Fri, Jan 24, 2003
Commando Solo Allows Baghdad Broadcast
The citizens of Iraq received a taste of America
in action as a January 22 news briefing by Defense Secretary Donald
H. Rumsfeld and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard
Myers was broadcast via Commando Solo aircraft to Baghdad.
Rumsfeld, speaking at the Foreign Press Center, said the department
is doing this "because the truth matters." He said the Iraqi people
should know and hear the truth.
U.S. Central Command used Commando Solo II aircraft to broadcast
into Afghanistan at the start of operations in that nation.
Commando Solo aircraft are modified C-130s capable of broadcasting
radio and television on a real-time basis. The aircraft are part of
the Pennsylvania Air National Guard's 193rd Special Operations Wing
based at Harrisburg International Airport. Department of Defense
officials will say only that the crews are operating "somewhere in
the (Persian) Gulf."
Rumsfeld said broadcasting the news briefings shows freedom at
work. Public officials in constitutional democracies
[Saddam was 'democratically elected,' after all --ed] are held
accountable and must explain their actions to the people, he said.
"Every week, General Myers and I stand in the Pentagon in front of
independent journalists -- professionals -- and ... try to answer
their questions," Rumsfeld said. "Some of the questions are tough,
many are insightful, and all add to the information available to
the American people and the people of the world."
Rumsfeld said that once the reporters leave the studio they do
not fear for their lives. "They know that they and their families
will not be threatened and that no one will be beaten or punished,"
he said. "Truth matters in a democracy," he said; "it is the
foundation of justice."
He contrasted that with Saddam Hussein's regime, which, he said,
is built on "terror, intimidation and lies." In 1991, Hussein
agreed to give up his weapons of mass destruction. "For more than a
decade, his regime has refused to live up to his promises,"
Rumsfeld said. "Instead, it has fed the world a steady diet of
untruths and deceptions."
[Thanks to Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Service
--ed.]
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