Report Williams Apology Omits Key Details
[su_right_ad]Military members who were there are having problems with Brian Williams’ apology for years of stories that his plane was hit by fire in Iraq.
“I think it is misleading” for Williams to say his aircraft was following behind the Chinook hit by two rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire, said David Luke, a retired soldier from Texas who was a flight engineer with a company of the helicopters under the 159th Aviation Regiment, which was known as Hercules and based out of Savannah, Ga…
Luke’s Hercules Chinooks, carrying Williams and the NBC crew, soon heard over the radio that the Big Windy company they had passed came under fire from the pickup truck, he said.
Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Miller, who was a flight engineer on the Chinook carrying NBC, said the TV news crew placed a microphone in one of the helicopter’s headsets and later broadcast clips of the radio reports from the Chinook company that was attacked.
Luke’s unit then ran into an approaching sandstorm that forced them to change course and return north in an attempt to find a safe haven at the forward operating base Rams, a Spartan and hastily set-up post to the south of Baghdad, Luke said.
The unit found the rocket-damaged Chinook parked at an airstrip just outside Rams. Crew members on that aircraft said Williams came off his helicopter and approached them to ask about the attack.
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Mike February 5th, 2015 at 11:22 pm
Let’s get something straight…on his appearance on Letterman where Williams claims his bird was hit with RPG’s and AK fire. He claims they were traveling at about 100′ and 100 MPH. He continues to claim they were carrying bridge sections to enable the 3rd mechanized to make a river crossing and that they went down hard…oh, and they were the forward most Americans in the battle at the moment and surrounded by the enemy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RHbCnqLLk4
This is quite a bit different than a bad recollection of facts. This is willful fraud and Stolen Valor.
Sorry, he has to go.
ChrisVosburg February 6th, 2015 at 3:15 pm
Actually, what Williams says is that “two of our four helicopters were hit by ground fire,” and then goes on to say that the ground fire was AK-47 and RPG, without specifying which heli got hit by which ground fire, so I’m not finding much of a fraud here, just an imprecise use of “we” to mean “our group of helicopters,” and not “our helicopter.” Big deal.
I note that Williams has previously said many times that the helicopter ahead of his was hit by an RPG, not the heli he was in.
Further I note that the excerpted bit from the piece linked to mentions a supposed claim by Williams that his heli was hit by two RPGs, but nowhere can I find Williams saying this.
Lastly, I don’t wanna attack the memories of retired army guys, but I imagine them to be every bit as dependable as my own, meaning not very. War stories, you know? They are never the same from any two people witnessing the same event.
Mike February 6th, 2015 at 3:58 pm
At :54 “…the amount of fire WE took this day…”
At 1:01 “…WE were the northern most Americans in Iraq…”
At 1:11 “…WE were going to drop some bridge portions across the Euphrates…” At 1:15 “…two of the helicopters WE WERE IN WERE HIT, INCLUDING THE ONE I WAS IN…Letterman: No Kidding??? yes, RPG and AK 47
At 1:23 Letterman asked him his altitude and speed “..we were only at a hundred feet doing a hundred forward knots cause we were carrying these bridge sections underneath…”
At 1:27 Letterman asks what happens the minute you realize YOU HAVE BEEN HIT “…we figure out how to land…and safely, and we did quickly…and WE landed HARD. We put down and WE WERE STUCK four birds in the middle of the desert and we north out ahead of the other Americans.”
The rest is just more of the same that makes your post one giant lie…Brian Williams is that you….?????
You are nothing more than a despicable troll that thinks people are as stupid as you and not able to watch a video and follow along with the Italian captions.
Sell your sh!t somewhere else…you a bigger liar than Brian Williams.
ChrisVosburg February 6th, 2015 at 4:14 pm
two of the helicopters WE WERE IN WERE HIT, INCLUDING THE ONE I WAS IN…Letterman: No Kidding??? yes, RPG and AK 47
The heli Williams was in was hit by some AK47 fire. The heli ahead of the one Williams was in was the one hit by an RPG (perhaps AK47 fire as well, it’s not clear).
As I said, it’d have been nice if Williams had been less imprecise, but at this point he’d told this story so many times, that for purposes of his brief chat with Letterman, he just condensed it down to “we were hit by ground fire, RPG and AK47.”
Which is, well, true.
Mike February 6th, 2015 at 6:33 pm
Nice try at walking it back…he said everything I wrote. The video was 4:22 of Brian Williams engaging in fantasy.
His bird arrived 68 minutes after the occurrence, it was not carrying the General who said they were flying over Indian territory nor was his bird carrying bridge components…it goes without saying the RPG and AK47 garbage is just that. Like I said…it was nothing but lies.
It’s especially disturbing you took the opportunity to attempt to defame actual war hero’s by alluding to the fact there might be different versions due to the fog of war by lumping that bit of your own fantasy in with your defense of Williams.
As a vet I believe your actions are nothing short of deplorable…now please…STFU and go away.
BillTheCat45 February 6th, 2015 at 7:20 pm
“Stolen Valor”? That’s funny, I didn’t know he was in the armed forces.
Get a grip.
Mike February 6th, 2015 at 7:32 pm
Stolen Valor applies to anyone, not just members of the military…that’s precisely what it was written for…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Valor_Act_of_2013