Fox: Bush and Rummy "tried to tamp down the firestorm" over armor debacle

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Rumsfeld Grilling Revives War Plan Questions



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,141094,00.html

WASHINGTON — Critics of the war in Iraq (search) seized on charges that U.S. troops there don't have enough armored vehicles as another example of poor planning by the Pentagon.

President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld (search) tried Thursday to tamp down the firestorm, which was ignited a day earlier when an Iraq-bound soldier publicly complained to Rumsfeld that the Army wasn't properly armoring vehicles for the campaign.

"This is about faulty analysis and a failed strategy," said Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a California Democrat who sits on the House Armed Services Committee. "We've never had enough troops on the ground since the fall of Saddam Hussein's government to deal with the insurgency because we didn't expect one."

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Congress had given the Bush administration all of the defense spending it had requested. Why then, he asked in a letter to Rumsfeld, were soldiers combing landfills for scrap metal to protect themselves? "This administration has received every dollar they have asked for from Congress," Durbin said in his Chicago office Thursday. "So, the money has been there."

[rkc3]

1. Where has the money gone then?

It can't have all gone to Halliburton or Bechtel. We'd have seen it on the stock market.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

2. I don't know, but...

...I posted the following thread last night. Apparently, they want ANOTHER $70 billion. So the question of the day is "what happened to the $78 billion that was supposed to pay for this?"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1421209

[DeaconBlues]

4. And where does the $400 billion a year that is for general military

expenditures go? Truly insane how much money goes down the toilet.

[lachattefolle]

9. I don't know about all of it, but I have a friend who just got back from

Iraq. He's a chopper pilot on active duty who said he was flying the same missions as civilians who were making $20,000 a MONTH. Apparently, their company(ies) get half a million a year for providing the military with a body and the pilots get half. Also, remember those stories of civilian truck drivers getting, what, 10K or so a month? That is where some of the taxpayers' money is going. I personally think if every ablebodied Repuke who supported this war volunteered, we wouldn't have to pay any civilians to risk their lives dodging those roses we were promised.

[mandyky]

3. We are paying all the claims

for killing innocent Iraqis, bribing coalition members ,and puttting huge bounties on terrorists. We are spending money on PR but no money to actually change the pig - lipstick alone don't work and is a waste of money!

[Skittles]

5. WHY is this just NOW becoming an issue?????

our troops hve been open targets now for over a year and a half

[Supersedeas]

11. it took a courageous soldier to ask the question, MSM would never touch it

[LynnTheDem]

12. YES actually they HAVE touched it.

MSM has reported the lack of up-armored humvees MANY TIMES over the past 2 years.

But just as a story. NOW suddenly it's a "FIRESTORM".

If they'd bothered to GIVE A SHIT every time OVER THE PAST 2 YEARS they reported on it, then at least 20% of the dead troops WOULDN'T BE DEAD.

CBS News: Iraq GI's short on armor, radios, bullets

-October 31, 2004

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/31/60minutes/main652491.shtml

MSNBC: US troops, parents confirm Humvee risks

"Michael Moran received numerous responses to his Brave New World column about the lack of armor protection on U.S. military Humvees in Iraq..."

-April 16, 2004

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4758004

Newsday: Troops seen vulnerable in Humvees
Lighter vehicles lack protection against militants

-December 18, 2003

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2003/12/18/troops_seen_vulnerable_in_humvees/



I have a list of HUNDREDS of links to articles from the past 2 years; hell yes the MSM widely reported on it...but no one gave a shit and troops died.

[Solly Mack]

6. Who is this "we" that didn't expect an "insurgency" ?

I know I'm not one of those "we's"

[LynnTheDem]

13. None of these Republicans are the "we" either

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1421570

[Solly Mack]

14. You bet they knew

the "war" was never about America's safety or Saddam Hussein or WMD or any of their lies.

It was about oil, reconstruction $$$$$'s and holding a base in the ME...and getting those dollars, oil, and the base on the cheap.

Don't you get tired of hearing anyone..and I mean anyone..claim they didn't know an illegal invasion would lead to resistance?

[fob]

15. EXACTLY! I stoppped reading at that point and yelled "It's THEY Ellen,

not WE".

When will the Democrats learn to place blame where it should be? Time after time the Democrat uses the royal we which means they are soaking up sonme of bush*s blame. Kerry did that a lot in the debates, I kept screaming at the teevee "USE THEY! or HIM, HIS, or bUSH*S!, stop giving bush* cover!!"

It never worked.

[Solly Mack]

16. Language is a tool and sometimes a weapon...using "we"

puts the weapon in the right wings hand. It allows them to point to a democrat and say "see! they thought the same as we did" (no matter how big of a lie it is)

It's not noble or bipartisan to assume another politicians blame. They make the mistake...let them wear it...and use the words that show they wear it.

[fob]

17. Language is a tool that can be mightier than a sword, unless you're

a prominent Democrat. Then it appears to become an anchor!

I agree 10000% with YOUR words, btw.

[tanyev]

7. Fox news says

they "tried to tamp down firestorm" rather than "uppity soldier dares to question the chosen one"? Wow! What's up?

[Mike Daniels]

8. Fox and Friends were blasting anyone who was claiming "plant"

Normally, I wouldn't trust any of the brainless three on F&F to criticize the admin in any respect but they all agreed it was a legitmate question that should have been asked and gave kudo's to the reporter for finding a way to ask the question regardless of the means.

[LynnTheDem]

10. And lack of armor has been WIDELY REPORTED THE PAST TWO YEARS!!!

WHY is the US media acting like this is NEW INFO?????!!!

It ISN'T NEW!!! For TWO YEARS vcarious US mainstream media has REPORTED ON US TROOPS LACKING ARMOR!!!

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!

Better late and a few hundred more dead than never, I spose.

[hatrack]

18. One question is suddenly a "grilling"?

Man, is this pathetic or what? One telling and spot-on question somehow sneaks its way into the MSM, and it's the biggest story in the nation.

"Journalism", or what's left of it is flopping around on the gurney, deep in Cheyne-Stokes respiration, and accidentaly does its job, and it's suddenly "news".

This country is seriously fucked up.