[Displaced Flames fan]

Well, I'm not sure what how a newspaper chooses to report a story has to do with Americans being gullable....but....

Here's what I think about the situation.

Maybe the reporter should have mentioned that he planted the question in the article he wroter for HIS newspaper.

But, to think that a US soldier would ask the Secretary of Defense a question of that nature without believing in the question himself is D U M B. I wonder, was the applause planted too? That makes the planting of the question irrelevant. The only ethical responsibility the reporter had was to his readership in Chattanooga.

Ridiculous.