I’ve heard this question many times, “How can Liberals say they support the troops while they rail against their Commander-in-Chief, President Bush, and the illegality of the conflict they’re engaged in?” I think a much more valid question is, “How can this administration and it’s Republican supporters say they support the troops while not providing them with the armour they need for maximum protection?”

A story in today’s NY Times states that “A secret Pentagon study has found that as many as 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to the upper body could have survived if they had had extra body armor. 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, according to military officials.”

We have been at war for almost three years now, right? So what’s the excuse for this: “The vulnerability of the military’s body armor has been known since the start of the war, and is part of a series of problems that have surrounded the protection of American troops. Still, the Marine Corps did not begin buying additional plates to cover the sides of their troops until September, when it ordered 28,800 sets, Marine officials acknowledge.”

And is there an excuse for the Army, which has the largest force in Iraq, still trying to decide “what to purchase?” Procurement officers for the Army said they were “deciding among various sizes of plates to give its 130,000 soldiers, adding that they hoped to issue contracts this month.”

“Hoped?” “This month?” What?!?!?!?

And couldn’t we spare some of the 200+ billions of dollars spent on this war to hurry the study along? Apparently not. “The Marine Corps said it asked for the data in August 2004; but it needed to pay the medical examiner $107,000 to have the data analyzed. Marine officials said financing and other delays had resulted in the study’s not starting until December 2004. It finally began receiving the information by June 2005. The shortfalls in bulletproof vests are just one of the armor problems the Pentagon continues to struggle with as the war in Iraq approaches the three-year mark, The Times has found in a continuing examination of the military procurement system.”

Oh, the article goes on. And it just gets uglier. Read it here.

ADDENDUM: There’s as much conflict among the troops about body armor as there is here at home. An AP story released today states that “U.S. soldiers in the field were not all supportive of a Pentagon study that found improved body armor saves lives, with some troops arguing Saturday that more armor would hinder combat effectiveness.” Still, others in the field say ”If it’s going to protect a soldier or save his life, they definitely should have been afforded the opportunity to wear it,” said Staff Sgt. Shaun Benoit, 26, of Conneaut, Ohio. ”I want to know where there was a break in communication.”

Yes, yes. “Afforded the opportunity” would have been nice.

This post was written by Mary Mancini