Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Support the tro ... ah, never mind.


What kind of fuckery is this? (emphasis added)

[U.S.] Military Dragged Feet on Bomb-Proof Vehicles

The Marine Corps waited over a year before acting on an "priority 1 urgent" request to send blast-resistant vehicles to Iraq, DANGER ROOM has learned.

According to a Marine Corps document provided to DANGER ROOM, the request for over 1,000 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles came in February, 2005. A formal call to fulfill that order did not emerge until November, 2006. "There is an immediate need for an MRAP vehicle capability to increase survivability and mobility of Marines operating in a hazardous fire area against known threats," the 2005 "universal need statement" notes.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm sorry ... do I sound callous? After all this blathering idiocy of "support the troops," these people sat on a high-priority order for IED-proof troop carriers for a year and a half.

Fuck 'em. If there are still people on the ground in Iraq that support the Bush administration, they deserve to die. Sometimes, stupidity should be a death sentence.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, but the actual people on the ground (the marines in this case) are the ones dying, and aren't necessarily "bush supporters" as much as "following orders and training".

How the Democrats aren't bludgeoning the Republicans over the head with this stuff though...truly magical incompetence all the way around in the US.

CC said...

Careful, aweb ... I wasn't referring to everyone, only to people on the ground who continue, in the face of all the evidence, to support the GOP. You know -- like the moronic Cpl. Tyler Rock described here.

Anonymous said...

If there are still people on the ground in Iraq that support the Bush administration, they deserve to die.

I think this statement might be a little broad then. There is no one more emphatically "on the ground" than the troops themselves, and many support the administration through a tragic combination of deliberate misinformation and misguided loyalty. I would agree that anyone in charge in Iraq, with access to information and seeing that the Bushies seem content with the current situation, would have to be deathly stupid.

The Seer said...

Well, CC, you either didn't read the whole report or you didn't understand it.

The was only one company making these vehicles when the Marine Corps made the "emergency request." This company was capable of producing no more than one vehicle a day. This small time operator needed big time help — eventually from General Dynamics and BAE Systems. That, most likely, was where the delay occurred.

The original developer didn't have the clout to sell the system to the Defense Department, and probably did not want to understand the value of the General Dynamics and BAE Systems sales forces. The small time company likely held out for a larger share of the profit, a share it could not command because it was unable to close the deal. This company put its profits first, and marines second. When these greedy pikers finallly agreed to the right terms, the deal — and the uparmored vehicles — started rolling of real assembly lines.

One of the things you have to consider here is iow hard a sell these things were. Where do these expensive vehicles "fit" in the Marine Corps mission, i. e., does anyone really believe there is going to be another war where these dinosaurs will be anything but excess baggage? This is a one-time deal, designed to deal with one idiosyncratic mistake. Outside the context of this particular mistake, these things are a waste of money. It's not easy to sell something that's essentially useless, even if you are selling to the Defense Department.

As far as supporting the troops is concerned, I thought we had agreed that even if all the troops gave all of their pay raises to the Bush/Cheney election committee, or the Republican Party, none of them would be at the level where they would even get the free calender with the PM's picture on it. You want someone's attention in Washington, you have to be at the General Dynamics level. "Supporting the Troops" is CPOC-speak for supporting those in authority. Give me a break!

The Seer said...

They other thing I'd like to say it that it's time Canada stepped up to the plate and assumed some responsibility for the defense of the North American continent.

It has come to appear, only today, that the troop surge contemplated by The Commander Guy is not an rxtra 20,000 troops, not an extra 28,000 troops, but more like an extra 75,000 troops.

Guys, the US doesn't have that many troops. If somebody attacks North America, there isn't going to be a US Army or US Marine Corps to stop it. Do you want to rely on the Mexican army? The only alternative is for Canada to militarize.

Hail Harper!

Anonymous said...

If somebody attacks North America

Who the hell is going to attacck north america with troops? Seriously, aside form intracontinent warfare (I'm looking at you, US), who could possibly get enough troops to NA? There's a small matter of three giant oceans on either side, and a tiny isthmus joining from the south. A serious attack on NA from the outside will not be coming in the form of troop invasion. The US would start nuking enemy transport ships if it came to that (and for that matter, so could we, although I think I'd rather be conquered and be an insurgent than start a nuclear war). No one, in the last 300 years (after the wiping out of the natives was largely done), has attempted to invade this continent from the outside. It was hard enough, in WWII, to get 15 miles across from England to France with large numbers. It took years.

The only defense the continent needs is from internal threats, economic threats (way to sell your entire debt to Asia, Americans)

Rev.Paperboy said...

if somebody attacks North America

Somebody had been watching "Red Dawn" again.


Woooolveriiines!

Anonymous said...

Fuck 'em. If there are still people on the ground in Iraq that support the Bush administration, they deserve to die. Sometimes, stupidity should be a death sentence.

You are a complete shithead.

Ti-Guy said...

They other thing I'd like to say it that it's time Canada stepped up to the plate and assumed some responsibility for the defense of the North American continent.

Say it all you want, Seer...it's not going to change the fundamental understanding most Canadians have about what or who represents real threats (as opposed to those existential threats Americans delude themselves with) and how that is best prepared for.

You must think Canadians are stupid. How do you think we've managed to remain a separate political entity in North America for centuries now?