Biden, Bond seek probe of vehicle delay

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON - Two senators are urging the Pentagon to investigate a Marine Corps report that bureaucrats refused an urgent request from battlefield commanders in 2005 for blast-resistant vehicles.

"We need an official investigation to figure out why this happened and to make sure it never happens again," said Sen. Joseph Biden Jr., D-Del.

Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been a longtime advocate of building and deploying more of the vehicles, called MRAPs.

Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., said the government shouldn't have to "explain to the families of American troops that a cost effective solution capable of saving lives was not deployed because of bureaucratic delays or insufficient funds."

The Associated Press first reported Friday that hundreds of U.S. Marines have been killed or injured by roadside bombs in Iraq because Marine Corps officials refused the request of the commanders. Both senators issued their statements Sunday.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080218/ap_on_go_co/marines_mrap_senators