The Commentariat -- February 7, 2015
Internal links removed.
White House: "President Obama highlights the progress our economy has made, with more than 3.1 million jobs created in 2014 -- the best year for job growth since the late 1990s. America has come a long way, and with the right policies focused on middle-class economics we can continue to grow our economy into one where those who work hard can get ahead":
Nelson Schwartz of the New York Times: "The economy barreled through the last three months with strong momentum, the Labor Department said Friday, as American employers added 257,000 jobs in January, wage growth rebounded and more people went looking for work in an improving labor market. With new figures on the last two months of the year, 2014 turned out to be the strongest year for job gains since 1999." ...
... Neil Irwin of the New York Times: "That uptick in the unemployment rate? It happened not because fewer people had jobs, but because the size of the labor force rose by a whopping 703,000 in January after annual population adjustments.... And finally -- finally -- there was meaningful evidence that an improving job market was translating into higher pay for workers.... For years, we've been waiting for evidence that wages will rise and that some of the millions of people who left the labor force in the last several years will return. And we got it on Friday, with all that implies." ...
... CW: Thank you, Mitch McConnell, for making all of this possible. ...
... Ben White of CNBC: "The January jobs report ... had no weak spots, leaving Republicans scrambling for a new angle to attack the economy under President Barack Obama. One Republican line is that the recent increase in job gains is a direct result of the GOP taking control of the Senate. This is a patently ridiculous argument.... [CW: You mean I shouldn't have thanked Mitch?] ... House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan ... us[ed] the jobs report as a pitch for both corporate tax reform and trade deals.... Ryan's main job now is convincing Republicans whose main operating ethos is to oppose anything Obama wants...."
"The Definition of Insanity." Gene Robinson: "At a moment of heightened concern that terrorists in the Middle East might stage or inspire attacks on U.S. soil, the GOP-controlled House and Senate are unable to agree on a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security..... It was obvious from the beginning that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) did not have the 60 votes needed to get the bill through the Senate. Nevertheless, McConnell has dutifully brought the bill up three times -- and seen it rejected each time by Democrats.... 'Isn't that the definition of insanity? Voting for the same bill over and over again? [Sen. John] McCain asked. Indeed, the whole episode does seem pretty insane. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) knew the bill he sent to the Senate would be dead on arrival.... The GOP majority in the House continues to value symbolic posturing over pragmatic action." ...
By Contrast, A Modicum of Sanity. When you're talking about energy, I think there is a very legitimate discussion to be had about climate. How we might factor that into a bigger [legislative] package is something that obviously has yet to be discussed. The priorities I have placed on my view of a good energy policy for this country [are] that it's abundant, affordable, clean, diverse and secure. I don't just skip over the clean part. It's important to me. I think it should be important to all members. -- Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Chair of the Energy & Natural Resources Committee (via Paul Waldman)
Mario Trujillo of the Hill: "The House Oversight Committee is investigating if the White House had any 'improper influence' on the Federal Communication Commission's net neutrality rules unveiled this week. Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) sent a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler requesting all staff communications with the White House and other executive branch agencies about the issue, as well as internal documents discussing the White House recommendations and visitor logs of any meetings with administration officials."
Spencer Ackerman of the Guardian: "In a reversal of his campaign-trail assurances that the tide of war is receding, the final national security strategy of Barack Obama's presidency declares terrorism 'a persistent threat' amidst a 'generational struggle for power in the Middle East'. The 2015 National Security Strategy, released by the White House on Friday, resigns the US to an open-ended conflict against al-Qaida and now the Islamic State (Isis), as well as their undefined 'affiliates'. It does not significantly discuss Yemen or Pakistan, the two most active theaters of drone strikes against al-Qaida. While the document declares al-Qaida's core leadership 'decimated', the strategy forecasts a continued global conflict against a 'more diffuse' series of al-Qaida and Isis networks abroad...."
Rukmini Callimachi & Rick Gladstone of the New York Times: "The Islamic State claimed Friday that the Jordanian bombings in northern Syria intended to avenge its immolation of a captured pilot had killed an American woman held hostage by the group. An Islamic State message published by the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks jihadist activity, said the American woman, Kayla Mueller, was killed when the building where she was being held in the Raqqa area collapsed in an airstrike.... There was no immediate way to verify the claim...." ...
