ANOTHER EDITION OF "WHO CARES FOR THE TROOPS?"

Can you imagine the uproar if this had happened under a Democratic president? I still hear and read complaints about Clinton for his handling of Somalia!

Report: Soldiers Needed Tougher Humvees
POSTED: 06:21 PM ET, 12/ 9/2008 by Derek Kravitz
TAGS: Defense Department, Iraq, contracting, war
Washington Post

...a scathing inspector general's report (PDF) that blamed the government for not getting the humvees quicker.

The report, released today, said Defense Department officials were aware of the threats posed by mines, roadside bombs and improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, and of the availability of vehicles to stop the threats, dubbed mine-resistant vehicles, back in 2003 before the Iraq War.

"Yet DoD did not develop requirements for, fund, or acquire (the) vehicles for low-intensity conflicts that involved mines and IEDs," the report said. "As a result, the Department entered into operations in Iraq without having taken available steps to acquire technology to mitigate the known mine and IED risk to soldiers and Marines.