Where's the MRAPs?
By John Amato Saturday Feb 16, 2008 12:05pm
Well as the USA TODAY found out. That was a fib. 
Remember this memorable Rumsfeld quote: "You go to war with the Army you have. They're not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time." 
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Pentagon balked at pleas from officers in field for safer vehicles.
Oh wait, they did decide to buy them for the troops. The Iraqi troops that is.
Even as the Pentagon balked at buying MRAPs for U.S. troops, USA TODAY found that the military pushed to buy them for a different fighting force: the Iraqi army. On Dec. 22, 2004 two weeks after President Bush told families of servicemembers that "we're doing everything we possibly can to protect your loved ones"...read on
Their decision cost a lot of people pain. Except Rummy that is....
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The sad part is that no one is really surprised by this anymore.
The man should be tried and executed
And in 2008 (2008, damn it!) my cousin runs into a roadside bomb in Iraq and dies, along with several of his comrades. I guess their armored Humvee wasn't "mine-resistant" enough. But to be fair, the lying scoundrels of the Bush administration have had only a few years of pretending to protect the troops. You can't expect much progress when you're only pretending to care. Centuries of running sores and maggots would be too good for these people. I hope that karma catches up with Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the whole filthy crew. War criminals, all of them.
Facade - the real issues are being sidetracked by 'surge' and other staged topics. It is pointless to discuss with the admin's puppets.
Blog conversations are more truthful.
Bush is loyal to a fault. I would have fired Rumsfeld at least a year before he "resigned".
RHM's Blog
It would be nice to ask the former Secretary of Defense that question again, but I'm sure the gentleman is busy "replenishing the coffers" and doesn't have time to answer any more silly questions. Get with the program, folks!
It is sad that no one is surprised by this anymore. The American public has had evidence of Bush's lies and mishandling at every single turn and yet you keep him as your standing President. September 11 did destroy America -- not from without, but from within.
Zeno @ 3:
My condolences Zeno. If you wish to be fair then we need to have a fair trial for the Bush regime, including Rummy, followed by the punishment they would select for their victims.
You march on Washington, D.C., with the pitchforks and torches you have, not the enforceable eviction-from-office orders you wish you had.
"They’re not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time,” is a profound prediction, weirdly clairvoyent if you make the assumption that these people are idiots.
I do not make that assumption, therefore:
Rumsfeld is aware of every bloody step by diminishing the military both literally and figuratively, leaving our nation vulnerable. And then collecting lecture money while doing it.
Where's the Funds?
Keep an eye on Bush and the criminals.
http://www.google.com/search?q=vulture+fund&sitesearch=gregpalast.com
“Vulture fund” companies buy up the debt of poor countries at cheap prices, and then demand payments much higher than the original amount of the debt, often taking poor countries to court when they cannot afford to repay.
http://www.gregpalast.com/bbc-newsnight-vulture-story-on-democracy-now/
YBNurmal @ 8:
The news model was in top form that day
“You live in the dump you have. They’re not the palaces you might want or wish to have at a later time.”
http://tinyurl.com/2mlfbk
L.A. Confidential @ 14:
Face it we're being used, screwed, abused, and discarded.
Rico @ 6:
He made plenty of money introducing aspartame into the market place. He also owns part of Tamiflu, the cure for the "bird flu".
Everything you know is wrong
I know it's OT but when are we going to do something about unlimited access to these domestic WMD's?
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/15/university.shooting/index.html
RHM @ 5:
I'm not sure it's so much a question of loyalty as it is Bush's inability to admit mistakes.
43 believes betrayal of loyalty was his father's downfall. HW would eject anyone caught in wrong doing during his presidency, to which W believed cost HW the reelection.
Rumsfeld should face and honestly answer for his high crimes everyday of his life.
Or drop Rumsfeld and the rest of neocons into the heart of Baghdad with little to no weapons in the middle of the night.
