Blogger: Vest in "Brilliant" Anti-Allen Ad Isn't from Vietnam War

[RamboLiberal]

http://tpmmuckraker.com/

Questions are being raised over a "hard-hitting" ad criticizing Sen. George Allen (R-VA) by an unaffiliated "527" political group.

The ad, made by VoteVets.org, charges Allen voted against a bill that would provide updated body armor to troops serving in the Middle East. The group's Web site features accolades from liberal Web sites about the spot, calling it "more relevant and hard hitting than anything else I've seen," and "by far the most brilliant and effective ad I've seen this cycle."

<snip>

Not so fast. "hat they say in this ad, particularly about the older vest, is a lie," wrote Bruce McQuain on the libertarian blog, QandO, on Sept. 14. (Allen's "blog guru," Jon Henke, also writes for the site.) McQuain identified the vest as an "80s era kevlar PASGT flak vest."

It was designed to stop shrapnel, not bullets, he wrote -- but "it could be upgraded to stop bullets," including those type fired in the ad.

<snip>

Ultimately, the vote may be more important than the vest: in 2003, Allen voted against a proposal to spend $1 billion on equipment for National Guard and Reserve troops serving in Iraq. At the time, limited supplies of bulletproof body armor meant the Pentagon only gave it to front-line troops -- excluding most Guardsmen and reservists.



As KO says, "Oh, Here We Go." Just like the Bush TANG AWOL Story - the Swifties are trying to divert attention from the truth by trying to find a fraud - this time to a vest instead of a font. One thing we have to learn in going after Repukes is that all the facts are vested 100% so they can't divert by nitpicking.

[liberaliraqvet26]

1. Technology was the same....

it was made up of similar material but had a newer (1980's) cosmetic cover. The fact is that the new technology was out in 2003 and EVERY soldier in Iraq should have had a new one. The Pentagon had over 1 and a half years to get the vests made. A shortage of any kind is unexcusable.

The issue even goes beyond the vote in question. It shows the lack of oversight. Up armored humvees and new vests were not widely issued until after the young soldier embarrassed the incompetant secretary of defense at a Q &A at a press conference in 2004.

This is unacceptable and I am glad VOTEVETS is raising the issue now.

[RamboLiberal]

5. Yep - USA Today Editorial 12/03

<snip>

As a law professor, I am more comfortable researching legal briefs than body armor, but I was thrown into this controversy in early September when I received a call from Richard Murphy, one of my students during his first year of law school. I wasn't surprised to hear from Richard, but I was a bit surprised that he was calling from Iraq. His Army Reserve unit had been called up, so he had taken a leave from school to serve. What came as a greater surprise was that Richard's mother had mailed him body armor because his entire unit was issued Vietnam-era flak jackets that are designed to stop shrapnel rather than bullets. The Interceptor vest can stop AK-47 rounds moving 2,750 feet a second.

Army Spc. John Fox must appreciate the difference. He was hit in the stomach by an AK-47 while on patrol in September in Fallujah. He was one of the lucky soldiers with a vest. The bullets set off three ammunition magazines and a smoke grenade he was carrying, The Washington Post reported. The vest protected him from the AK-47 rounds and the explosion of his own ammunition and grenade.

I first assumed that Murphy's unit was a mix-up. Then I called retailers and manufacturers of body armor and was told that they had been deluged by such orders from the families of soldiers.

A Pentagon procurement officer then told me Interceptor vests were "non-priority" items, like tents. Accordingly, the military had decided to slowly phase out the old flak jackets in a one-for-one exchange program over 10 years. We invaded Iraq in the fifth year.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2003-12-17-turley_x.htm

9 months after the f'in war started! Tons of stories just by googling 'troops lack vests'.

[Old and In the Way]

2. BFD.....it's an ad fer chrissakes.

If they had found an authentic vest, would the reprucussions of Allen's vote had been any different?

Always a distraction, never an argument about the content.

[AIJ Alom]

3. Then why weren't these vests upgraded and then given to our troops ?

BECAUSE GEORGE ALLEN VOTED AGAINST IT !!! SCREAM AFTER ME !

1980's vest, Vietnam vest...guess what...the troops were given leftovers instead of new equipment and scream after me...GEORGE ALLEN VOTED AGAINST IT !!!

[RamboLiberal]

4. BTW, just saw these guys have newspaper ad against Lieberman

http://www.votevets.org/storage/votevets/documents/printad9-7.pdf