The Prez Loooves Our Troops So Much That…

A New York Times article this morning (“Pentagon Study Links Fatalities to Body Armor”) by Michael Moss reports, “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.” As of January 5th, 2193 American soldiers have died in Iraq. President Bush, who won’t allow flag-draped coffins to be photographed and who hasn’t used his considerable power as dictator to ensure that our troops have the body armor they need, has loudly proclaimed that Americans who rail against his sorry war are traitors. And yet, it increasingly looks like George W. Bush is the biggest traitor of all. The NYT article says, “For the first time, the study by the military's medical examiner shows the cost in lives from inadequate armor, even as the Pentagon continues to publicly defend its protection of the troops.” In addition, the NYT says, “The Times obtained the three-page Pentagon report after a military advocacy group, Soldiers for the Truth, learned of its existence. The group posted an article about the report on its Web site earlier this week. The Times delayed publication of this article for more than a week until the Pentagon confirmed the authenticity of its report. Pentagon officials declined to discuss details of the wound data, saying it would aid the enemy.” Not only is the Pentagon at fault in the deadly errors and delays of getting proper equipment to the troops, the military can also be blamed. The shipment of special trucks with a V-shaped hull that deflects roadside bombs has been delayed because the Army asked that their vehicles be delivered before the Marine vehicles. That senseless internecine tiff interfered with production, the NYT says, “until the Army agreed to get back in line behind the Marines”. The Little Dictator in the White House yesterday crowed for 40 minutes to 13 former secretaries of state and defense about how well the war in Iraq was going. Madeleine Albright suggested that since the war was "taking up all the energy" of the Bush foreign policy team, the nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea were out of control and the Bush administration had neglected Latin America and China. His Wee Eminence blustered in response that his administration "can do more than one thing at a time.” Certainly an unfortunate choice of words, calling to mind as it does that the Prez can barely put on his socks and remember his own name at the same time.