[Vision2020] Does Bush Really Support The Troops?

[Kai Eiselein, editor]

Hansen, there was a recent program aired about MRAPs and the strengths and 
weaknesses of the vehicles.
The main drawbacks of the current models are:
A: The current models are too heavy to be airlifted, making them difficult 
to deliver rapidly.
B: The current models are extremely difficult to manuever in urban areas due 
to their size.

It's too bad you don't subscribe to my publication, Mr. Hansen, I am adamant 
about reporting the facts, whether or not I like those facts. Apparently you 
don't like facts, unless they agree with your point of view.
I also realize the writer of the NYT piece was expressing opinion, which has 
a lower standard than reportage. But he/she still left out crucial 
information to lead the reader to a conclusion.

The Army Times article makes no mention of the drawbacks of the currently 
available models. I fail to see where it negates anything I've stated. 
Perhaps you've cut and pasted the wrong article?

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
To: "'Kai Eiselein, editor'" <editor at lataheagle.com>; 
<nickgier at adelphia.net>; <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2007 12:17 PM
Subject: RE: [Vision2020] Does Bush Really Support The Troops?


> Kai Eiselein stated:
>
> "Focus, Hansen, this editorial is from the NY Times."
>
> I am very focused, Mr. Eiselein.
>
> The Army Times article I posted pretty much negates your claim that the 
> MRAP
> is difficult in "maneuvering them through crowded streets" and are "nearly
> useless in urban warfare".
>
> If your claim were true, Mr. Eiselein, why would the Army request an
> additional 17,000 MRAPs, MRAPs that should have been manufactured and
> distributed a lot sooner than next year?
>
> Your applied reasoning is one reason why I do not subscribe to the Latah
> Eagle, Mr. Eiselein.
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
> "We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students. The college
> students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."
>
> - Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kai Eiselein, editor [mailto:editor at lataheagle.com]
> Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2007 12:04 PM
> To: Tom Hansen; nickgier at adelphia.net; vision2020 at moscow.com
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Does Bush Really Support The Troops?
>
> Focus, Hansen, this editorial is from the NY Times.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
> To: "'Kai Eiselein, editor'" <editor at lataheagle.com>;
> <nickgier at adelphia.net>; <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2007 11:51 AM
> Subject: RE: [Vision2020] Does Bush Really Support The Troops?
>
>
>> Kai Eiselein stated:
>>
>> "What the writer doesn't mention is how heavy and difficult is to get
>> MRAPs
>> into place, along with the inabilty and/or difficulty in manuevering them
>> through crowded streets.
>>
>> While they are good at withstanding blasts, their limitations render the
>> current models nearly useless in urban warfare.
>>
>> Spin, baby, spin. To hell with the facts, typical of the NY Slimes."
>>
>> How much spin do you feel the Army times puts on their articles, Kai?
>>
>>>From the May 12, 2007 edition of the Army Times -
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Army to request 17,000 MRAPs
>>
>> By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
>> Posted : Saturday May 12, 2007 8:18:27 EDT
>>
>> Acting Army Secretary Pete Geren confirmed today that the Army is set to
>> substantially increase the number of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected
>> vehicles it had planned to buy, replacing within two years the 17,700
>> Humvees now in Iraq.
>>
>> "The earlier plan was 2,500, and that's not enough. I can't tell you the
>> exact number at this point, but it's going to grow considerably," Geren
>> said, indicating that the Army is working to adjust its budget and to
>> determine industry's capacity to produce more MRAPs.
>>
>> The plan to buy more MRAPs, he said, will not mean an end to the
>> development, production and fielding of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle,
>> which the Army was considering as a replacement for the Humvee, using the
>> MRAP as an interim replacement.
>>
>> Now, according to a Pentagon source, the plan has changed and more than
>> 9,000 MRAPs will be procured for fiscal year 2008 and 8,700 more for
>> fiscal
>> 2009.
>>
>> "By September 2009, every single Humvee in theater will be replaced with
>> the
>> MRAP," said the source, who spoke to Army Times on condition of 
>> anonymity.
>>
>> The Marine Corps already has more than 100 MRAPs on the ground in Iraq,
>> and
>> the Army will field the first of its 2,500 MRAPs in Iraq beginning in
>> August, 700 of which are already in hand, Geren said.
>>
>> The MRAP program has moved quickly and is a joint procurement effort
>> between
>> the Army and Marine Corps.
>>
>> There are eight manufacturers who could deliver variations of the 
>> vehicle,
>> which has a v-shaped hull to disperse blasts that occur under the 
>> roadways
>> and are expected to be more resistant to side-blasts.
>>
>> "This is the next evolution of vehicles that is responding to the
>> underbelly
>> attacks that sometimes take place. A natural progression of lighter, more
>> effective, more resistant armor both personal and vehicle," Gen. Peter
>> Pace,
>> chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said yesterday.
>>
>> The request for the newer vehicles was made by commanding general of
>> Multi-National Corps-Iraq, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the source said.
>>
>> "Odierno has asked to replace every Humvee in Iraq with the MRAP," the
>> source said.
>>
>> A spokeswoman for Odierno in Iraq said she was unaware of the commander's
>> request.
>>
>> The Humvee has been on the ground in Iraq since the beginning of
>> operations
>> in 2003 and has undergone several armor upgrades. But the extra armor
>> weighed down the vehicle beyond its capabilities and has failed to
>> effectively shield soldiers from the force of roadside bombs.
>>
>> In a May 2 internal letter to top Pentagon officials, Defense Secretary
>> Robert Gates called upon service leaders to make acquisition of the MRAP
>> their "highest priority."
>>
>> "The MRAP should be considered the highest priority Department of Defense
>> acquisition program," the letter said, calling for the immediate
>> application
>> of "any and all options to accelerate the production and fielding of this
>> capability."
>>
>> "I would like to know what funding, material, program, legal or other
>> limits
>> currently constrains the program and options available to overcome them,"
>> Gates wrote.
>>
>> Members of Congress have grilled Army leaders on why more MRAPs were not
>> being ordered sooner. In the House of Representatives air-land
>> subcommittee's 2008 budget markup, $4.1 billion was allocated for MRAPs.
>>
>> Gates' letter also ponders why the Army and Marine Corps seem to have
>> different plans for the MRAP.
>>
>> "I am also concerned with the wide variance in approach on the use of 
>> this
>> capability between the Marine Corps and the Army," Gates wrote.
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Seeya round town, Moscow.
>>
>> Tom Hansen
>> Moscow, Idaho
>>
>>
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>
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