John Aravosis, AmericaBlog.com: Gee, our president is once again calling Democrats soft on national security and at the same time an internal Defense Department study says that the Bush administration's malfeasance killed and injured 100s of Marines unnecessarily. Will the Democrats finally turn this issue around on Bush?LSB: My nephew was one of those killed by a road-side blast because his vehicle had not yet been outfitted with the protective armor. I still have trouble believing a real President would not have greater concern for our troops - and not just hot wind in that direction. And why would the Speaker of the House take impeachment off the table for his failures - so many failures! - in protecting our citizens? (Is it because we'd be left with President Cheney? Madam Speaker: it is simple - two stones, two birds.)Hundreds of U.S. Marines have been killed or injured by roadside bombs in Iraq because Marine Corps bureaucrats refused an urgent request in 2005 from battlefield commanders for blast-resistant vehicles, an internal military study concludes.
The study, written by a civilian Marine Corps official and obtained by The Associated Press, accuses the service of "gross mismanagement" that delayed deliveries of the mine-resistant, ambush-protected trucks for more than two years.
Cost was a driving factor in the decision to turn down the request for the so-called MRAPs, according to the study. Stateside authorities saw the hulking vehicles, which can cost as much as a $1 million each, as a financial threat to programs aimed at developing lighter vehicles that were years from being fielded.
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