command.<\/p>\n

Then Rummy questioned his sources, suggesting they were perhaps all retired generals far from the scene. Galloway replied that about half were active duty and many of them \u201cnot only active duty, but also work in the Pentagon.\u201d Some might even be on Rumsfeld’s staff.<\/p>\n

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As the discussion went on, Galloway continued to raise issues about the state of our military, as the generals argued that \u201cthe Army was not broken and things were not going so badly in Iraq.\u201d Rumsfeld occasionally took notes on a yellow pad. He \u201cseemed to be enjoying it when I got into it with one of the other guys,\u201d Galloway told me. \u201cHe would lean back in his chair with a grin and watch us go at it. I had the impression he was listening very carefully to everything and here and there he heard something that might need follow up. I suspect he will shower a few snowflakes [memos] down on them, maybe starting today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Knight Ridder columnist asked whether the U.S. could figure out a better way of fighting the war than sending our troops down the same road only to be blown up by IEDs. Rumsfeld claimed he agreed and had ordered that our emphasis shift even more to training Iraqis. Galloway also pressed him on one of his pet issues \u2013 military \u201cbill collectors\u201d going after ex-soldiers who maybe had lost a limb or two in Iraq. Rumsfeld blamed it on the Pentagon computer system but said steps were being taken to address that.<\/p>\n

When Rumsfeld took issue with Joe’s most recent column, in which he charged that the Pentagon, a la <\/em>Vietnam, was pushing \u201cbody counts,\u201d Galloway stood his ground, saying, \u201cIf you don’t want to do body counts then stop doing them.\u201d<\/p>\n

After more than an hour, the Pentagon spokesman told his boss, \u201csir, we are way out of time,\u201d but Galloway thought the meeting could have gone on for another hour or more. As he headed for the door, Rumsfeld guided him to an anteroom to show him a framed letter he found in his late father’s belongings. It was written by Defense Secretary James Forrestal to the elder Rumsfeld, thanking him for his service in the Navy during the Pacific War. Rumsfeld has never served in combat himself.<\/p>\n

In parting, Galloway told me, he informed Rumsfeld, \u201cI want you to know that I’m going to keep kicking your butt, to keep you focused.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rumsfeld replied, \u201cThat’s okay, I can take it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two days later, I asked Joe about Rumsfeld’s central belief \u2013 that he was getting the true story on Iraq and the state of the military and Galloway was not. \u201cBesides talking to people, I get a tremendous amount of e-mail from people in the military and in the Pentagon who read my column and react to it,\u201d he replied. \u201cThey are concerned. What I’m hearing is that 99% of these readers are 100% in favor of what I am writing, and ask me to keep at it. Unfortunately, if I am right, the military is in a lot of trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anything else you left out of today’s column, I wondered? \u201cI got a peek at the bathroom in his office,\u201d Galloway said, deadpan, \u201cand he has a bank of cartoons posted there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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