Murtha says Iraq deployments straining military gear

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07024/756240-84.stm

Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania yesterday warned that the nation's armed forces face a $100 billion shortfall in equipment because of the stress of repeated deployments in Iraq.

In an appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he also said the thousands of new American troops heading to Baghdad to quell the city's violence will confront far more difficult combat conditions -- street fighting, unseen enemies, roadside bombs -- than he did as a soldier serving in Vietnam 40 years ago.

The Johnstown Democrat, speaking just hours before President Bush's State of the Union address, again called for a quick withdrawal, warning of dire consequences for the military if the United States didn't change course.

"Our military equipment inventories are unacceptably low," said Mr. Murtha, the highest ranking House member in control of defense spending. "We must not lose our capability to deter future threats."

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del., the Foreign Relations Committee chairman, invited Mr. Murtha to speak yesterday because of his expertise on military issues and his high profile as a critic of the Bush administration's Iraq policies.

[DainBramaged]

1. These evil GOP bastards never thought about wearing out the equipment

They had NO plan for anything except never ending war and profits for their contributors.


No party has done more to drag the country kicking and screaming back to the Fifties than the Evil GOP.

[wellst0nev0ter]

2. Oh ForFucksSakes, Quit With The "He Said, She Said" Reporting

and stick with the truth:

Scarcity of safe vehicles deemed worse

By David Wood
Sun Reporter
Originally published January 21, 2007

WASHINGTON - After nearly four years of war in Iraq, the Pentagon's effort to protect its troops against roadside bombs is in disarray, with soldiers and Marines having to swap access to scarce armored vehicles and the military unsure whether it has the money or industrial capacity to produce the safe vehicles it says the troops need.

On Jan. 10, The Sun reported that most of the 21,500 troops President Bush has ordered to Iraq as reinforcements will not have access to specialized blast-resistant armored vehicles because they are in such short supply.

But the problem runs deeper than that. In congressional testimony and interviews last week, senior Army and Marine Corps officers acknowledged that they are struggling just to meet the needs of service members already in Iraq. Even if the Pentagon can find millions of dollars not currently budgeted, and even if it can find factories to produce the armored vehicles, most U.S. troops in Iraq will not have access to the best equipment available, as President Bush has often promised.

The Army acknowledged last week, for example, that it is still 22 percent short of the armored Humvees it needs in Iraq despite heated criticism in 2004 and 2005 over the lack of armored vehicles. Army officials said it will be another eight months before that gap can be filled

[rodeodance]

3. Bush made a big deal about supporting the troops last night------getting

the needed equipment is a MUST.