ANOTHER RUMMY LEGACY?

Former SECDEF Rumsfeld tried to tranform our ground forces into lighter, faster units. This change in direction may have cost lives because anything that didn't fit in with the long-term goal wasn't given priority. The AP reports that an urgent request in February 2005 for many more MRAPs (mine-resistant, ambush-protected) vehicles was unnecessarily delayed. One reason the Marines gave for the acquisition delay was like Rumsfeld's old lie about armored Humvees:

Last year, the service defended the decision to not buy MRAPs after receiving the 2005 request. There were too few companies able to make the vehicles, and armored Humvees were adequate, officials said then.