MRAP's

[DemonKnight]

I cant wait for the first "blinged" out MRAP hits our highways. Looks like the ones we're going with will be the Cougar class MRAP. These things will save thousands of lives. Oh, and a message from the next POTUS...

 

Over the past few weeks, I've repeatedly pressed for action on an issue that is, literally, a matter of life or death for tens of thousands of Americans in uniform.

 

I'm writing today because I am sickened by what I have just learned about this administration's failure to address the issue... and because I am determined that we start to get right what they've gotten so wrong.

 

Road side bombs are responsible for seventy percent of American deaths and casualties in Iraq.

 

But a vehicle called the "MRAP" -- which stands for "Mine Resistant Ambush Protected" -- offers 4 to 5 times the protection of the most heavily armored Humvee. These MRAPs, with their V-shaped hulls, can cut casualties by two-thirds.

 

Last month, I made it my mission to speed up the production of Mine Resistant vehicles so that we could get more of them into the field faster than planned. My amendment to spend an additional $1.5 billion on Mine Resistant vehicles right away, instead of next year, passed the Senate 98-0 and it will be part of the Supplemental we send to the President this week.

 

As a result, we should be able to get 2,500 Mine Resistant vehicles to Iraq six months sooner than the administration originally planned. All 7,774 MRAPs the military has on order will be in the field by February of next year.

 

If that were the start and finish of the story, we'd all have reason to feel good.

 

But it's not -- in fact, the start of the story is shocking.

 

I hope it spurs all of us -- and the President -- to write a better conclusion to this story. To take action that does right by our troops and the responsibility we share to protect them.

 

Originally, we were told that Marine Corps commanders in Iraq requested their first Mine Resistant vehicles on May 21, 2006 -- 185 of them.

 

But according to a Marine Corps document leaked yesterday, commanders in the field in Iraq first asked for MRAPs in February, 2005 -- more than a year earlier. That request -- for 1,169 vehicles -- was labeled "priority 1 urgent." Here's what the request said:

 

"There is an immediate need for an MRAP vehicle capability to increase survivability and mobility of Marines operating in a hazardous fire area against known threats...

 

The expanded use of improvised explosive devices requires a more robust family of vehicles capable of surviving... MRAP-designed vehicles represent a significant increase in their survivability baseline over existing motor vehicle equipment and will mitigate casualties... Without MRAPs, personnel loss rates are likely to continue at their current rates. MRAP vehicles will protect Marines, reduce casualties, increase mobility and enhance mission success."

How is it possible that it took more than a year for the military leadership to act on this urgent plea?

 

How is it possible that, when it did act, it ordered only 185 vehicles, not the 1,169 requested?

 

How is it possible that with the country at war, with more than 130,000 Americans in danger, with roadside bombs taking more and more lives and limbs, this administration did not make these Mine Resistant vehicles a national priority?

 

How is it possible?

 

President Bush should get us answers to these questions so that we never have to ask them again. We need to know what went wrong.

 

But most of all, we need to make sure we start getting it right, from here on out.

 

A few weeks ago, Defense Secretary Gates acknowledged that he learned about the importance of Mine Resistant vehicles from a newspaper article. The Secretary rightly looked into it and concluded that MRAPs are "the highest priority acquisition program... Any and all options to accelerate the production and fielding of this capability... should be identified, assessed and applied..."

 

Now, the military is considering replacing most of our Humvees in Iraq with MRAPs. That would require 15,500 more MRAPs than the administration now has on order.

 

As far as I know, there is no plan to produce Mine Resistant vehicles in those numbers.

 

Eight plants across the country build these vehicles, but it's not clear they have the capacity, right now, to turn around that many. Nor is it clear that we have the resources at hand - the military grade steel, the rubber for the tires - to build that many that fast.

 

We need a plan. It must start with the President of the United States.

 

First, the President should declare, personally, that getting as many Mine Resistant vehicles as we need into the field as soon as possible is a national priority.

