:: blame the extended gestation.... ::

:: Thursday, March 18, 2004 ::

This must be what Bush means when his campaign ad's go on about being "leadership you can depend on;" there are currently more than 12,000 HumVees in Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 10,000 of them are without adequate armor protection to withstand small arms fire, grenades and roadside bombs. His leadership, his budget, our soliders getting killed.

As an article in Slate notes:

The White House doesn't appear to be helping. Its proposed budget for 2005 includes funds for 818 up-armored Humvees, which may or may not be enough, depending on whether the military's latest estimate of its needs holds steady and how many up-armored Humvees are already in the pipeline. (An Army spokesman said he wasn't sure of the number.) As for the thousands for armor kits the military says it needs, the proposed budget includes exactly zero dollars for them.

And turning an even sharper blind eye the suicide rate among soldiers has risen 20% higher than normal.

In the most recent budget, the President allocated a "increase of about $520-million in veterans spending over the current year." with inflation, "that amounts to a $273-million cut." And all the while people rile on about Kerry not voting for the 87 billion... what is often missed is the fact that HE DID vote for the 87 billion if it was paid for by pulling back on some of the Bush tax cut.

:: Jim Nichols 3/18/2004 01:01:00 PM [+] ::
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