... Juan Cole: "Speaking of burning people alive, one technique the US used was the BLU-82B, a 15,000 pound bomb detonated near the ground with a blast radius of about 5000 feet, but leaving no crater. It was intended to intimidate by burning up large numbers of infantrymen or armored personnel.... It was retired in 2008 in favor of something even more destructive.... The purpose of the bombing was to terrify Iraqis into submitting. That is, it was a form of state terrorism. Iraq had not attacked the US.... We shouldn't forget that [what ISIS is doing] was also what Bush was going for in 2003 when he inadvertently started the process of creating Daesh [ISIS & ISIL] as a backlash to his own monumental ruthlessness." ...
... Ta-Nehesi Coates of the Atlantic: "People who wonder why the president does not talk more about race would do well to examine the recent blow-up over his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast.... That [the President's] relatively mild, and correct, point [about Christians using religion to "justify" slavery & Jim Crow] cannot be made without the comments being dubbed, 'the most offensive I've ever heard a president make in my lifetime,' by a former Virginia governor gives you some sense of the limited tolerance for any honest conversation around racism in our politics.... If you are truly appalled by the brutality of ISIS, then a wise and essential step is understanding the lure of brutality, and recalling how easily your own society can be, and how often it has been, pulled over the brink." ...
... Greg Sargent: "... to the degree that Obama is being criticized for 'offending Christians,' and departing from American 'values,' it's worth noting that his suggestion that Christianity has been pressed into service to justify some of the darker moments in American history is not at all controversial." ...
... ** Paul Waldman: "... of course awful things have been done in the name of many religions, and when Obama mentions the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the religious justifications given for slavery, he's talking about old history. You'd have to be nuts to find in that some kind of insult to Christians or to America. Or you'd have to be a Republican." (Missing link!) CW: Waldman also calls out Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post, which I was too lazy to do yesterday. (I was tempted not to link her story at all because of her lede, but instead I just skipped the lede because down the page she provided some good examples of wingnuttery.) Waldman gives an excellent explanation of the perverted "thinking" of Obama's critics. ...
... CW: Notice, if you will, that I had no trouble connecting the dots between George Bush's "shock & awe" tactics -- as described by Juan Cole -- & critiques of confederates who criticized President Obama's mention of the Crusades, the Inquisition, slavery & Jim Crow. Obama could have used the Bush administration as a contemporary example of the abuse of religion as a justification for terrorist acts. As reported in 2009, Dubya tried to sell the Iraq War to France's then-President Jacques Chirac. as a holy war prophesized in the Old Testament. In addition, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld used to send Bush his daily briefings in scripture-wrapped folders. In the mind of its leader, or at least titular leader, the Iraq War was a holy war, waged under the auspices of the Christian god. And during the course of that war, our leader authorized atrocities in our name. ...
... CW: I've avoided embedding video of Obama's remarks, just because the whole prayer-breakfast thing doesn't sit well with me, but the objections to the speech outweigh my presidential-prayer willies, so here you go:
... The transcript is here.
Mr. Biden Regrets. Jeremy Diamond of CNN: Vice President "Biden will be traveling abroad when [Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu comes to Washington to address a joint session of Congress on March 3, his office said Friday.... The Vice President's office declined to say which country he will travel to while the Israeli head of state is in Washington." ...
... CW: Worth noting. Biden will be missed. In a joint session, he would have been seated on the podium, behind the speaker & beside the Speaker. I suspect Mitch McConnell will get that seat now. OR maybe the administration will send an undersecretary of transportation to fill Biden's seat OR Boehner could expand the Clint Eastwood empty-chair meme. I wonder how many Democratic members of Congress will be traveling to undisclosed locations on the day of Netanyahu's affront now that Biden has given them cover.
NEW. Jimmy Williams of Blue Nation Review: "... the month before the 2012 elections, Congressman [Aaron] Schock [R-Ill.] sold his house to a major Republican donor who was also one of his campaign supporters for a price that appears to far exceed the market value at the time.... According to Zillow's home price index, Congressman Schock sold his house at the absolute rock bottom for the Illinois real estate market, also the worst month for housing prices in a decade." ...
... Schock wouldn't speak to Williams, but he told WLS News (Chicago), "The blog post the gentleman just wrote was very hurtful, you know, because it questions my business dealings, but when you're in this environment, all's fair." CW: I suppose it is "hurtful" when somebody outs you as a corrupt politician.
