WP: Equipment For Added Troops Is Lacking

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/29/AR2007012901584.html?nav=rss_world/mideast

Boosting U.S. troop levels in Iraq by 21,500 would create major logistical hurdles for the Army and Marine Corps, which are short thousands of vehicles, armor kits and other equipment needed to supply the extra forces, U.S. officials said.

The increase would also further degrade the readiness of U.S.-based ground forces, hampering their ability to respond quickly, fully trained and well equipped in the case of other military contingencies around the world and increasing the risk of U.S. casualties, according to Army and Marine Corps leaders.

"The response would be slower than we might like, we would not have all of the equipment sets that ordinarily would be the case, and there is certainly risk associated with that," the Marine Corps commandant, Gen. James Conway, told the House Armed Services Committee last week.

President Bush's plan to send five additional U.S. combat brigades into Iraq has left the Army and Marines scrambling to ensure that the troops could be supported with the necessary armored vehicles, jamming devices, radios and other gear, as well as lodging and other logistics.

Trucks are in particularly short supply. For example, the Army would need 1,500 specially outfitted -- known as "up-armored" -- 2 1/2 -ton and five-ton trucks in Iraq for the incoming units, said Lt. Gen. Stephen Speakes, the Army's deputy chief of staff for force development.

[fooj]

1. When are we going to rid ourselves of these bastards?

[Botany]

2. When are the "grown ups" going to be back in power?

Not repub or demo but just people with half a brain.

:grr:

[JohnnyLib2]

3. More examples of the FACTS and the experts not being heeded.

Over and over and over.

[whistle]

4. Read PNAC....that is the plan that Bush/Cheney are following

....and it talks of nuclear bombs as the only equipment required for enforcing American hegemony over nations who resist.

These rat bastards must be stopped now!

[tanyev]

5. That's OK. Bush's 30% will just slap a few more magnets on their cars.

Problem solved.

[moondust]

6. Again, still, FUBAR.

The article does not mention whether or not THE GREAT DECISION-MAKING DECIDER was made aware of any of this BEFORE he made THE GREAT DECISION. I doubt he asked anybody.

[saigon68]

7. Oh My Oh My

[bemildred]

8. Bush will sign an executive order to create the trucks.

Then the troops will all be ordered to make truck noises and pretend they are driving while patrolling on foot around Baghdad.

[slipslidingaway]

9. K&R n/t

[54anickel]

10. Not again?!?!?!!!!!

Remembering Rumsfeld: “You go to war with the army you have—not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.

Here we go again, it's like Groundhog Day. We've got to make them stop this insanity! :cry:

[brentspeak]

11. What's been done with the $300 billion????

[struggle4progress]

13. You mean $500 billion, of course -- or you've just lost another $200 billion:

Top News January 30, 2007, 8:37PM EST
Military Equipment: Missing in Action

A new Defense audit says the Pentagon has failed to properly equip soldiers in Iraq—just as the President struggles to find support for a troop increase

by Dawn Kopecki

The Inspector General for the Defense Dept. is concerned that the U.S. military has failed to adequately equip soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, especially for nontraditional duties such as training Iraqi security forces and handling detainees, according to a summary of a new audit obtained by BusinessWeek. The findings come as the Pentagon prepares to send another 21,500 troops to Iraq and as Democratic leaders levy threats to restrict funding for a war that's already cost about $500 billion...

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jan2007/db20070130_624241.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_businessweek+exclusives

[brentspeak]

15. Thanks for the correction.

Now I'd like for someone to tell me what Bush and Cheney's cronies have done with the $500 billion?

[TacticalPeek]

12. Maybe they can throw O'Reilly's book at the insurgents.

And Ahnuld can loan them his humvees.

[amandabeech]

14. I bet that you could buy it all cheap in China!

Globalism and all that, you know.

I wonder if the Chinese would sell the Bushies a bunch of mercenaries, too?