And where is this bastard now? Still at the Pentagon? Does he still have
office space? This man and the entire Bush regime is the embodiment of everything wrong in this country. We, as Americans, should be ashamed for not only electing this man but doing it twice.
Biggest Con Job on the American people in World History.
reciprocity @ 19:
Oh. I'd give 'em weapons. Even some of those kevlar-deficient helmets. And some non-mine-resistant humvees.
What's a MRAP?
Mine resistant armor protected vehicle
you go to war with the secratary of defence you have, not nessecarily the one you want.
Thanks. I'd gladly give up a 600 million $$$ embassy to buy a few of those for our soldiers.
America has one hope and need ... War Crime Tribunals in February 2009.
P.D. @ 20:
I have yet to hear one person Admit they voted for him.
I know if I had voted for him I would be very ashamed and angered.
Bangkok Bob @ 28:
Dead hanging chads tell no tales.
Wouldn't it be great to have the president that we wanted instead of the idiot that currently occupies the White House.
In sad and stark contrast to appearances, life is clearly disposable to the perpetrators of this travesty and they will continue to lie and shun responsibility. We must continue to speak out against this madness.
Cats r Flyfishn @ 30:
Really. This is a nightmare right? Didn't Gore win? When do i wake up?
Poor amerikan soldiers...
:-(
Enough of this unpopular war. So much money down the drain...
More than likely Blackwater was able to pick up their MRAPs at less than retail price.
Radically Moderate @ 34:
Actually when Rumsfeld made those dumbass comments in Iraq, he and his crew tooled around in one of the Buffalos, the good ones not the POS ones being built by Trent Lott's suck-ups.
What's it going to take to hold guys like Donald Rumsfedt and others accountable?
Strawberrybitch @ 35:
No surprise here, being a veteran I'm familiar with the chain of command and lack of shared sacrifice. 'been that way throughout history.
Technically, you go to war with the army that you *and your allies* have, which is why you don't insult allies who oppose your policy, you find a different way to work with them.
It is incalculable the amount of pain and suffering engineered by this one man, Donald Rumsfeld.
You have to be a megalomaniac in order to live with oneself after such a track record as his, nothing at all surprises me anymore in regards to Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Gonzales/Wolfowitz/etc. etc...
With war costs predicted to amount to 1.5 TRILLION, you'd think that the American armed forces would be spared no expense. I guess to Rumsfeld, the soldiers don't come first.
Detroit can design, prototype, tool up, launch, and market thousands of limited hand built units in 24 months.
http://www.prowleronline.com/prowler-end.php
"Where’s the MRAPs?"
Where is the MRAPs?
Do you mean where ARE the MRAPs?
Che's Lounge @ 17:
"A Web site used to buy gun accessories"
Are these the WMDs of which you speak?
Why does that news ancohor in the vid look like she belongs on FIXED News?
MRAPS?
Military rapping?
Man those recruiters will try anything.
Party Posse Rulz!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNRMTbqVZ_0
“You go 8 years with the president you have. Not the president who won the election or the president you wish to have at a later time.”
USA TODAY found that the military pushed to buy them for a different fighting force: the Iraqi army.
And given that the Iraqi "army"(Whatever that is) is probably completely infiltrated by insurgents, mark this down as another brilliant strategy from the people who brought you "shock and awe" , cakewalk (not the music composition software), and "Mission Accomplished!"
Or you can invade Iran with the army you want, but don't have.
I can't wait for the draft, maybe then people will actually give a shit about these wars of aggression.
Rumsfeld got U.S. soldiers killed. Bush got U.S. soldiers killed. Cheney got U.S. soldiers killed.
In fact, these three Axis of Evil guys have gotten more U.S. soldiers killed or maimed for life than the civilian body count on 9/11, perpetrated by a bunch of right-wing religious fundamentalist whackjobs.