... CW: I"m having a hard time seeing the difference between Shcock's trick & stuffing your cash bribes in the freezer, although I suppose real estate-based bribes are a lot more "Downton Abbey"-classy than are frozen Benjamins. ...
... UPDATE: Now even the New York Times is taking note of the real estate deal, if in a small way.
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.
Brian Williams, The Cover-up Investigation. Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "NBC News launched an internal investigation Friday into statements made by its lead anchor, Brian Williams, about his reporting from Iraq in 2003, as well as his award-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The investigation, confirmed by NBC officials, represents a change in the network's attitude toward its popular anchor only a day after senior managers appeared to have accepted his apology for misstating the facts...."
Brian Stelter of CNN: "The pilot I interviewed on Thursday [linked here yesterday] about Brian Williams is no longer standing by his story. That pilot, Rich Krell, told me he was flying the helicopter Williams was on in Iraq -- an account now contradicted by several other soldiers.... On Thursday night, two others, Christopher Simeone and Allan Kelly, told The New York Times that they -- not Krell -- had piloted Williams' helicopter, and that 'they did not recall their convoy of helicopters coming under fire.' Simeone, Kelly and a third soldier, Joseph Miller, also spoke with The Omaha World-Herald.... Bottom line: this pilot is revising his story - and, because of that, I'm revising mine. What initially looked like an account that supported some of Brian Williams' war story -- that he came 'under fire' that day -- no longer appears to be true." ...
... Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: "The upshot [of Krell's recantation] spells renewed trouble for Williams and a minor bruise for CNN."
Chris Simeone, who says he piloted Williams' helicopter, in a New York Post op-ed: "Brian Williams' account is not true." Simeone provides his own account & notes discrepancies between his story & Williams'.
Michael Calderone of the Huffington Post: Former NBC News anchor Tom "Brokaw pushed back against a New York Post story [linked here yesterday, with caveats] claiming he wanted Williams fired, but notably didn't offer his own statement of support. 'I have neither demanded nor suggested Brian be fired,' Brokaw said in an email to The Huffington Post. 'His future is up to Brian and NBC News executives.'"
John Simerman of the New Orleans Advocate: "While doubters have noted correctly that the Quarter, New Orleans' original high ground, remained largely if not completely dry, photographs and news reports from the time indicate there was flooding around the Ritz-Carlton, where the network source confirmed Williams stayed."
Juan Cole: "Many of Williams's fiercest critics are conservatives, for whom network television news is a liberal conspiracy -- a charge that is wholly unfair and untrue (otherwise we on the left wouldn't risk a stroke every time we watch it). Worse, many of them think that Fox Cable News really is fair and balanced. The same conservatives, however, go on idolizing Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, both of whom much more egregiously made stuff up about their military service than Williams.... Ronald Reagan told visiting Israeli premier Yitzhak Shamir in fall of 1983 that he had helped liberate the Auschwitz concentration camp as a soldier in the European theater and had taken footage of the horrors of the camp.... Reagan was in uniform during WW II, but was detailed to Hollywood. He never left the United States.... Joe Conason sleuthed out George W. Bush's lies about his military service.... Bush lied about trying to volunteer for Vietnam (!) and then lied again when he said he 'continued flying with my unit' when in reality he was sloughing off on a civilian local GOP campaign in another state...." Cole makes clear both Reagan's & Bush's lies were far bigger whoppers than Williams' exaggerations. Cole makes a point that Akhilleus made in yesterday's commentary.
Sorry, came across this when I was looking for something else:
When people ask Justice Ruth Ginsburg how many women should be on the Supreme Court, she has an answer.
Presidential Race
Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines Register: "Joe Biden, the vice president and an underdog for the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, is scheduled to be back in Iowa next week. Biden will speak in Des Moines on Thursday, sources familiar with preparations for his trip told The Des Moines Register. His office later confirmed that he will deliver remarks at Drake University and do a roundtable at Des Moines Area Community College on college affordability. The news comes in the wake of the release this past weekend of a new Iowa Poll that shows Biden trails both Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren in the horse race for most popular presidential pick among likely Democratic caucusgoers."
