So our stock of "porcine penetrators" isn't going to cut it eh?
Posted on 04/18/2006 7:10:51 AM PDT by white trash redneck
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli-made bullets bought by the U.S. Army to plug a shortfall should be used for training only, not to fight Muslim guerrillas in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. lawmakers told Army generals on Thursday.
Since the Army has other stockpiled ammunition, "by no means, under any circumstances should a round (from Israel) be utilized," said Rep. Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii, the top Democrat on a House of Representatives Armed Services subcommittee with jurisdiction over land forces.
The Army contracted with Israel Military Industries Ltd. in December for $70 million in small-caliber ammunition.
The Israeli firm was one of only two worldwide that could meet U.S. technical specifications and delivery needs, said Brig. Gen. Paul Izzo, the Army's program executive officer for ammunition. The other was East Alton, Illinois-based Winchester Ammunition, which also received a $70 million contract.
Although the Army should not have to worry about "political correctness," Abercrombie was making a valid point about the propaganda pitfalls of using Israeli rounds in the U.S.-declared war on terror, said Rep. Curt Weldon, the Pennsylvania Republican who chairs the subcommittee on tactical air and land forces.
"There's a sensitivity that I think all of us recognize," Weldon told the Army witnesses, including Maj. Gen. Buford Blount, who led the U.S. Third Infantry Division that captured Baghdad in April 2003.
Blount, now the Army's assistant deputy chief of staff, said the Army had sufficient small caliber ammunition -- 5.56mm, 7.62mm and .50 caliber -- to conduct current operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
But taken together with training needs, the United States had strained its production facilities, he testified.
"To fight a major combat operation in another theater will require the Army to impose restrictions on training expenditures and to focus current inventory and new production on combat operations," Blount said.
As a result, he said the Army hoped to stretch U.S. supplies to supplement the capacity of the government-owned Lake City plant in Independence, Missouri, that currently makes more than 90 percent of U.S. small caliber ammunition.
The Lake City factory, operated by Alliant Techsystems Inc., has nearly quadrupled its production in the past four years. This year, it will produce more than 1.2 billion rounds, Karen Davies, president of the ATK arm that runs it, told the panel. Lake City provided more than 2 billion rounds a year during World War II and Vietnam, she said.
The Army's needs will grow to about 1.5 billion to 1.7 billion rounds a year in coming years, Blount said.
"In the near-term, balancing training requirements with current operational needs is a manageable risk-mitigation strategy," he said.
The Army does not want to repeat its history of building capacity during wartime "only to dismantle it in peacetime," Blount added.
I think they ought to equip our troops with Israeli manufactured ammo DIPPED IN PIG FAT.
PC ammo. wow.
Israel has a terrible pig shortage. We'd have to export lard to them.
Last year?
Jun 24, 5:56 PM (ET)
So how do you know what bullet hit you?
Insanity!
So our stock of "porcine penetrators" isn't going to cut it eh?
Un-freakin-real...
PC bullets, wouldn't want to offend the people we're ****ING SHOOTING AT!
So, does this mean we get to ship 'Ole Fat Teddy K to Israel?
They are telling them what kind of bullets to use now??
oh please, give me a freakin break already. How can a pig hater muslim, know if he's been hit with an Israeli bullet or an American one, and why should we care about how our enemy "feels" about what country made our ammo? This is ridiculous!
This is ridiculous.
All our bullets should have a pig blood center that explodes on contact........muzzies would run and hide.....and the war would be over without firing a single bullet!
Things are getting curiouser and curiouser.
Alice in Wonderland
If I were in the field, I'd keep a rasher of bacon handy for personal application to bullet tips. Wouldn't want to take any chances.
Idiots! WIMPS! Pussies! tell them to USE THE ISRAELI AMMO for gosh darn sakes. Let the insurgents know this is what we're going to do. Plant a car bomb and we'll cap your arse with an Israeli bullet and grease the body bag with pig fat. Holy psyops, Batman, don't those politicians have a clue?
LOL very funny reply.
But back to the question of winning this war, an important element is in winning the hearts and minds of the local population, and a important element to that is not handing over to the other side any anything that can be used in propaganda.
The hearts and Minds operation are beginning to bare fruit with more intelligence being supplied by local people, allowing us to capture or kill more of the terrorists
Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel.
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This is reasonable, we certainly don't want to get the terrorists angry with us.
Besides, it can't cost much more to ship Israeli ammo to the US, so that we can ship US ammo to Iraq. Israel and Iraq aren't near each other, are they?
Wow....
IMO, I still can't understand why we can't inform the Islamic nuts that all our rounds and bombs are coated in pig. That way, when we kill them, they don't get their SATANIC rewards.
Find out the enemies weakness and USE IT against them.
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