Saturday, March 12, 2005
Rumsfeld: Negligent or Incompetent?
I'll go with both after hearing that U.S. misses soldier reimbursement deadline
What is it with Republicans and their hatred for our fighting men and women? Why do they refuse to support our troops? U.S. Soldiers are being killed every day in Iraq, they have had their tours extended repeatedly, there is no exit strategy in sight, and our soldiers have to buy their own armor. Now the pentagon can't take the time write em a check for the armor that they should have had from the beginning? I guess that's what you get when you elect a man who thinks photo-ops with fake turkeys is more important then protecting soldiers and feeding their families.
WASHINGTON (AP) The Defense Department hasn't developed a plan to reimburse soldiers for equipment they've bought to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan despite requirements in a law passed last year, a senator says.
In a letter sent Wednesday to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., asked details on the Pentagon's progress setting up the reimbursement program and questioned why it was not in place yet.
"Very simply, this is either negligence on their part, because they were not happy with this when it passed, or it's incompetence," Dodd said. "It's pretty outrageous when you have all their rhetoric about how much we care about our people in uniform."
[...]Soldiers serving in Iraq and their families have reported buying everything from higher-quality protective gear to armor for their Humvees, medical supplies and even global positioning devices.
In response to the complaints, Congress last year passed Dodd's amendment requiring the Pentagon to reimburse members of the Armed Services for the cost of any safety or health equipment that they bought or someone else bought on their behalf.
What is it with Republicans and their hatred for our fighting men and women? Why do they refuse to support our troops? U.S. Soldiers are being killed every day in Iraq, they have had their tours extended repeatedly, there is no exit strategy in sight, and our soldiers have to buy their own armor. Now the pentagon can't take the time write em a check for the armor that they should have had from the beginning? I guess that's what you get when you elect a man who thinks photo-ops with fake turkeys is more important then protecting soldiers and feeding their families.