Jonathan Bernstein of Bloomberg Politics on what Scott Walker's big "surge" in the polls (15% in Iowa; 21% in New Hampshire) means to his nomination chances: "Scott Walker now is still the Scott Walker of December ... but the polling surge may have real effects, even if it isn't 'real.' If the spike convinces John Kasich, Mike Pence or Bobby Jindal to drop out, that alone would increase Walker's chances for the nomination.... It certainly will bring in money and other resources for Walker; those, in turn, could buy him further success.... What matters, too, is that Walker entered this surge as a viable candidate; he's no Herman Cain or Newt Gingrich.... The latest polls tell us almost nothing about voters.... If these early polls are important, it is only because of the way the people who pay close attention to Republican Party politics react to them." ...
... "Drafting Error," Ctd. The New York Times Editors take the occasion of Scott Walker's not only decimating the U.W. system's budget but also striking its beloved mission statement -- "a trade school agenda ... substituted for the idea of a university" -- to label him an extremist. Plus they catch him out lying about it: "His office attempted the ridiculous excuse that the pernicious editing of the university's mission was simply 'a drafting error' in the budget text and that the Wisconsin Idea would be left intact after all. But a December email showed clear instructions from the administration to make the deletions."
The Excellent Jindal-Brownback-Generic-GOP Economic Plan. Tyler Bridges of Politico: "Gov. Bobby Jindal has a plan: Do for the country what he's done for Louisiana. Cut taxes and cut the government workforce and the economy will bloom.... It's a message he's peddling as he lays the groundwork for a presidential run. Indeed, as Jindal is quick to say, private-sector job growth and the economy in Louisiana have outpaced the national average during his tenure as governor.... But here's what Jindal doesn't say: Louisiana's budget is hemorrhaging red ink, and it's getting worse. He inherited a $900 million surplus when he became governor seven years ago, and his administration's own budget documents now show the state is facing deficits of more than $1 billion for as far as the eye can see. There are no easy solutions today because Jindal has increasingly balanced the budget by resorting to one-time fixes, depleting the state's reserve funds and taking money meant for other purposes." ...
... Blame It on Bobby. Campbell Robertson of the New York Times: "... in the Louisiana capital, there is mostly one topic on everyone's mind these days...: the fiscal reckoning the state is facing for next year and perhaps for multiple budgets to come. 'Since I've been in Louisiana I've never seen a budget cycle as desperate as this one,' said Robert Travis Scott, the president of the Public Affairs Research Council, a nonpartisan group based in Baton Rouge. Louisiana's budget shortfall is projected to reach $1.6 billion next year and to remain in that ballpark for a while. The downturn in oil prices has undoubtedly worsened the problem, forcing midyear cuts to the current budget. But economists, policy experts and lawmakers of both parties, pointing out that next year's projected shortfall was well over a billion dollars even when oil prices were riding high, turn to a different culprit: the fiscal policy pushed by the Jindal administration and backed by the State Legislature.
The Vaccinatingest Govenor. Our vaccination rate in Texas [in 2000] was 65 percent. When I left two weeks ago, it was 95 percent. -- Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) February 5
The vaccination rate went up about 14 percent, not 50 percent, and it stalled in the last half of his tenure of governor. This doesn't quite rise to Four Pinocchios, but it's close. -- Glenn Kessler, Washington Post
Gail Collins: "Today, we're going to talk about 'God, Guns, Grits and Gravy,' Mike Huckabee's entry into the presidential book-writing sweepstakes. These tomes are going to be piling up soon, and remember: We read them so you don't have to."
Beyond the Beltway
Why join the Democratic Party and run for lieutenant governor? I'll tell you: We are all Mississippians first. Elected officials should be in the business of helping all Mississippians, not picking out who to hurt.... The Republican Party leaders' actions against supporting Medicaid expansion and threatening our local hospitals was the final, deciding factor for me. -- Former State Sen. Tim Johnson (R-Miss.) ...
... Not a Hoax. Steve Benen: Former GOP Mississippi State Sen. Tim Johnson is leaving the Republican party to become a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor to help get Mississippians access to the Medicaid extension funds. "Note, Mississippi is one of only three states that will hold statewide elections this year." ...
... Rachana Pradhan & Sarah Wheaton of Politico: "Wyoming has become yet another state where a Republican governor's effort to expand Medicaid has been defeated by his own Legislature. On Friday, the Wyoming Senate shot down Gov. Matt Mead's expansion plan, and a House committee then pulled its bill. The double whammy effectively killed the state's chances of enacting the Obamacare option this year."
