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Text of Democratic response by Sen. Durbin
Hello. This is Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois.
If this holiday season finds you at a post office, take a look at the people in line with you. Most of them are mailing packages across the state and across the country, but many are sending packages to their soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Inside many of those boxes headed for the war zones you'll find gifts like homemade cookies and family photos, but you'll also find expensive items no military family should ever have to buy like body armor and Kevlar vests.
It turns out the most valuable gift America's service members and their families receive this holiday season may just be the question put to Secretary Rumsfeld by that stand-up soldier from the Tennessee National Guard. You remember what he asked the secretary: Mr. Secretary, why are American soldiers in Kuwait and Iraq forced to scavenge in junk piles for steel plates to protect their Humvees and trucks?
It's a question a lot of us have been asking for some time now.
Just over a year ago, I made my first visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to meet with wounded soldiers from Iraq.
The first soldier I met with was 28 years old, out of the Army National Guard in Ohio. He lost a leg in Iraq. I asked him, Is there anything I can do for you? And he said, Senator, make those Humvees safer so other soldiers won't have to go through what I did.
That was over a year ago.
Now, Congress has given this administration every penny that it's requested for Iraq and Afghanistan, yet today, 21 months after the invasion of Iraq we still have 3,500 Humvees without protective armor, making these vehicles and our soldiers in them prime targets for road- side bombs and rocket-propelled grenades.
The Department of Defense estimates almost 1 in 5 of the lives lost in Iraq were in Humvees.
And the Humvees aren't the only problem. About 80 percent of the other vehicles our troops are using in Iraq are also unarmored.
As of late October, an estimated 44,000 soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan still did not have adequate body armor, and last year, Chinook helicopters were activated from Guard units in Illinois, Iowa, and Ohio, without the proper anti-missile defense equipment.
The Pentagon says the lack of protective equipment is a matter of logistics.
No, it's not. It's a matter of leadership. We've seen a litany of serious miscalculations from Pentagon leaders, stretching back to the earliest stages of this war when Secretary Rumsfeld ignored warnings from top military experts that success in Iraq would require far more troops and that our troops were likely to be met with strong resistance, not parades and flowers.
Those responsible for planning this war weren't prepared for the reality on the ground, and many of our soldiers have paid the price.
Nearly 1,300 U.S. service members have died in Iraq, and more than 10,000 have been injured, many of them severely. Last month was the deadliest month yet for U.S. soldiers in Iraq.
When Secretary Rumsfeld met with those soldiers in Kuwait, he invited them to ask tough questions. Well, they sure did. Now he owes them, and all Americans, some straight answers.
How in the world can the Pentagon have billions of dollars for no-bid contracts for companies like Halliburton, but not enough money to provide basic protective equipment for our troops?
Why did we discontinue the production of armor plating before all of our Humvees in Iraq were protected?
We can, and we should, armor every Humvee and every truck our troops use in Iraq and Afghanistan. No more excuses, no more delays. We can save hundreds of lives and prevent thousands of serious injuries.
Our fighting men and women have accepted the responsibility to risk their lives for America. Shouldn't their government accept the responsibility to protect them?
The Tennessee soldier who confronted Secretary Rumsfeld about the shortage of armored Humvees told the New York Times the other day, and I quote, I'm a soldier. I'll do this thing on a bicycle if I have to, but we need help. He's right.
Secretary Rumsfeld, we have the Army we want; now let's give them the equipment they need.
In this holiday season, as we pray for peace on Earth, let's do everything in our power to bring peace of mind to our service men and women and bring them home safely.
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Give me some more of that.
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