Rumsfeld Follies

Seriously, just when you think he couldn’t be a bigger dick:

Despite Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld's assertion that the military is outfitting Humvees with armor as quickly as possible, the company providing the vehicles said it has been waiting since September for approval from the Pentagon to increase monthly production by as many as 100 of the all-terrain vehicles, intended to protect against roadside bombs in Iraq.

Army officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged yesterday that they have not approved new purchase orders for armored trucks, despite the company's readiness to produce more.

[…]

Michael Fox, a spokesman for Armor Holdings, said the company is simply waiting for the Pentagon to say how many it needs: "We have always said, 'Tell us how much you want, and we'll build them.' "

This story should be mass emailed to every man and woman in the military, particularly those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Considering it took the soldiers to ask the questions that the press corps should have been asking, maybe the soldiers can do something noticeable (lay down weapons for one day?) to call attention to the bullshit constantly being spouted by this administration.

In related news:

“Teams in Washington have been working for months on how to protect forces from roadside bombs and similar explosives, he said.”

Months????

Our troops have been getting killed by IEDs for years, and it's just recently that the Pentagon has started researching countermeasures?

And Bush has rewarded Rummy for this incompetence with a second four-year stint.

It’s no wonder Nancy Pelosi is calling for Rummy’s resignation. And I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m pretty goddamned tired of hearing the Left accused of not supporting the troops when this administration seems completely oblivious to the danger these men and women are in every day. Reports about the injuries coming out of Iraq are chilling, and yet it has been only within months that protection against IEDs has begun being researched?

This diary at Daily Kos liberally excerpts from a New England Journal of Medicine article on Iraq War casualties:

Every other Thursday, surgeons at Walter Reed hold War Rounds by telephone conference with surgeons in Baghdad to review the American casualties received in Washington during the previous two weeks. The case list from October 21 provides a picture of the extent of the injuries. There was one gunshot wound, one antitank-mine injury, one grenade injury, three rocket-propelled-grenade injuries, four mortar injuries, eight IED injuries, and seven patients with no cause of injury noted. The least seriously wounded of these patients was a 19-year-old who had sustained soft-tissue injuries to the face and neck from a mine and required an exploration of the left side of the neck. Other cases involved a partial hand amputation; a hip disarticulation on the right, through-knee amputation on the left, and open pelvic debridement; a left nephrectomy and colostomy; an axillary artery and vein reconstruction; and a splenectomy, with repair of a degloving scalp laceration and through-and-through tongue laceration. None of the soldiers were more than 25 years of age.

Commander Codpiece summed up this whole situation thusly:

"The concerns expressed are being addressed, and that is, we expect our troops to have the best possible equipment. And if I were a soldier overseas, wanting to defend my country, I'd want to ask the secretary of defense the same question," Bush said.

Perhaps part of the problem is that he never has been a soldier overseas. Maybe if he had been, he’d have a different perspective.

Bush had rejected charges from Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry in the campaign for last month's election that military forces in Iraq did not have sufficient protection.

Oh, yeah. Remember him?