Rumsfeld is gone, but the two remaining Axis of Evil guys in the White House should have been impeached a long, long time ago, replaced hopefully by some people, some patriots, who actually give a damn about our democracy...and the U.S. military personnel who defend our democracy against all forms of right-wing tyranny.
It was those bitches idea to start an unnecessary war in the first place. So fuck that, "army you might want shit."
Actually, you do go to war with the army you have. Every nation in history who sent their army off to war, went to war with the army they had. I imagine that this will hold true in future wars too.
These MRAP's are so expensive and now it seems we've bought more than the military actually wants. And, what....they get like .5 miles to the gallon?
I do hope that they help our soldiers, but I'm not thrilled with them.
Rumsfeld should be in the Hague right now!
Instead of "going to war with the army you have, not the army you want or wish to have at a later time".
How about Rummy going to the Haig on war crimes with the lawyers he has been appointed, not the lawyers he wants or wish to have at his trials time?
Plimpie @ 52:
"Plimpie"
Yup. It's always been that way and it will not change .The point is Why can't the generals,etc. and in this case also the US Secretary of Defense use a little foresight. Is the military mind incapable of thinking out of the box ?
As a veteran, what has always astonished me is how transparently contemptful this administration is of our people in uniform of of the military, in general. It amazes me that through the simple expedient of pushing a few emotional buttons or making a few utterly insincere appeals to the patriotic instincts, they are able to manipulate the support of our fighters.
A group of chicken hawks who are all for war, but who uniformly refuse to accept any personal burden or risk in fighting it. A group who sees military service as a thing for the lower classes. A president who was so contemptful of the idea of honorable service that he deserted from a post and duty that he was granted solely for the purposes of allowing him to avoid exposing his privileged blue blood ass to any iota of personal risk in Vietnam. An entire team who has no use for veterans who come home wounded and broken. A "leader" whose only use for the military is to serve as background props in photo opportunities, who otherwise views them as expendable commodities of no real significance. A group which has demonstrated as thoroughly as may be done, that they hold the Constitution which all in uniform serve, sacrifice and die to protect and defend, in complete and final disdain.
It blows me away that anybody in uniform could vote for these thugs and poseurs.
Radically Moderate @ 37:
If I'm not mistook...according to the tv show FutureWeapons, Blackwater builds their own troop carriers to their own specs...supposedly superior to the MRAP's...they also make a very effective, and freightening fully automatice 12ga grenade launcher...things to be looking for when they provide "security" if BushCo declares martial law before the election.
Keep in mind folks...Blackwater=SS.
Plimpie: You are SOOOOOO wrong! When you are planning a war (when we have NOT been attacked) and it is completely your decision when to go - you are supposed to spend time planning. The generals at the War College estimated that it would take them three months to plan for the war. That includes equipment procurement, establishing supply lines, AND planning for the aftermath.
Rumsfeld gave them TWO WEEKS! So that business about going with what you have is pure and simple bullshit!
And here is an example of how well-prepared our soldiers are.
A South Dakota Company called Sioux Manufacturing has been prosecuted and paid a multi-million dollar fine for skimping on the Kevlar in the helmets that have been provided to our soldiers and marines since 2000. The helmets are thinner than the specifications - which allowed the company to make increased profits.
Wonder how many soldiers died because their helmets would not stop a bullet?
Think that's bad? Wait - it gets worse! While the company was being sued - the Pentagon awarded them a $74 million contract - to replace the defective helmets!
Think that's bad? Wait - even worse? Right in the middle of the lawsuit about the helmets - in November 2007, the Pentagon awarded contracts for the MRAPs to 3 companies. One of them was - you guessed it - Sioux Mfg.
Still think you go to war with the army you have - not the one you wish for? Well, in this administration's case - you go to war with an army that is under-equipped, ill-trained, and un-prepared because they just don't give a f**k about the troops!
I am a veteran and I am so outraged I would like to punch Rumsfeld right between his legs - but every American everywhere should be outraged by this crap.
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