Is the Congressional Medal of Honor that Bush just gave out legit?

[Guaranteed]

It just doesn't sound very realistic.

Don't get me wrong- I have the highest respect for those who have received this medal. But, a couple of facts, namely, the numbers used in the story, don't sound right.

Here's the story, from the AP:

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050404081609990030&ncid=NWS00010000000001

Soldier Earns First Medal of Honor From Iraq War
His Young Son Accepts the Posthumous Award From the President
By DEB RIECHMANN, AP

WASHINGTON (April 4) -

Paul Ray Smith's 11-year-old son, standing only chest-high to President Bush, accepted the nation's highest award for valor on Monday for his late father, who exposed himself to enemy fire in Iraq and saved at least 100 of his fellow U.S. soldiers.

Outnumbered and exposed, Army Sgt. 1st Class Smith stayed at his gun, holding back an advancing Iraqi force until a bullet in his head claimed his life. Bush presented the Medal of Honor on the second anniversary of the day Smith died in battle on April 4, 2003, near Baghdad International Airport.

<snip>

After directing another soldier to pull the wounded M113 crewmen to safety, Smith climbed into the machine gun position and began firing at the enemy soldiers. During a stretch of 15 minutes or longer, with his upper torso and head exposed, Smith fired more than 300 rounds.

"With complete disregard for his own life, and under constant enemy fire, Sergeant Smith rallied his men and led a counterattack,'' Bush said. "From a completely exposed position, he killed as many as 50 enemy soldiers as he protected his men.

<more>
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So, he apparently saved "at least" 100 American soldiers from "as many as" (elsewhere in the article) 100 Iraqi soldiers. Now, this was an engineer battalion, so they may have been lightly armed. But- still.

And then, even less realistic is the number of Iraqis he reportedly killed. 50 dead Iraqis in 15 minutes? Were they just running straight into the streams of bullets? Usually, when you're being shot at, you take cover. It's hard to imagine that one guy could take out that many enemy soldiers with one machine gun, while exposing himself to fire.

I dunno. I've never even been in the service, but this doesn't sound right. I don't like saying that, either, because I know that our soldiers do very brave things every day. This seems like it's another Bush Administration lie, though.

[Wabbajack]

1. He gets a medal for killing 50 people?

yay him.

[Peter Frank]

2. The Man Deserved the Medal...

...and Bush used the situation to gain favor for the war (enlistments are down).

[Guaranteed]

3. Well, I guess I'm not really saying he didn't deserve the medal,

but the numbers do sound inflated.

[Peter Frank]

4. The "Fog of War" can be spun in any direction n/t

[Journeyman]

5. Could be the numbers were cooked. I choose to believe they weren't. . .

just my feelings about those who've won the Medal of Honor.

Men do incredibly brave acts in war. Incredibly stupid ones, too. Maybe this was just a confluence of both streams.

My neighbor won the Medal of Honor in World War II. He's dead now. Here's a little something I wrote about him years ago. . .

There’s a park around the corner from me, a real nice place; kid’s playground and picnic area, a small lake for fishing. It’s a pleasant spot to spend an afternoon, one where I’ve spent many an hour with my children.

The park’s named for a Medal of Honor winner. He was an Army Sergeant, Second World War, who found himself and his squad pinned down on an Italian hillside one October morning in 1944 by heavy fire from emplaced German machineguns and mortars. Undeterred by the deadly fire that ricocheted off the barren rocks, he directed his squad to stay under cover while he climbed around the left flank and attacked the first machinegun emplacement. In a surprise assault of unexpected ferocity, he forced the surrender of 8 soldiers, whom he sent down to his men below. He was discovered as he crept towards the second emplacement, yet under withering fire he leapt to his feet and, bobbing and weaving, crouching then lunging, he charged ahead. He killed four and forced a fifth to surrender. He then went after the third machinegun, this time in the face of a thoroughly alerted enemy. So ferocious was his attack, so aggressive his shouts and bursts of gunfire, the four enemy gunners threw down their arms. The fourth emplacement was not so easily cowed. Situated on the crest of the hill, their backside protected by a fifth emplacement, these soldiers took a stand to stop this crazed man. Four died, three surrendered. And the fifth emplacement surrendered as well — all six soldiers chose capture over death. In his one-man assault, Sergeant Chris Carr overran 5 machinegun emplacements, killed eight enemy soldiers, took 22 prisoners, and saved the lives of the men of his company. When his battalion moved in the next day, it found itself in possession of the neighborhood’s commanding ground.

My family and I have lunch at the park some days. We talk about movies we’ve seen, books we’ve read, places we’d like to go. We don’t speak of troubles there, nor do we discuss the day’s events on those grassy slopes. We are content to know there are some things for which words are not necessary, that the grass and placid waters can tell us all we need to know.


Truth be told, Chris Carr looked like an accountant. The casual acquaintance might never suspect how brave he could be, or that he could accomplish such a seemingly impossible task against battle-hardened German soldiers at that.

So no, when the Medal of Honor is awarded, I trust the procedures used to verify the events and I do not question the honor or the man. If nothing else, I believe we can be certain of this award for no other reason than that so far it is the only Medal of Honor given in this wretched invasion. If the Bushistas wanted to play this angle, I think they'd have manufactured more than one event.

[Guaranteed]

6. Well, like I said, I don't like saying this.

And I know the bravery of those who have received the Medal of Honor.

I'm just saying that this particular case doesn't pass the smell test for me.

Great story about your neighbor, by the way.