Why do we want to do the Russians any favors while putting friendly Canadians and patriotic Alabamans out of work?
It's always helpful to have a fallback plan in the event a critical piece of equipment we have turns out to be less than effective, at best, or a real deathtrap in the worst case. While we may order our troops to go to war in vulnerable crackerboxes, it's most unlikely that any of our allies will want to follow our example, so having available alternates is a useful thought. Besides, the former Soviet APCs are amphibious, unlike our recent efforts.
Too, it should be remembered that the Soviets were killing Islumic terrorists as far back as July of 1979...and America's Democratic politicians were arming the terrorists even then.
In general I am not for free market, but in this case the equipment which is the best but not very expensive should bought and delivered as soon as possible. The soldiers in Iraq deserve it.
As an Alabamian, I can tell you that if it saves U.S. lives, buy it...from here, from there, wherever. Our economy here in Alabama will be just fine. Take care of our troops, first.
Now, with that said; slat armor is just metal. Steel-workers in Canada, Russia, Alabama, Japan, China, wherever...can all make it competitively. The price difference is *not* large. On days when the U.S. Dollar drops, Alabama steel is often the world's cheapest, in fact.