NYT Edit: Not Supporting Our Troops

[kpete]

Not Supporting Our Troops

Published: February 15, 2007
How do you explain to the thousands of American troops now being poured into Baghdad that they will have to wait until the summer for the protective armor that could easily mean the difference between life and death?

It’s bad enough that these soldiers are being asked to risk their lives without President Bush demanding that Iraq’s leaders take any political risks that might give the military mission at least an outside chance of success. But according to an article in The Washington Post this week, at least some of the troops will be sent out in Humvees not yet equipped with FRAG Kit 5 armor. That’s an advanced version designed to reduce deaths from roadside bombs, which now account for about 70 percent of United States casualties in Iraq.

The more flexible materials used in the FRAG Kit 5 make it particularly helpful in containing the damage done by the especially deadly weapon the Bush administration is now most concerned about: those explosively formed penetrators that Washington accuses Iran of supplying to Shiite militias for use against American troops.

Older versions of Humvee armor are shattered by these penetrators, showering additional shrapnel in the direction of a Humvee’s occupants. The FRAG Kit 5 helps slow the incoming projectile and contains some of the shrapnel, giving the soldiers a better chance of survival.

more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/15/opinion/15thur1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[spanone]

1. Politics is more important than 'lives of our soldiers' obviously.

[Monkeyman]

4. Yep been that way from the start

[Kolesar]

2. Remember when the Tsar's troops only had about 1 bullet per day to fight the Germans?

Ok, you probably don't remember because you are too young, but you may have read it. Tsar Nicholas' military and logistics were so screwed up that they could not produce war materials.

Then the Bolsheviks came along. Took Moscow and got the whole country in turn. I hope those splat-ball players out in a Michigan beet field aren't getting any big ideas.

[Bitwit1234]

3. So bush believes his statement to the hilt

MONEY TRUMPS PEACE...

[dogday]

5. Money Trumps Peace

[rock]

6. Monkey Trumps Peace