Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld held a press conference in Kuwait with
US troops about to head over to Iraq. A soldier asked him to address the problem
of under-armed military vehicles, and the resulting risks to our troops. Rumsfeld’s
response was that production of such vehicle armor is behind schedule.
The reason for this? Congress voted to send our troops to war in Iraq; later,
a vote to spend millions of dollars to adequately arm these troops did not pass.
This is absurd. The fact is, a vote to go to war should automatically imply
that the troops are adequately armed and protected, no matter what the cost.
Think about it: when NASA plans to send astronauts into space they do not hold
a vote over whether or not to spend the money to provide enough oxygen and necessary
equipment for such a journey. No, the risks are assessed and addressed to the
full extent necessary before a space flight is even scheduled.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, our entire country joined in the effort to
win WWII. Our troops went abroad to fight, and at home our entire country, women,
men, and industry put all of its effort into producing the arms necessary for
our troops to adequately fight the war. Today, many of our tanks in Iraq are
vulnerable to attack because they are not properly armed. The majority of US
casualties result from this lack of protection. It would be one thing if the
technology to protect our troops did not exist; but the technology does exist.
The problem is that our government is not investing the money to make sure that
this armor is produced in a quick, efficient fashion. Our government has the
unquestionable responsibility to kick this production in the butt and get it
going full-speed ahead. We did it in WWII, and it had the extra benefit of spurring
on our economy and pulling us out of the Depression by creating lots of production
jobs.
The anniversary of Pearl Harbor has just passed. Comparisons are constantly
made between that day and September 11. It doesn’t matter if you are for
or against the war in Iraq. The fact is that once our troops are sent in harm’s
way, we have an obligation to make sure that they are adequately prepared.