 

Second, the President should order the Secretary of Defense to determine by June 15 how many additional Mine Resistant vehicles we need, and to produce a plan to make them and to overcome any production obstacles that might stand in the way.

 

Third, the President should make it clear that he will use all of his authority to break any logjams and get the job done.

 

Fourth, the President and Congress should pledge that whatever money is needed to build the additional MRAPs will be made available -- no "ifs" "ands," or "buts".

 

No matter what Americans think about this war, every one of us agrees on this: so long as a single American soldier is on the front lines, it is our shared responsibility to protect him with every last bit of our energy, our ingenuity, our determination.

 

That's the American way.

 

It's not too late to find our way, again, and to do right by those who do this country so proud.

 

I will be writing you more about this subject soon.

 

Joe Biden

 

 

 

No support for our soldiers from the Dem's huh?

[H8tank]

Left side of my face...

 

right side of my face.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Anti-war Democrats in the Senate failed in an attempt to cut off funds for the Iraq war on Wednesday...

 

 

Care to guess how ol' joe voted?

[DemonKnight]

Left side of my face...

 

right side of my face.

Care to guess how ol' joe voted?

 

 

Wow, way to oversimplify the issue. Care to expound on that quote with a link? I'm sure they were trying to cut off ALL funds and just leave our soldiers asses flappin in the wind.

[Savage Beatings]

Sweet looking vehicle! I wouldn't mind owning one, but I think I'll wait for the Hybrid version to come to market.

[dmarc117]

Wow, way to oversimplify the issue. Care to expound on that quote with a link? I'm sure they were trying to cut off ALL funds and just leave our soldiers asses flappin in the wind.

 

 

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070517/ap_on_...ollvote_us_iraq

 

On this vote, a yes vote was a vote in favor of cutting off war money. The measure needed 60 votes to advance.

 

Democrats Yes

 

Akaka, Hawaii; Biden, Del.; Boxer, Calif.; Byrd, W.Va.; Cantwell, Wash.; Cardin, Md.; Clinton, N.Y.; Dodd, Conn.; Durbin, Ill.; Feingold, Wis.; Feinstein, Calif.; Harkin, Iowa; Inouye, Hawaii; Kennedy, Mass.; Kerry, Mass.; Klobuchar, Minn.; Kohl, Wis.; Lautenberg, N.J.; Leahy, Vt.; Menendez, N.J.; Mikulski, Md.; Murray, Wash.; Obama, Ill.; Reid, Nev.; Schumer, N.Y.; Stabenow, Mich.; Whitehouse, R.I.; Wyden, Ore.

[DemonKnight]

WASHINGTON - President Bush said he supports a $120 billion war spending bill on track to pass Thursday, ending weeks of wrangling with Democrats on whether to end the war.

 

ADVERTISEMENT

 

The bill funds the war through September as Bush wanted and does not set a date for U.S. troop withdrawals. In exchange for dropping restrictions on the military, Bush agreed to some $17 billion in spending added by Democrats to fund domestic and military-related projects.

 

"By voting for this bill, members of both parties can show our troops and the Iraqis and the enemy that our country will support our service men and women in harm's way," Bush said in a Rose Garden news conference.

 

The House voted 218-201 to advance the measure, paving the way for a final vote later that day. Democrats, who said they were disappointed with the White House deal, agreed not to block debate so long as the House would vote later this year on a separate proposal to bring troops come home before July 2008.

 

As for Biden on this bill...

 

I believe as long as we have troops in the front line, we're going to have to protect them," said Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record), D-Del. "We're going to have to fund them."

[The Holy Roller]

I didn't see any estimations on those vehicles MPG rating.

[Kansas State 2000]

About time!

[untateve]

You get blown up in war with the vehicles you have, not the vehicles you want.

[H8tank]

I believe as long as we have troops in the front line, we're going to have to protect them," said Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record), D-Del. "We're going to have to fund them."

 

What else is he going to say you foking idiot? Are you really this stupid?

 

How did he vote? Did he or did he not vote to cut off the money which in turn forces a retreat?

