Armor for dummies

This headline has been flying around the news pages today, "Most Marines killed in Iraq could have been saved by body armor", which was reported the New York Times. The Times went on to say,

"Such armor has been available since 2003, but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field for additional protection,"

Once again the Times qouted some of those "unnamed officials" which are becoming so popular these days.

Their story led to some interesting quotes. Presidential hopeful Evan Byah, Senator from Indiana, is currently on a tour of Iraq and Afghanistan with other democrat hopefuls, including our own US Representative Harold Ford, Jr. and blue chip prospect Barack Obama. Byah had some tough talk for reporters about the apparent lack of body armor,

“Frankly, heads ought to roll if there are people who are responsible for not getting our troops the body armor they need to protect themselves. That is just not acceptable,” said Bayh.

Great, but it's also apparently unacceptable if you can't move. To the AP's credit they actually interviewed someone who might know, a real soldier,

Second Lt. Josh Suthoff, 23, of Jefferson City, Mo., said he already sacrifices enough movement when he wears the equipment. More armor would only increase his chances of getting killed, he said.

"You can slap body armor on all you want, but it's not going to help anything. When it's your time, it's your time," said Suthoff, a platoon leader in the brigade's 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry Regiment. "I'd go out with less body armor if I could."

Always prudent to ask someone who might know. Here's another someone, Sgt. Paul Hare,

"These guys over here are husbands, sons and daughters. It's understandable people at home would want all the protection in the world for us. But realistically, it just don't work,"

SHRILLARY CHIMES IN 1/10/06

And she is shocked. After perusing this ABC article the casual reader would be left thinking that Bush and Cheney desire to see more US troops die, simply because they are tightwads. As mentioned above, at least AP bothered to interview a few soldiers.

But, aside from the hyperbole and feigned indignation from politicians, the money issue is important. The recent story about the economists who believe the Iraq war will cost TRILLIONS of dollars should have given al-Qaeda, Saddam and their allies a warm fuzzy. The Mujahadeen defeated the Soviets in the 80s (with our help) partially by extending the war and draining the Kremlin's treasury. There is no doubt that strategy in once again in play, but the answer this time is to share the wealth--get all the western countries to contribute. Isolationism is just not an option.