Iraq - Medal of Honor to Be Awarded

The New York Times reports "WASHINGTON, March 29 - Sgt. First Class Paul R. Smith, killed nearly two years ago defending his vastly outnumbered Army unit in a fierce battle with elite Iraqi troops for control of Baghdad's airport, will receive the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award, administration officials said Tuesday."

True to form, The NYT just can't help but inject their venom into the story.

The story of Paul Ray Smith is that of an ordinary recruit from Tampa, Fla., who fresh out of high school joined the Army not out of patriotism but for a steady paying job, and who 15 years later, as a battle-hardened platoon sergeant, was hurled into an extraordinary test, for which he paid the ultimate price.

And how in the hell does the Times know this? The guy was in for 15 years and nothing in this article backs up the Times claim that he was in "for a steady paying job". In fact, there is ample evidence to suggest the opposite.

Sergeant Smith grew up in Tampa, enlisted in the Army in 1989 and served in the 1991 Persian Gulf war. As a sergeant, he was considered a taskmaster, insisting his troops keep their weapons spotless, Cpl. Daniel Medrano, who served with the sergeant in Bosnia in 2001, told The St. Petersburg Times. Sergeant Smith would push a Q-tip into rifle barrels, looking for dirt, Corporal Medrano said.

Sergeant Smith was a veteran of the first gulf war and still he re-enlisted and from his subordinates we learn he was a "taskmaster". Does that sound like someone who was just in "for a steady paying job"? Most steady jobs don't entail warfare.

From Smith's wife we learn:

Reached at her home in Holiday, Fla., on Tuesday, Sergeant Smith's widow, Birgit, expressed gratitude. "I'm proud and honored that Paul would be recognized by his country in such a meaningful way," she said in a telephone interview. "He loved his country; he loved the Army; and he loved his soldiers."

Sounds pretty patriotic to me. But not to the Times. Oh no. Far be it that Americans can serve in the military for patriotic reasons. I guess Pat Tillman was in it for a steady job having turned down a multi-million dollar deal with the NFL.

So, there you have it. A patriotic American lays down his life for his country, his men and the people of Iraq and the Times claims he was in it for the paycheck. The Iraqis shot him in the front while he was standing but the Times is stabbing him the back while he's down. Assholes.
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