"Not ready for duty, Sir!" - Defense Dept. took NO action to mitigate IED threat

[Bluebear]

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Defense Department knew years before insurgent actions began in Iraq of the threat posed by roadside bombs but failed to take available steps to mitigate the risk to US troops, a Pentagon audit concluded Tuesday.

The US Marine Corps asked the Pentagon's inspector general to perform the audit after coming under fire for setting aside an urgent request from field commanders in 2005 for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) armored vehicles.

"DoD (Department of Defense) was aware of the threat posed by mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in low-intensity conflicts and of the availability of mine-resistant vehicles years before insurgent actions began in Iraq in 2003," the audit found.

"Yet DoD did not develop requirements for, fund, or acquire MRAP-type vehicles for low-intensity conflicts that involved mines and IEDs," a summary of the report said.

"As a result, the department entered into operations in Iraq without having taken available steps to acquire technology to mitigate the known mine and IED risk to soldiers and Marines," it said

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081209/wl_mideast_afp/usmilitaryiraqmrap_081209180156

[amdezurik]

1. Hell nobody ever thought of stopping a truck outside

say some building in Oklahoma say and thought that blowing it up would cause damage, nah that kind of thing would never happen...