Biden, Bond Seek Probe of Vehicle Delay (This is unconscionable!)

[gateley]

WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.

(snip) Cost was a driving factor in the decision to turn down the request for the so-called MRAPs, according to the study. Stateside authorities saw the hulking vehicles, which can cost as much as a $1 million each, as a financial threat to programs aimed at developing lighter vehicles that were years from being fielded.

snip

more of this infuriating story:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jorsWBymMn2oDT9Slb52TDmloGtgD8UST0EG2

Funding for these was PASSED. Biden and others fought like hell and were furious that it was MONEY that was the main reason for resistance to support it.

How on earth can these things just be IGNORED?

I guess this Administration doesn't share Biden's sense of a Sacred Obligation to our troops. :grr:

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

1. K&R

Keep this one in mind come November.

[stillcool]

2. sick greedy bastards..

[DS1]

3. I also read elsewhere that many of the MRAPs that did get to Iraq were assigned to Iraqi units

who didn't patrol in the first place.

[barbtries]

4. do you have a link?

i'd be quicker to believe that they were appropriated by contractors and higher ups.

[DS1]

5. no, I'd have posted it

and can't remember where I saw it

[w8liftinglady]

8. this MAY have a link

http://warisboring.com/?p=661

[gateley]

6. I liked what Bond said about having to tell parents their child was killed because

we didn't want to spend the money.

Can you guys even believe this is our country?

[walldude]

7. Supporting the troops! As long as it doesn't get in the way

of millions in profits for the Military Industrial Complex. Yeah, vote Republican :eyes:

[WheelWalker]

9. This is going to shake the dirt off the grass roots. k&r

[jillan]

10. A BIG k/r!

Once again Biden is doing the right thing.

[damonm]

11. "Support the Troops", my a$$!!!

:nuke:

[DCKit]

12. Why does George Bush hate our troops? n/t