Since the Iraq invasion, I keep seeing these stories about how soldiers are being sent into battle with inadequate equipment. And I know this isn't a case of the "liberal" media making stuff up. The soldier from my neighboring town who was killed in Iraq was killed in a vehicle that did not have armor plating.
In fiscal year 2004, the Pentagon's budget was over $375 billion ($375,000,000,000). And this figure does not include billions more in supplemental expenditures alloted by Congress throughout the year. Yet our government sends folks into combat situations without basic stuff like armor plated vehicles.
This is an absolute scandal. Where is the $375 billion in tax dollars going if the troops doing the dirty work they are ordered to do aren't sufficiently protected?
I opposed the war, but whenever you send troops into harm's way, you should offer them as much protection as is reasonable.
And it's easy to blame Sen. Kerry for whatever he did on this appropriations' vote. And perhaps it's justified, perhaps not. Still, the bottom line is that the president is commander-in-chief, not senators or former presidents. The president is in charge. It's the president's responsibility to ensure this. But Bush has proven that the buck stops with him only when it contains good news.
The 'support the troops' folks should be screaming from the rooftops about these stories of ill-protected troops. But I guess it's easier to mouth phrases like, wear little ribbons and let 'support the troops' be merely symoblic, rather than backed up by action.
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