Better armor lacking for new troops in Iraq

[maddezmom]

WASHINGTON // The thousands of troops that President Bush is expected to order to Iraq will join the fight largely without the protection of the latest armored vehicles that withstand bomb blasts far better than the Humvees in wide use, military officers said.

Vehicles such as the Cougar and the M1117 Armored Security Vehicle have proven ability to save lives, but production started late and relatively small numbers are in use in Iraq, mostly because of money shortages, industry officials said.

More than 1,000 American troops have been killed by roadside bombs since the war began in March 2003. At present there are fewer than 1,000 of the new armored trucks in Iraq. At $500,000 to $700,000 each, they cost more than twice as much as a standard Humvee, but already they are proving their worth.

"They are expensive, but they are going to save lives," said Gen. James T. Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps, during a recent trip to Iraq, where he reviewed the service's effort to get more of the vehicles.

more:http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/iraq/bal-te.armor10jan10,0,2049191.story?track=rss

[ClintonTyree]

1. "You go to war with the Army that you have".....

I seem to remember some asshole saying that at one time. Bush's "surge" has all the earmarks of a calamitous cluster fuck and I have no doubt it will end in just that way IF he's allowed to escalate the war to "save" his pResidency and shore up his "legacy". That's what this entire thing is about anyway. Oil profits and his legacy, the entire basis for Bush's war.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[Kiouni]

3. with such a bloated defense budget

you would think we could cut out a few million dollar hammers and toilet seats to buy a few more of these babies.

[Rene]

4. I was reading thru the list of our American soldiers who've perished in this illegal

ill-conceived, and immorraly run "war"...on Michael Moore's web site...looking for a particular name that was mentioned in a very sad email that's going around. I never did find that name in the Nov-Jan timeframe....but what I did see reminded me, again, about how criminal this administration is. Read the accounts of how each soldier died....there are massive numbers of entries that say "killed by an ied that went off N E A R their humvee. These guys limbs and lives are being shredded by shrapnel, because they don't have peoper protection. It's criminal that those ammo dumps were not protected and allowed to be looted, and now taht armament is being used against our men and women. bush, chendy, rumsfield and many others in this admin, must be prosecuted.....all resign and never hold public office or influence policy ever again.