 

Biden is a slimey peice of schit, the fact you support him shows how drunk on the koolaid you are.

[untateve]

What else is he going to say you foking idiot? Are you really this stupid?

 

How did he vote? Did he or did he not vote to cut off the money which in turn forces a retreat?

 

Biden is a slimey peice of schit, the fact you support him shows how drunk on the koolaid you are.

 

 

I'm guessing a lot of this schtick...but as I understand it, a number of soldiers had inappropriate or no body armor and now it turns out there are vehicles that can decrease by 2/3 the number of casualties. How can the bush admin assert they support the troops but when it really counts, they're just standing there handing out prosthetics?

 

Or am I simplifying this too much?

[H8tank]

I don't know how this is coming at me, chumpy stiltkin posts a glowing, tear jerking quote from Biden how they need this and that, I simply wanted to remind him that biden is a LIAR.

 

If it was up to me, we should have had everything they needed and then some before this started.

 

If they could have had these trucks and didn't, we need to find out why and fire some people asses.

 

You can't give biden a pass, then try and point the finger at the admin like they are at fault at everything. Biden is part of the problem, PERIOD.

 

You can't be all for the war, like edwards, biden, hitlery, then just when it is politically beneficial too you, just change your mind, tell whomever what ever you want so you always give the answer your audience wants to hear.

 

Some needs to remember what Joe Lieberman thinks... remember, the VP candidate?

[untateve]

If it was up to me, we should have had everything they needed and then some before this started.

 

If they could have had these trucks and didn't, we need to find out why and fire some people asses.

 

You can't give biden a pass, then try and point the finger at the admin like they are at fault at everything. Biden is part of the problem, PERIOD.

 

You can't be all for the war, like edwards, biden, hitlery, then just when it is politically beneficial too you, just change your mind, tell whomever what ever you want so you always give the answer your audience wants to hear.

 

 

 

H8 and I agree on the above points. Time for a BGE-Purple Genie Love Dance.

[H8tank]

Biden, just an honest man...

 

Democratic presidential candidate Joseph R. Biden Jr., a U.S. senator from Delaware, was driven from the nomination battle after delivering, without attribution, passages from a speech by British Labor party leader Neil Kinnock. A barrage of subsidiary revelations by the press also contributed to Biden's withdrawal: a serious plagiarism incident involving Biden during his law school years; the senator's boastful exaggerations of his academic record at a New Hampshire campaign event; and the discovery of other quotations in Biden's speeches pilfered from past Democratic politicians.

[DemonKnight]

I don't know how this is coming at me, chumpy stiltkin posts a glowing, tear jerking quote from Biden how they need this and that, I simply wanted to remind him that biden is a LIAR.

 

If it was up to me, we should have had everything they needed and then some before this started.

 

If they could have had these trucks and didn't, we need to find out why and fire some people asses.

 

You can't give biden a pass, then try and point the finger at the admin like they are at fault at everything. Biden is part of the problem, PERIOD.

 

You can't be all for the war, like edwards, biden, hitlery, then just when it is politically beneficial too you, just change your mind, tell whomever what ever you want so you always give the answer your audience wants to hear.

 

Some needs to remember what Joe Lieberman thinks... remember, the VP candidate?

 

 

The fact is that Biden wants out of Iraq ASAP but while the soldiers are there he wants them to be adequately protected from roadside IED's. For how many years under the republican controled congress were our soldiers duct taping steel plates to humvee doors? Now we have a senator that passes legislation that offers tangible support to our troops and will save at least hundreds of our soldiers lives and you harp on him for pumping up his resume? Get a grip. Bush snorted coke, partied his ass off and got pulled over for drunk driving and hes our president. To top it off he puts hundreds of thousands of our fighting men in unnessecary danger by the utter lack of attention he pays to what countless millitary advisors tell him needs to be done. Take off the red glasses Sally Jessie. Your elected leader has failed at every step of this misbegotten conflict.

[H8tank]

Have we been attacked since 9/11?