The Up Side of Rape. Tara Culp-Ressler of Think Progress: In a tweet, West Virginia Del. Brian Kurcaba (R) said "that abortion bans shouldn't have exceptions for women who became pregnant from sexual assault because 'what is beautiful is the child that could come from this.'... Kurcaba ... made the comments -- which were first reported by Charleston Gazette staffer David Gutman -- during a public hearing on Thursday. A health committee in the legislature was debating a proposed 20-week abortion ban. Kurcaba was explaining why he opposed a Democratic-sponsored amendment to add an exception for rape victims."
News Ledes
Slate: "With wind chills as low as 12 below zero Fahrenheit in Boston, Friday was one of the coldest mornings in New England history. At this rate, Bostonians can only cherish their few unfrozen tears, because winter's fury isn't leaving anytime soon. Friday's bone-chilling cold will kick off another brutal stretch of winter weather for New England, which just endured its snowiest week in history -- with four feet in 10 days in Boston.... That's a year's worth of snow just since late January."
New York Times: "Lizabeth Scott, a sultry blonde with a come-hither voice cut out for the seething romantic and homicidal passions of her Hollywood film noir roles in the late 1940s and early '50s, died on Jan. 31 in Los Angeles. She was 92."
New York Times: "André Brink, a towering South African literary presence for decades whose work in English and Afrikaans fell afoul of apartheid-era censors, died Friday, South African news reports said, citing his publisher, N.B. Publishers. He was 79."
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Reader Comments (20)
It's curious that we're so het up over the veracity of a person who reads a teleprompter for a living (no, not Sarah Palin, Brian Williams). Who cares what he personally believes is true? I was more shaken when he appeared as himself playing a bad comedian on 30 Rock.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuTXqFOzujw
@Jack Mahoney: Williams is also the managing editor of the network's "Nightly News." This could explain his odd apology -- he said he was making it for troop morale or something. Ever the patriot, you know. He's "managing" himself.
Media complainer Jay Rosen (an NYU prof) wondered why all these other news outlets were reporting on Williams' misremembering & NBC News wasn't. Maybe because Brian Williams is "managing" NBC's handling of the hoohah.
"Reading a teleprompter" is a small -- although the most obvious -- part of how he makes his living.
Marie
Thanks Marie. I will trust your judgment, but I've always suspected that networks bill their anchors as editors to raise their credibility.
I noticed this article about the idea that V. Putin has a form of autism, Asperger's syndrome. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/05/vladimir-putin-aspergers-syndrome-pentagon-studies.
Yes he is seriously weird but my take has always been if he was 6 in. taller, we ever would have heard of him.
@Jack Mahoney: I suspect you're right on that, but if an anchor chooses to take on that responsibility, rather than being happy as a pretty newsreader, then s/he has to do the job.
Rosen argues, credibly, I think, that Williams did a piss-poor job of the managing part when it came to dealing with a mini-crisis of his own making.
This is not to suggest that I do a better job of managing my own crises, but nobody's paying me $10MM/year or whatever to do that, either.
Marie
It pains me to see all this hoopla over Brian Williams. Although I don't watch his news program I have seen enough of him on other occasions to be impressed. On a personal note my daughter-in-law, the one who teaches at New Canaan Country Day, has had Williams' children in her classes and formed an especially close relationship with one of them. She has mentioned in the past how gracious Williams and his
wife have been and how much they contribute to the school in all guises. I just find this whole business has been blown way out of proportion and loved Juan Cole's assessment.
Re: Brian Kurcaba's idea that rape victims should never abort because "a beautiful child will come out of this" makes me want to guzzle that anti-freeze that Pierce is wont to partake of periodically. "Who's your Daddy" will be fun to explain to that beautiful child and never mind that you are going to go through a pregnancy not by choice, but because of a criminal act. Outrageous!
And good for Tim Johnson––shedding his Republican cloth coat for something much warmer and democratic.
Although Lisa Murkowski is displaying that "modicum of sanity" let's not forget she's the main fighter in the ring for the Keystone Pipeline.
As though poor Mr. Schock hasn't had enough press regarding his Downton Abby look-alike office and the selling of his house he now has to contend with his communications director, Benjamin Cole, who has been bad mouthing those black people on his gentrified street comparing them to zoo animals and because of this some journalist diggers have come up with his past racist comments on facebook and twitter and the poo has landed on one of those peacock feathers in poor Schock's very red chambers. Ben was fired two days ago. Although Schock feigned shock, he must have known what Cole was made of long ago.
