Wednesday, December 08, 2004

Hey Rummy! You suck!

I’ve recently found I can stream AP News radio while at work. I must say, this is great! I’ve been getting sicker and sicker of the bubble gum types that present the news on CNN, MSNBC, and that God forsaken FoxNEWS. I don’t want laugher, I don’t want jokes, I don’t want some stupid 90 Second pop, I want cold hard facts. I’ll even let a little opinion slide in. I like my news dry, to the point, and informative.

AP News seems to deliver that to me quite nicely. I get NPR Morning Edition in the car to work interspersed with Air America’s Morning Sedition (I tell you, Mark and Mark get better every day they are together), but AP News is like a news ticker for your ears. They don’t cover everything I’d like to hear about, but for the two free hours I get to hear everyday on my Radio at AOL thing, it gets the job done.

Now, while listening to AP News I heard about Rummy in Kuwait talking to the troops. I also heard the sound clip about the soldier who called him out on the poor job they’ve done on arming the Humvee’s. Well, I did a little research on the Humvee.

Turns out, these things cost about 150,000 a piece and are made by the same company that makes the Hummer for GM, AM General. However, they were not designed for use in combat. The Humvee, which is short for high mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicle, a transport vehicle, nothing more. It was designed as a light tactical vehicle, not a vehicle to support combat operations as it is being used now.

Also, there is only one company that makes the armor that is used to strengthen the Humvee. One company, that’s it, just one. So, the most important vehicle the army likes to use is not only produced by one company, but the armor comes from just one company too. Now, I’m not expert on military logistics, but doesn’t this seem counter productive? I know we have a plethora of defense contractors that make our jets, guns, artillery equipment, but yet when it comes to the key item for troop support we only have one company? BTW, I didn't find this info about the armor myself, I heard it on the Randi Rhodes show this evening.

I just have a hard time with this. When our own troops are questioning our Secretary of Defense to his face about not having the support they need, we’re in trouble. Couple this with the report for the CIA about Iraq, and I just don’t see this going down as a happy ending. The Reds are supposed to be the super patriots, the ones who “support the troops” more than anyone else. Yet, where is that support? Why do they not get everything they need? And I don’t buy this “you go to war with the army you have” bullshit. You know who says things like that, people who don’t have to go into war. Old white guys who plans wars again old brown people, that’s who.

This whole thing makes me sick. I don’t know what to do, and I don’t have the time to get well enough informed. Really puts me in a catch-22 you know?

-then I realized what I had been chewing on was indeed my hand

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