McClatchy: Controversy over military vehicles for Iraq heats up

[babylonsister]

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/17369961.htm

Controversy over military vehicles for Iraq heats up
By Renee Schoof
McClatchy Newspapers
.

WASHINGTON - In February 2005, Marines in Iraq made a "priority 1 urgent" request for 1,169 military vehicles with V-shaped undersides that save lives by deflecting blasts from roadside bombs.

But instead of those Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, or MRAPs, the Marines back home sent armored Humvees, vehicles that offer far less protection. It wasn't until May 2006 that the Marines ordered the MRAPs, and then only 185 of them.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates now is asking the Marines to investigate and explain what happened. Today MRAPs are a priority with Gates. Congress is spending $8.4 billion to meet the military's request for 7,774 MRAPs. And the Army is checking to see whether it needs thousands more to replace Humvees.

snip//

Since March, Biden has gone to the Senate floor time and again to talk about how urgently MRAPs are needed in Iraq. In March, after his staff heard Army officials complain at a hearing about lack of funds, Biden proposed an amendment to the war-spending bill that sped up $1.5 billion so that 2,500 MRAPs could be built six months ahead of schedule. It passed the Senate 98-0.

Biden said he was shocked when InsideDefense.com broke the story of the Marines' 2005 request.

"How is it possible" that the military failed to act then, he asked at a May press conference. "How many people have perished in the meantime?"

more...

[Peace Patriot]

1. Bring 'em home! Then they won't NEED "MRAPs"!

The whole thing is a goddamned scam.