Fears mount over ferrying troops into Baghdad [View All]

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/11/12/MNGMD2VRTG1.DTL

With the Pentagon's announcement last week that it is sending 85,000 fresh troops and up to 43,000 National Guard and reservists to replace troops in Iraq next year, concerns are growing on Capitol Hill and among military security experts that commercial airliners ferrying soldiers there will be easy prey for terrorists or insurgents armed with shoulder-fired missiles.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., told The Chronicle on Monday that she was concerned the Bush administration was not doing enough to protect troops from being shot out of the sky by the same kind of missiles that destroyed an Army helicopter and killed 16 troops last week.

The Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday that it would award preliminary contracts next month for a pilot program to study how to adapt existing anti-missile technologies for use on commercial airliners. Among the firms vying for the contracts, which are part of a $100 million two-year research project, are two from California: Northrop Grumman Corp. and Raytheon Co.

But Boxer says the department is not moving fast enough. "I feel the administration is slow-walking the decision to protect our planes," she said.