As has long been reported, more than half of all U.S. military deaths in Iraq have been caused by IEDs. The most effective defense against these roadside bombs (besides withdrawing our troops), are the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, or MRAPs. And less than two months ago, from a press briefing with Defense Secretary Robert Gates:
Q: So how fast can you get the MRAPs out to the field you saw in your briefing?
SEC. GATES: The companies that have been awarded the contracts are ramping up their production capabilities...And the way I have put it to everyone is that you have to look outside the normal bureaucratic way of doing things. And so does industry, because lives are at stake. For every month we delay, scores of young Americans are going to die....one MRAP today is worth 10 times as much of an MRAP two years from now; in other words, the need for them is greatest right now.
Yet today we learn that:
U.S. troops in Iraq will receive at least 1,000 fewer special armored vehicles than expected this year due to the amount of time needed for shipment, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the Defense Department expected defense contractors to produce 3,900 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles this year. But only 1,500 would make it to the war zone -- down from the Pentagon's previous shipment target of 2,500 to 3,000. [...]
Morrell said it takes about 50 days to equip and ship a finished MRAP into the war zone. That includes 15 days for equipping and 35 for transport by ship.
The Pentagon was already flying some MRAPs to the war zone, Morrell said.
But given the numbers to be produced, it will quickly become more cost effective to send them by ship, he said...
Scores will die, the need is the greatest right now, yet the MRAPs will be sent by ship because it is more cost effective.
Once again the Bush administration proves that supporting the troops is just a slogan.