NBC's Today devoted a moving and inspirational segment on
Tuesday to a U.S. Army Ranger who was blinded in Iraq, Sergeant
Jeremy Feldbusch, followed by a live interview with Feldbusch and
a veteran blinded during World War II. But NBC's Ann Curry
couldn't resist trying to get Feldbusch to denounce the war. She
asked him: "Are you angry that what you were on a mission to
protect America against, weapons of mass destruction, may never
have existed at the time you parachuted into Iraq." Feldbusch
stood by how the war was justified, but Curry was not dissuaded,
pressing: "Was all of that worth the price you have paid?" And:
"The price you will pay for the rest of your life?"
MRC analyst Geoff Dickens caught the exchange which took place
during a lengthy taped piece aired during the 9am hour on the
April 27 show, in which Curry traveled to Blairsville,
Pennsylvania to chronicle Feldbusch's efforts to adapt to a new
life as a blind 24-year-old man. During the first days of the war
he was hit in the head with shrapnel.
As the two sat in what looked like a living room of a house,
Curry pressed him: "Are you angry that what you were on a mission
to protect America against, weapons of mass destruction, may never
have existed at the time you parachuted into Iraq."
Feldbusch: "We have gotten rid of Saddam Hussein in the Middle
East. We have taken him out of central control of the Middle East
and we're putting, trying to place a democracy in the center of
the Middle East."
Curry: "Was all of that worth the price you have paid?"
Feldbusch: "Yes."
Curry: "The price you will pay for the rest of your life?"
Feldbusch: "If I would have died while I was over there that
would've been worth everything that I've done."
Curry: "That commitment and caring brought him back recently
to the hospital where his life was saved to say thank you and to
cheer up the troops. Many waiting for reconstructive surgery...."
Following Curry's piece, live in studio, Matt Lauer talked
with Feldbusch and WWII vet Tom Broderick who was blinded during
that war. (NBC Nightly News ended Tuesday night with a story about
the two.)