Let's Talk About Armor, Mr. Rumsfield

By now, you will have heard about Rumsfield's weasel words when questioned by an Army Sergeant about the lack of armor for Hummers in Iraq. If not, then check out the item in todays news briefs.

I posted this on the AlterNet forum, then thought it was worth saying all over again here. So, here goes...

Here is what the guys over at OpTruth, the Iraqi Veterans website, are saying about Rummie's comments, where they applaud the Sgt.s courage. The whole hummer armor/body armor scandal is one of the unsung war crimes of the current administration.

Noel Schactman has covered the hummer issue well - the Army doesn't like it's troops to use ad-hoc armor on hummers and the Marine higher-ups actually refused to buy new better armored vehicles! Slate has reported on the under-funding of armored hummers. I have written about the body armor debacle myself - basically it's a case of spending money on the big-ticket war toys instead of supporting the troops, then back-funding the really needed stuff with supplementals they know nobody will say no to.

At least half of all combat casualties have been because of lack of body armor or armored hummers! Now armor companies are recording up to 350% higher profits because the armor market became a seller's market.

See what I mean? Totally underdeveloped issue. The troops are being killed by Bush's administration as much as by the insurgents bombs and bullets, while the armor companies make another kind of killing. Liberals need to be able to say: "I support the troops. They shouldn't have to die because they are fighting the wrong war with a lack of equipment." I believe the troops would appreciate it - in droves. Given that we are going to be there for "four more years" according to both Rummie and the British Army, maybe the Dems should consider making more of this?

There's more. Thursday 9th Dec.
Reuters is running a report about the White House closing ranks behind Rumsfield in an attempt to soothe angry troops and limit the damage Rummies fumbling words have done. Bush managed to be condescending to the troops and his SecDef at the same time.

"The concerns expressed are being addressed, and that is, we expect our troops to have the best possible equipment. And if I were a soldier overseas, wanting to defend my country, I'd want to ask the secretary of defense the same question," Bush said.

He told reporters in an Oval Office event that he has been telling military families that "we're doing everything we possibly can to protect your loved ones in a mission which is vital and important."

Meanwhile Paul Reickhoff of Operation Truth, the troops advocacy group, was rightly angry saying Rumsfield "doesn't understand the reality on the ground that the troops are facing...all he keeps giving us is excuses. We don't want excuses, we want solutions,"

and even more!
Kevin Drum over at Political Animal says that Rumsfield showed a lack of respect while the boggers of Operation Truth are using some real fighting talk. One OpTruth veteran says "it's a matter of incompetence. Good leaders take responsibility and fix things, they don't make weak excuses" while pointing out that the company that makes hummer armor could boost production by 22% but hasn't been told to do so by the Dept. of Defence. Another veteran of Iraq describes Rumsfield as "unprepared, uninformed and unconcerned". A Marine still on active duty reminds the administration that the troops are the ones who "bleed for their mistakes and Paul Reikhoff reminds readers that "troops on the ground have been expressing their dissatisfaction with how the war is being run, in this way, for a long time", destroying claims from InstaPuppets and Fudge Report-ers that the whole thing was set up by a liberal reporter out of new cloth. Remember, the guys at OpTruth were or still are at the sharp end.

whew... that is all I am going to post on this subject unless it takes a new turn. This has turned into a sort of "one stop shop" for this controversy. Now, it is time some of the people in power actually did something about it, and time that those responsible for the shortages in the first place recieved their just rewards.