Hummer Bummer Why is the WH underfunding armored Humvees?

[RamboLiberal]

http://slate.msn.com/id/2095705/

You've read the story countless times: An American convoy in Baghdad or Fallujah or Tikrit is attacked; a GI is killed and others are wounded. Nearly all those convoys include the all-purpose Humvee, which, it is becoming clear, lacks sufficient armor. Many feature no more than canvas roofs and doors. "We're kind of sitting ducks in the vehicles we have," one lieutenant colonel told Newsday.

The Army has acknowledged that it miscalculated the intensity of the guerrilla war in Iraq and subsequently goofed on the number of armored Humvees it needed. "We do not have as many armored Humvees as we would like," the Army's vice chief of staff testified before Congress in late September.

So how is the White House proposing to deal with this? By underfunding the program to armor Humvees.

<snip>

The Pentagon is rushing to fill the shortfall. Besides armor kits, it's ramping up production of up-armored Humvees—to 220 per month—and it's shipping as many as it can from other theaters to Iraq. Still, the military says it doesn't expect to meet the need for either type of protection before late 2005.

The White House doesn't appear to be helping. Its proposed budget for 2005 includes funds for 818 up-armored Humvees, which may or may not be enough, depending on whether the military's latest estimate of its needs holds steady and how many up-armored Humvees are already in the pipeline. (An Army spokesman said he wasn't sure of the number.) As for the thousands for armor kits the military says it needs, the proposed budget includes exactly zero dollars for them.

Check out this document:

http://slate.msn.com/id/2095717/

[ComerPerro]

1. Probably because they are a pretend administration

Bush pretended to serve in Vietnam, they pretened not to know 9/11 would happen, they pretend to be fighting a war on terror, they pretend to care about the average person, and they pretend to care about the well-being of the troops who are making them rich.

But, the sad truth is, they don't give a shit.

They, just like most of this damned country, are too caught up in the fun of jingoism

[JuniorPlankton]

2. Mostly agree with two comments

1. He never pretended to have served in Vietnam
2. He never pretended to care about the average person :)

[soup]

5. re: 1. but he did say

"I've been to war. I've raised twins. If I had a choice, I'd rather go to war."

[hatrack]

3. There's a simple reason for this

It's much more cost-effective (in terms of campaign donations) to spend taxpayer dollars underwriting the $75,000 Hummer tax deduction for the H2 than it is to spend taxpayer dollars to effectively equip real Hummers with the armor plating they need in combat zones.

[truthspeaker]

4. Cheaper to bribe the press to suppress the story

Those ungrateful soldiers were probably going to vote Dem anyway.