In celebration of Reagan's birthday here is a list of Reagan administration convictions–––it's a mighty long list, but it's the type of information we put in mothballs for safekeeping.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/10/17/157477/-List-of-Reagan-administration-convictions?detail=email
@PD Pepe: As I have expressed privately, I have read other reports that Williams is a very nice guy. That doesn't make him immune to criticism. Reagan, Bush, the Clintons, etc., obviously are politicians, & voters decide whether or not to hire & fire them when their lies are exposed. Should Reagan have been impeached because he misremembered what continent he was on when Americans got to Auschwitz? I don't think so. He told more consequential lies than that (Iran-Contra).
Yes, we should be able to rely on what politicians say, especially about their own personal experiences, but we tend to know better. If I hear something reported on a reputable news show -- that leaves out Fox "News," of course -- I expect it to be accurate as far as the network's reporters are aware. should a news anchor be "impeached" when he misremembers a story on air? That's a closer call. It will depend on whether or not he turns out to be a repeat offender.
I think Williams' biggest mistake was not just telling a metastasizing whopper in conversations, including with Letterman, but reporting it on the news last week. There, I would have expected him to be telling the truth. And it isn't just Williams. Other people in the news organization were with him, & they knew what happened. But of course there was nothing in it for them to point out the boss was telling a self-aggrandizing lie on the news. The network profited -- via higher ratings -- from Williams' tales of derring-do, & indirectly, so did other news personnel. So what you have is a web of disinformation-for-profit; not just one guy telling war stories.
Moreover, by repeating this story, Williams further glamorizes the Iraq War. Celebrity in danger! The actual military who tried to refute Williams original story, which they said also was erroneous, could not get the press interested. (I think that's in the NYT story linked above.) Why? I don't know. But maybe because it didn't suit our media-promoted war effort to mention that a celebrity journalist was mischaracterizing events. I'm not sure Juan Cole gets that.
Marie
Earlier this week, I ran into a friend who was angry and shaking his head over the ISIS torching of the Jordanian pilot. I agreed it was a horrid and barbaric.
But...
I took a deep breath and said, "Despite our repulsion, and please understand I think these sorts of things are atrocious...I can't help but wonder about the torture (or killings) some entities in our nation have inflicted on others. I believe things are hidden from us that the average person has no way of knowing. But those 'terrorists' know—and so with their more limited resources are fighting back using in-your-face videos of the killings to 'show us' they can be just as tough, as harsh, as cruel.
After reading the eye-opening Juan Cole's article ("Speaking of burning people alive, one technique the US used was the BLU-82B..."), which CW posted above, it confirmed my thoughts.
@MAG: Good for you for having the guts to confront your friend with a counter-argument. I know that takes courage; it's easier to just say, "uh-huh" & let it go. You did the right thing.
Marie
Brian Williams’ problem remains in the news, so I thought I’d give RC readers some thoughts to aid their judgment.
Williams’ team rode in the back of CH47 Chinooks. The noise back there is god-awful – you’re under a huge whining transmission and the power drive running from rear to front, and between two jet engines. There is no sound abatement. If you are smart you wear earplugs to prevent temporary deafness. If you are lucky the crewchief will loan you a helmet, which contains headphones and plugs in to the aircraft commo system.
There are few ways for a straphanger to see what is happening outside the Hook.
If you are not plugged in, any verbal communication requires shouting, and many words are heard incorrectly.
Bottom line: a straphanger, unplugged, forms impressions by feeling the jerky motion of the aircraft, observing the activities of the crew, and listening to shouted instructions from the crewchief. A strap who is not used to tactical flying often thinks that he is being fired upon, or that they are crashing, during a tactical approach – else, why would the engine surge so much and why would the pilot fling the aircraft around so abruptly? That visceral feeling is real, and becomes a vivid memory, like your “first time” for lots of things. Even if no one is shooting, it can feel like you are in serious danger.
Let us assume that the crewchief gave Williams a helmet, and plugged him in, with all radio channels plus intercom. The sound quality is horrible … it takes a lot of experience to be able to discern the words you hear. On the intercom, as a stranger, you don’t know which member of the crew is saying what, because you can’t recognize their voices. Overlaying the intercom talk of the crew can be three or more separate radio channels, with multiple aircraft and ground personnel talking among themselves. You can’t easily distinguish those voices from those of your crew. Although each radio frequency can only carry one voice at a time, if you are listening to three or four frequencies at once (usually, FM for talking to ground forces and other aircraft engaged in your immediate mission; VHF for talking to other aircraft in your formation; UHF for talking to Air Force overhead, either tac or control) an inexperienced passenger can get very confused about who is talking to whom. And did I say the audio quality is poor? I meant crappy.
