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[Tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>]

DSanner106 AT aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 9/29/2004 3:17:34 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
> tvoivozd AT infionline.net writes:
> It was a full year before safe-in-bed Bush even thought about 
>  
>
> > providing grunts with body armor and Humvee armor.  
> >    
> You mean the body armor and humvee armor Kerry, Edwards, Kennedy and their 
> other cronies voted against????
>
> Drew
>
>  

tvoivozhd---what the hell are you talking about---take a look at General 
Abizaid's testimony in September, per Washington Post 10/04/03---and 
Brigadier General Grange. CNN Analyst, Wolf Blitzer and General Joulwan, 
Wolf Blitzer and General Shepherd---you can actually lap up the lying 
Bush propaganda without choking??

General Abizaid quote: Gen. John Abizaid, head of the U.S. Central 
Command and commander of all military forces in Iraq, told a House 
Appropriations subcommittee in September that he could not "answer for 
the record why we started this war with protective vests that were in 
short supply."
[Loeb and Labbe, Washington Post, 10/4/03]

Let me tell you, Bush went into this war without taking care of the 
grunts---this short quote from Genera Shepherd tells you all you need to 
know---the Bush Bastard aka Old-Safe-In-A-Soft-Bed Bastard--never gave 
the grunts a thought---knew there was insufficient body armor and Humvee 
armor AND SENT THE GRUNTS IN TO DIE ANYWAY.
"So these shortage will drastically come down, but it does leave you 
wondering why couldn't we have done this before the war, and we simply 
didn't.” [CNN, 3/14/04]"

General Grange quote:
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN ANALYST: In reference to armored 
vests, there was a shortage. I think most of that is solved now. And for 
a while there, there were fund-raisers to send vests and people were 
buying them for themselves. This is a long-term problem that SHOULD HAVE 
BEEN FIXED, however, WELL BEFORE THE IRAQ WAR STARTED.

As General Grange states. BUSH gave no thought BEFORE the war to the 
lives of the grunts, and NONE HIMSELFLATER---Congress belatedly funded 
decent body armor and Humvee armor, not a goddamned word from Bush at 
any time about the matter.




*FACT:* *Kerry Was a Lead Sponsor of the Amendment to Fund Our Nation’s 
Troops in Iraq Through Rescinding the Bush Tax Cut for the Wealthy.* 
Kerry would have supported this legislation if the Bush Administration 
was willing to do the responsible thing and pay for it by rescinding the 
tax cut for the wealthiest Americans – which they refused to do.

As he said in his statement, “Rather than asking for shared sacrifice 
from Americans - as Senator Biden and I have proposed, he has refused to 
repeal any of his tax cut for the wealthiest to pay for rebuilding Iraq. 
Our troops are paying the highest price - and America's hard working 
families shouldn't have to subsidize President Bush’s failure or line 
the pockets of corporations like Halliburton trying to make a fast buck 
in Iraq.”


*2. BUSH FICTION:* Kerry voted against body armor for troops in combat.

*FACT:* The very fact that vehicle and body armor funds were included in 
this legislation – which was passed 7 months after the war began -- is 
an acknowledgment that *Bush sent our troops into combat without 
adequate protection*, forcing military families to scramble to pay for 
this essential gear. General Abizaid admitted as much in testimony 
before Congress.

“Soldiers will not patrol without the armor -- if they can get it. But 
as of now, there is not enough to go around… Last month, Rep. Ted 
Strickland (D-Ohio) and 102 other House members wrote to Rep. Duncan 
Hunter (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, to 
demand hearings on why the Pentagon had been unable to provide all U.S. 
service members in Iraq with the latest body armor. In the letter, the 
lawmakers cited reports that soldiers' parents had been purchasing body 
armor with ceramic plates and sending it to their children in Iraq. The 
demand came after Gen. John Abizaid, head of the U.S. Central Command 
and commander of all military forces in Iraq, told a House 
Appropriations subcommittee in September that he could not "answer for 
the record why we started this war with protective vests that were in 
short supply."
[Loeb and Labbe, Washington Post, 10/4/03]

*FACT:* *Retired Generals Agree: Bush Sent Troops to Iraq Without Proper 
Protection. *

“BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN ANALYST: In reference to armored 
vests, there was a shortage. I think most of that is solved now. And for 
a while there, there were fund-raisers to send vests and people were 
buying them for themselves. This is a long-term problem that should have 
been fixed, however, well before the Iraq war started.

BLITZER: General Joulwan, when people hear this, they go crazy. They 
can't believe, in this day and age, the United States would send 
military personnel into a war zone not fully prepared.

JOULWAN: Absolutely. I visited one of these units in December that was 
getting ready to deploy. That was December, they were deploying in 
January, and they were short basic equipment: radios, vests, armored 
Humvees, et cetera. We're better than that as a nation, and we're better 
than that as a military.

BLITZER: When you were there, General Shepperd, and you met with men and 
women on the ground in the military, what were they saying to you?

SHEPPERD: Well, they were saying that we are short on the up- armored 
Humvees, we're short of the proper body armor. Everybody had flack 
jackets and some body armor, but not the new body armor. They showed us 
the schedule, and said it was going to be done. They were short at that 
time, I believe, around 1,400 up-armored Humvees that were coming into 
the country, and the body armor was on schedule. So these shortage will 
drastically come down, but it does leave you wondering why couldn't we 
have done this before the war, and we simply didn't.” [CNN, 3/14/04]

*FACT:* It is hypocritical of the Bush Administration to criticize Kerry 
for this when they didn't even ask for the funds for body and vehicle 
armor to be added to this legislation – they were added by Congress 
because they were desperately needed.

"Before approving the administration's $87 billion supplemental spending 
bill for Iraq and Afghanistan, Congress added hundreds of millions of 
dollars for more body armor, armored Humvees, and other systems to 
protect soldiers from roadside bombs and ambushes."
[Loeb and Labbe, Washington Post, 10/4/03]