Posted on 10/21/2004 4:05:38 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
Following recent news of soldiers in Iraq refusing to go on a convoy mission because of a lack of protective gear, 12 Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) wrote to the panel’s chairman to ask for a hearing on equipment shortages.
Citing last year’s letter from the commander of the Combined Joint Task Force Seven, Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, on such shortfalls, the lawmakers in their Oct. 19 letter to HASC Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) questioned whether the Pentagon has fully addressed the problem.
"While we understand that the Department of Defense has taken steps to address equipment shortfalls, we are concerned that close to a year after the Sanchez letter, there are still shortages of vital, life-saving equipment urgently needed by our men and women in harm’s way," the representatives wrote. "We ask that you hold a hearing as soon as possible to look at both incidents and the adequacy of the Pentagon’s response including the new Joint Rapid Action Cell which is expected to work directly with combatant commanders to meet urgent materiel and logistics requirements."
At issue was a recent news report that soldiers from the 343rd Quartermaster Company refused to complete a dangerous convoy mission in central Iraq. The soldiers reportedly expressed concerns about a lack of protective gear on their vehicles and the necessary escort.
Basic equipment shortages have been a major concern for Congress since the beginning of military operations in Iraq. After initial reports of insufficient protective gear, Congress pushed through supplemental funding to increase spending on body armor, up-armored Humvees, and other items considered critical for troops in Iraq.
The FY ’05 defense bill includes funding to bridge the gap until the administration submits a full supplemental request to cover military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The full supplemental bill won’t be submitted until after the first of the year.
But the lawmakers signing the letter to Hunter said they want hearings on the equipment issue to begin in November, after the elections.
The letter was signed by Rep. Ellen Tauscher (Calif.), Rep. Gene Taylor (Miss.), Rep. Lane Evans (Ill.), Rep. Vic Snyder (Ark.), Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio), Rep. Marty Meehan (Mass.), Rep. Neil Abercrombie (Hawaii), Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (Texas), Rep. Susan Davis (Calif.), Rep. Jim Cooper (Tenn.), Rep. Loretta Sanchez (Calif.), Rep. Silvestre Reyes (Texas) and Rep. Kendrick Meek, (Fla.)
They should call a hearing on their own intelligence shortage. Why do they think anyone is interested in this junk right now? It will never make it to daylight.
> Why did they not feel compelled to come
> forward after the war started.
May I direct your attention to the calendar.
We are in a year divisible by 4, and the
date 02 Nov is but days away.
I take it these yahoos are all Dems, since
the release wasn't honest enough to state.
Buncha tick infested weasels.
Maybe Duncan Hunter ought to take the letter and give it to John Kerry and John Edwards, maybe the funds they voted against were the ones that were needed.
BTW fyi I am watching Chris Mathews and he does not look happy. - maybe he is privy to some polling information we don't know about. Right now he is beating up a Catholic priest about if Bush is so pro-life then why doesn't he outlaw abortion. Chrissy is verbally abusing this guy
This just shows why it is important for the Republicans to keep control of both houses of Congress. If the Democrats are in the majority, they will set the agenda...and that will be very ugly, not to mention how damaging it will be to our national security.
Abercrombie and Evans are members in the Progressive (read Marxist) caucus, and the others with the exception of Loretta Sanchez are from the far Left. As for Sanchez, she is just a woman without ideology or common sense.
OOps, should have mentioned that Gene Taylor is rather apolitical, albeit a rather sleepy individual having no great intellectual prowess.
There needs to be a call for a hearing on democratic lawmakers.
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