Battle ensues over bulletproof vests (More on lack of vests in Iraq)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2164582

The 9 mm pistol was fired in the pre-dawn hours just about a foot from Cpl. Juan Ponce. The muzzle flash singed the Texan's face, and the bullet knocked him to the ground, leaving him gasping for breath.

But the slug struck a ceramic plate inside Ponce's protective vest, and he lived to tell the tale.

<snip>

The ceramic plate is a relatively new piece of equipment. Called a "Sappy Plate" by GIs, it has saved many lives in the close-quarter fighting that sometimes flares here.

But the military has been slow to get the body armor to Iraq. Five months after President Bush declared the end of major combat in Iraq, about 25 percent of the soldiers here lack the new equipment, officials say. The delay has prompted howls of outrage from some lawmakers, mainly Democrats.

<snip>

The issue has been swept up in Washington politics, with Democrats saying the Pentagon's failure to provide bulletproof vests and plates to every soldier is symbolic of an overall inability to plan adequately for the war and its aftermath. Republicans have accused Democrats of making cheap political hay out of the matter.

[benfranklin1776]

1. CBS News had something on this this eve.

They were scathing as they should have been. They reminded that the reason for this problem was that the Pentagon had failed to anticipate the high demand because they did not anticipate being in the country involved in the type of war that they are in. The corrrespondent remarked that most military plans did not survive the test of battle but here there was no plan at all.
So when are we going to see some "responsibility" and "accountability" from this administration for its failure to adequately plan and to heed the warnings of people like General Shinseki who warned of the need for 300,000 troops. Probably about the same time we see a crackdown on corporate corruption, an arrest of Kenny Boy and end to the stonewalling on 9.11. In a word, never.

[TacticalPeek]

2. That's their pattern, and they're sticking to it.

Clark's right, we can't afford to wait until Nov '04. Investigate now!

:kick:

[benfranklin1776]

4. Agreed.

Keep up the demands for an independent counsel, especially in the Wilson/Plame matter and dogged corruption hunters like Representative Waxman need to keep digging. These folks bank on evading accountability by hoping the scandal "goes away" and they always are eager to supplant these stories in the mass media by changing the subject.

[JackSwift]

3. Halliburton gets everything it wants

on time and with a 300 percent profit margin. I recommend that the troops change their name to Halliburton or Cheney or Rumsfeld or Rove.