So you can imagine an audio experience that goes like this. Chalk One is the lead Hook, Chalk Two is second in formation (Williams is in Two, Able Stones is the ground unit they are heading towards:
(Chalk Two Pilot on intercom): How you doing back there Brian?
(Williams on intercom): We’re good …
(Overlay VHF radio transmission from a Chinook ahead): Chalk Two, be advised I’m taking fire from my niner about one click out.
(Radio VHF from Williams’ pilot) Roger One, fire at your niner, any hits? Two.
(Radio VHF from Chalk One (lead hook)): Affirm Two, small arms and RPG, flyable but we’re coming down. One.
(Simultaneous Radio FM from Chalk One copilot (lead hook, that got hit) talking to Ground Force WHILE PILOT IS TALKING ON VHF: Able Stones, Hook One, we are doing a precautionary landing at your pos, took fire and will need to check damage, request perimeter security assistance.
(Radio FM from Ground Commander: One, Stones 6 Actual, come on down to my smoke.
(AWACs overhead on UHF: Chalk One be advised we have Warthog enroute for cover, come up 116.5 when ready.)
(Crew Chief on Chalk Two to Williams on Intercom: Mr. Williams, One went down for BDA cause they took hits, maybe RPG, so we’re gonna go down and cover. Sorry, you gotta come too. Hope the shooters didi’ed.
(Williams to Self, in head: WTF?)
Finally, I assume today’s crews are much more professional than the ones I flew with in the late 60s/early 70s, but back then some guys would bullshit straphanger journalists just to see how they reacted, and liked to hype the danger factor even when there was nothing special going on. Some pilots would even fly up high (cold) then drop like a stone to the deck (hot and wet), just to fog the lenses of the journos who were a-holes. I’m sure today’s pros no longer bullshit journalists, what with the all-volunteer professionalism and all.
Anyway, if you were Brian W. , you could come out of a non-experience feeling like you had just been through some shit … and then had crewmembers give you some more … and at some point you just believe what you want to believe.
@Marie: I agree with everything you've said plus I did say yesterday I thought Williams really screwed up, but I'm afraid I'm being somewhat protective here and hate all this coverage.
RE: the prayer breakfast and here, Marie, we are on the same page–-the whole idea of a prayer breakfast is anathema to me. Obama could have given another example of religious mayhem: In 1941 the Catholic men of Jedwabne, France, slaughtered practically all the Jews in their village (some fifteen hundred) in an orgy of torture and mutilations that culminated in locking the remaining Jews in a large barn, dousing it with kerosene and setting it on fire. These French Catholics needed no help from the Germans––they did it all by themselves.
@PD Pepe: You have me completely flummoxed. According to Wikipedia, there was a massacre/pogrum in July 1941 of more than 340 Jews in the Polish town of Jedwabne, ordered by the Polish mayor & German police. Other particulars are similar to what you write.
Marie
@Patrick: Thank you very much for your input. I would be afraid to fly a helicopter across the Caloosahatchee on a windless, balmy day. In the retelling, I might even say the chopper had been hit by seagulls or a stand-your-ground Floridian.
My uncle was an early helicopter pilot, & he had some mighty harrowing tales to tell -- like the time he flew across the Amazon with jury-rigged fuel tanks to give him enough gas to make the crossing. (Did he exaggerate? Maybe. My grandparents found out about it by reading the story in the newspapers. A few years ago, I found a brief in the Times about it.)
What the beef against Williams is that he changed his story over time. Initially, he reported he was near a chopper that set down because it was hit by an RPG & other fire. (He said, "It was in front of us.") He did not claim at that time that the chopper he was on took any hits. Military who were on the scene complained he got some facts wrong, but under the circumstances, I don't find that remarkable & I don't fault him for it. He wasn't exactly in a situation where you could fact-check & re-check. I think viewers assume non-professionals may make some mistakes because of their lack of expertise and/or fear.
By last week, Williams said, on the "News," "... the helicopter we were traveling in was forced down after being hit by an RPG."
