Star War agenda apparently more important than troops in Iraq

[welshTerrier2]

this is a total disgrace ... we're all very familiar with the poor quality of protective equipment provided to troops in Iraq ... how is it possible to push a star wars agenda replete with its hundreds of billions of dollars pumped into the military-industrial complex while military personnel are short-changed again ?????

the price paid for inflated corporate revenues is now more than 1500 dead Americans and more than 10,000 severely wounded Americans ... Democrats need to get out in front on this issue ... not a penny more for wasteful corporate defense giveaways until the troops are properly outfitted ... there's just no excuse for this GOP callousness ...

source (free subscription required): http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/07/international/middleeast/07armor.html?hp&ex=1110258000&en=4c8f9c351e1cfaa3&ei=5094&partner=homepage

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In all, with additional paperwork delays, the Defense Department took 167 days just to start getting the bulletproof vests to soldiers in Iraq once General Cody placed the order. But for thousands of soldiers, it took weeks and even months more, records show, at a time when the Iraqi insurgency was intensifying and American casualties were mounting.

By contrast, when the United States' allies in Iraq also realized they needed more bulletproof vests, they bypassed the Pentagon and ordered directly from a manufacturer in Michigan. They began getting armor in just 12 days.<skip>

But an examination of the issues involving the protective shielding and other critical equipment shows how a supply problem seen as an emergency on the ground in Iraq was treated as a routine procurement matter back in Washington.<skip>

Others say that the Pentagon's longstanding preference for billion-dollar weaponry has made it less prepared to deliver the basic tools needed by soldiers on the ground.<skip>