Not Your Sweetie

Ari Dodges Question on Rummy's Insult to Veterans:



Q: Ari, two things. Last week Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said that
soldiers drafted to service in the military, "added no value, no
advantage, really, to the United States armed services." The Vietnam
Veterans of America Foundation called this an egregious slur and a
great insult to the memory, sacrifice and valor of those who lost
their lives in Vietnam. One Vietnam vet, Thomas Gohan (phonetic), of
Rochester, New York, said this, as a draftee who spent a year of his
life in Vietnam: "I would like to suggest that perhaps my inferior
service to our country wouldn't have been necessary if those proud,
flag-waving patriots like George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and the rest of
the cowards had come forward to enlist. I would like to see Secretary
Rumsfeld repeat his speech in front of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
on Memorial Day."

Does the President agree with Secretary Rumsfeld that soldiers drafted
to service added no value to the United States armed service?

MR. FLEISCHER: Russell, Russell, Russell, while I'm honored that you
chose
-- in the face of a Rumsfeld briefing at the same time as mine -- to
come here, I'm sure that if you took the entire text of what Secretary
Rumsfeld said to Secretary Rumsfeld and asked him, and shared with him
the entire context of what Secretary Rumsfeld said, you would have
thought twice about taking any one statement. I think if you look at
everything Secretary Rumsfeld said, you'd have a very, very different
picture.