Lawmakers blast US Army delay in fielding Humvees

[UpInArms]

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2005-10-21T005050Z_01_N20286226_RTRIDST_0_IRAQ-HUMVEES.XML

WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers on Thursday criticized the Army for delays in getting over 800 new armored Humvees to Iraq, where they said U.S. troops face about 30 insurgent attacks using improvised roadside bombs every day.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican, said the Army's decision to hold back 824 Humvees for U.S. troops that are not deploying the region until January could mean the "difference between life and death" for soldiers there now.

"Our troops deserve nothing less than the best possible protection. They need to know that not only is the best equipment being provided to them, but that it is being done in a timely manner," Hunter said at a hearing.

He said the Army should have sent the new M-1114 Humvees to Army soldiers in Iraq as soon as they rolled off the production line, or to Marines, which had only 6 percent to 7 percent of the up-armored Humvees in Iraq at the moment.

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Check out the last paragraph - this is the Clenis's fault!

[Vincardog]

1. Does any one remember that Humvees are not combat vehicles?

Why not send in some Bradley Fighting Vehicles? Were are the TANKS?

[wakeme2008]

2. Right Humvees are just big Jeeps and

where never planned to be used the way they are being used.

[Vincardog]

3. WAr on the cheap. Why is it the fools believe rePigLickins are strong on

Defense? Oh yeah they never met a weapons program they would not fund. Remember Star Wars? Trillions down the drain for nothing.

[RamboLiberal]

4. Lawmakers question Army brass on idle armored humvees (842 Sit Unused)

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/21/MNGH7FBR5D1.DTL

House lawmakers grilled Army officials Thursday about 824 top-of-the-line armored humvees sitting idle in a Kuwait parking lot at a time when Army and Marine Corps forces in Iraq need them for protection against roadside bombs and insurgent attacks.

"You've got soldiers in the 3rd Infantry Division who are going every day on operations and they don't all have what is considered to be the gold standard in armor," said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine (San Diego County), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

The new humvees "can be the difference between life and death for our troops," said Hunter, who said that the idle humvees were a violation of an Army commitment to dispatch the more survivable humvees, known as the M1114 model, as soon as they are manufactured.

After hearing the protests of Republican and Democratic committee members, Army Secretary Francis Harvey and Gen. Richard Cody, the Army vice chief of staff, agreed to re-examine the feasibility of sending the new humvees into Iraq soon.

[texpatriot2004]

5. Take the ones from the civilians in the US too. They have no

place on urban streets.

Okay, that said, send the new ones too. DUH!