That's a much different story. Those who argue that Williams' misremembering could be quite natural or "innocent" have a good case. But if he misremembering turns out to include dead bodies floating in front of the Ritz & a suicide he claimed he saw but didn't, then I'm thinking maybe he should get a different kind of job -- maybe as a Hollywood scriptwriter.
Marie
Thanks, Patrick, for the rendition of the chopper ride. The surreal quality reminds me of Kurosawa's "Rashomon," or Borges stories about "The Incident at Rosario."
A person can be "there", but not "there" at all. I do have a little sympathy for Williams now; but, yeah, the changeable story still stinks.
re: Juan Cole and the BLU-82B
According to Wikipedia the BLU-82B was designed to create helicopter landing pads in dense forest not by creating a forest fire but by blast effect. The explosive charge is a slurry which might cause some confusion. Whether your wedding party is ruined by a BLU-82B or a Hellfire missile is irrelevant to the attendees. Sorry, I'm a pedant among other failings.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/blu-82.htm
@cowichan: I'm not sure what your argument with Cole is. He doesn't discuss "forest fires" or the type of propellant used,* as you suggest. (He does distinguish the BLU-82b from the "daisy cutter" BLU-82 bombs [used in Nam], but apparently the term was still used in Afghanistan.) This book by Jerry Thigpin (pp. 363 ff.) is helpful to show the effects of the BLU-82b, as we used them in Iraq at the start of Desert Storm. It was decidedly NOT about messing up wedding parties.
Take a look at the photo Thigpin provides. I'm pretty sure people who weren't blown to bits would be burned alive. Apparently, those who were miles away still had the pleasure of experiencing the "shock & awe" of it all.
Marie
UPDATE: *except to say it was NOT a fuel-air bomb
Also from Wikipedia: MOAB* the replacement for BLU-82
"The basic operational concept bears some similarity to the BLU-82 Daisy Cutter, which was used to clear heavily wooded areas in the Vietnam War and in Iraq to clear mines and later as a psychological weapon against the Iraqi military. After witnessing the psychological impact of the BLU-82 on enemy soldiers, and not having any BLU-82 weapons remaining, the MOAB was developed partly to continue the role of intimidating the Iraqi soldiers."
---psychological weapon, huh!
*MOAB: Mother of all bombs
@ Marie: So sorry–-Jedwabne is indeed a Polish village, not French. These were from notes taken from "Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France," by Caroline Moorhead. My mistake. Again thanks for catching that. Aagggg!!!!!
@Marie Burns
I clicked on "This book" and read an article which doesn't contradict anything in my post as far as I can tell.
Cole states the BLU-82B is "designed to terrify by burning up large numbers of infantrymen". No, he doesn't talk of 'forest fires' or discuss the contents of the bomb but of a bomb designed to set things on fire. The BLU-82 was designed to flatten dense jungle for heli pads by blasting a clearing not by burning the trees. Setting fire to things was contraindicated. You want to rescue your troops, not involve them in a forest fire. The bomb contains not napalm or any incendiary but an explosive slurry commonly used in blasting. On Wikipedia is a close-up of such a clearing in which you can see blasted, twisted, but not even scorched remains of trees. Explosions are rapid exothermic reactions. No heat, no boom. But the bomb was not "designed" to burn its target. The BLU-82B is the exact same bomb with the long probe which explodes the 82 above ground removed. The BLU-82 is dropped attached to a parachute so it lands slowly, nose first. The BLU82-B is rolled out the back of a C-130 transport and plummets to earth to explode on contact.
Cole begins by "speaking of burning people alive" and then goes on to his BLU-82B which by burning many people alive at one time is a terror weapon and therefore many times more wicked morally than setting fire to one pilot. Hence we may not criticize ISIS. How many civilians with slit throats are required to be the moral equivalent of one of Cole's BLU-82B's? If that BLU-82B kills by blast, not fire, is it on another moral plane and are we then freed to criticize ISIS?
Cole concludes,"What ISIS is doing is what Bush was going for in 2003. Really? I think Bush, his entire administration, and most of the Pentagon should in chains before the International Criminal Court to answer charges of crimes against humanity but I won't go so far as to say that Bush planned a terror program against the Iraqi people. You all were to be the gratefully received liberators weren't you?
Finally. What is the moral difference between Bush's pentagon bombing a Baghdad restaurant in a civilian area because Saddam might be there and Obama's pentagon sending a Predator to bomb an Afghan wedding party because "they looked like Taliban"?