from SLATE: >USA Today leads with an in-house investigation that found service members on the ground in Iraq had been asking for the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, which provides much better protection against roadside bombs, since as early as December 2003. But Defense Secretary Robert Gates made the issue a priority only two months ago....
USAT has been following the controversy surrounding MRAPs better than anyone and today's investigation, clocking in at almost 6,000 words, carefully outlines how those on the ground clearly saw the need for the vehicles early in the war, but were ignored by the Pentagon's leaders to tragic consequences. Last month, two senators wrote to Gates and said the delays in delivering MRAPs resulted in the deaths of "621 to 742 Americans" but the real number is probably higher since the requests for the vehicles were put in earlier than lawmakers realized.
The failure to provide more MRAPs wasn't caused by ignorance, since the Pentagon knew of their superiority, and, in fact, while denying requests from U.S. troops, military leaders were pushing to get these vehicles for the Iraqi army. So, why the delay? Part of the reason is that officials simply didn't expect the war to last this long [!?!?!], so the investment was seen as unnecessary, and, perhaps more interestingly, the big, expensive vehicles didn't fit former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's vision of turning the military into a "lighter" and "more agile" force.<
-- Jim Devine / "The tooth fairy teaches children that they can sell body parts for money." -- David Richerby
