Headline reads: Study: Delayed delivery of trucks led to Marine deaths

You can't blame Congress for this one. The essence of the story is this and I quote, "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 Democrats in Congress have been wanting the war in Iraq to end and for the troops to come home. And although they voted for these MRAPs in a difficult vote they were not ordered because they cost too much, according to the study. I remember Sen. Joe Biden making a difficult vote against some of his Democratic colleagues because he said he had to protect the troops and these vehicles would save many lives. Now we know they weren't ordered even though the funding was approved because the cost $450,000 to $1 Million a piece and Marine Corp. bureaucrats wanted the money to go for other lighter vehicles in the planning stages which weren't to be in the field for years ahead.

In May of 2007, when Sec. of Defense, Robert Gates, made them a priority, the trucks began to ship according to the article. They article went on further to say "The study's author, Franz J. Gayl, catalogs what he says were flawed decisions and missteps by midlevel managers in Marine Corps offices that occurred well before Gates replaced Donald Rumsfeld in December 2006."

We now have 3,951 soldiers dead in Iraq. We want our troops home ALIVE, not dead. Over 29,000 soldiers have been wounded since 2001, with most injuries, very seriously. There is no moral justification to continue this war. It's now the Iraqi's to get right. Bring the troops home safely before more of them are killed unnecessarily.

To read the entire story click here.

The "surge" .....NOT!

The chart above, when compared to the chart on U.S. Fatalities in the previous post, shows clearly that not only has there been an increase in deaths in 2007 but also the wounded. When you consider the "surge" was to increase to 21,000 troops consider these facts and why the surge really isn't a surge.

First, remember the "Coalition of the Willing" including the Brits brought their troops home = 17,000.
Add to this the number of U.S forces killed in the past 6 months = 530
Add the wounded for the past 6 months = 3047

That equals 20,577 troops out of action. Compare that to the "surge" of 21,000. Seems to me that the data speaks for itself. There really isn't a "surge", it's troop replacement.

UPDATE: May 3rd, 8:00am PST

Latest from Iraq about the al-Maliki government says that they are planning a 2-month vacation while the surge is at its peak. US Congressmen are outraged they would take a vacation while our soldiers are dying to give them a respite to work together to make the necessary political compromises. See Rep. Chris Shays, R-Conn., comment and outrage in this linked news article by clicking here.