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:: 12.09.2004 ::
Please support our troops, Mr Rumsfeld
Spc. Thomas Wilson: "Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles?... We do not have proper armored vehicles to carry with us north." [Quoted in this YahooNews article from the AP]
Rumsfeld: "It's essentially a matter of physics, not a matter of money. It's a matter of production and the capability of doing it." [Quoted in this CNN article.]
Robert Mecredy, president of Armor Holdings Inc., the sole supplier of protective plates for the Humvee military vehicles used in Iraq: "We're prepared to build 50 to 100 vehicles more per month. I've told the customer that and I stand ready to do that."
AM General (the company that manufactures the Humvees) spokesman Lee Woodward: "If they ordered more trucks, we'd build more trucks. We're not close to capacity. It might take some time to ramp up but we can do it."
The latter quotes were lifted from this Bloomberg article, found on Fark. Here's more: At the Pentagon, spokesman Larry Di Rita said production of armored Humvees had increased from 15 to 450 a month since fall 2003, when commanders in Iraq started asking for them because of insurgents' heavy use of roadside explosives.
Overall, there are 19,000 armored Humvees in the Iraqi theater. Some were built with additional armor, others had it added on later. That's, 2,000 short of what commanders are asking for, Di Rita acknowledged. Wanna try that answer again, Rummy?
:: Deb 5:40 PM :: permalink ::
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