Poor Planning

The quality of pre-war planning for the occupation of Iraq is back in the news. Commenting on the renewed charges of insufficient armor on vehicles deployed to Iraq, AP reports

Traveling in India, Rumsfeld said he expects the Army to do its best to resolve the problem. In Washington, Bush said the soldier's concerns "are being addressed and that is — we expect our troops to have the best possible equipment."

So, more than a year and a half into the occupation, the government is now looking into this problem, and the president expects "our troops to have the best possible equipment." Why didn't the president expect that when the occupation started? Why wasn't this one of the first things looked at when planning the Army deployment?

It's not like this is a new discovery. John Kerry was talking about this during the presidential campaign. At the first debate, Kerry said,

You don't send troops to war without the body armor that they need.

I've met kids in Ohio, parents in Wisconsin places, Iowa, where they're going out on the Internet to get the state-of-the-art body gear to send to their kids. Some of them got them for a birthday present.

I think that's wrong. Humvees -- 10,000 out of 12,000 Humvees that are over there aren't armored. And you go visit some of those kids in the hospitals today who were maimed because they don't have the armament.

The problem isn't just armor on vehicles, it's also armor on the soldiers' bodies. USA Today reported in March, 2004 that troops were buying their own body armor. Reports along these lines go back at least as far as December, 2003.

Now that the election is over, and the media have gotten hold of it again, the administration will look into improving the situation. Some of the companies producing the armor have offered in the past to increase production. One company is producing at only 50% capacity and could do a lot more, but the military was not interested. "You only have to go up the road to Walter Reed Army Hospital and speak to the men and women who have been wounded by homemade bombs to understand just how important vehicle armor is in the kind of combat we are facing," said Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss).

This is what happens when the administrations imagines the absolute best case scenario and plans for it, and for nothing else. If the Army was only going to be there for thirty days, working with throngs of jubilant Iraqis happy to have been conquered by American troops, then who would need armor?