[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8289]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   ADEQUATE PROTECTION FOR OUR TROOPS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Cole). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Strickland) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. STRICKLAND. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate being recognized.
  Mr. Speaker, as my friend, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown), said 
earlier, in a press conference recently on the 13th, the President was 
asked if he could identify any mistakes he may have made, and he was 
unable to do so.
  I can tell him a mistake that he and his administration has made. 
They sent our young soldiers into harm's way when the war in Iraq began 
without adequate body armor. That is the truth. They cannot escape that 
fact. There were soldiers who were placed in harm's way without having 
the protection of this basic equipment.
  The war began in March. I have written Secretary Rumsfeld over the 
last year two letters asking him to explain to me and to the American 
people why our soldiers were placed in harm's way without this 
protection.
  This body armor that I am talking about became available, I think, 
for the first time in 1998. It is called the ``interceptive vest.'' It 
is made of Kevlar with ceramic plates in both the front and the back. 
It is so effective that it can stop an AK-47 bullet, and it has been 
credited with saving the lives of many of our soldiers who had them and 
could use them.
  When we went into Iraq, after literally months during which we could 
have prepared to have had adequate equipment for our troops, we sent 
our soldiers into battle without this protection; and Mr. Speaker, it 
took Mr. Rumsfeld and the Pentagon, and, yeah, the buck stops in the 
Oval Office, the President, one full year from March when the war began 
until March of this year before they were able to send me a letter 
informing me that, at last, all of our troops were equipped with this 
body armor.
  I asked how many young men or middle-age Reservists and Guardsmen may 
have lost their lives needlessly simply because this administration did 
not provide them with this basic protection. It is a question that I 
think needs to be analyzed and answered.
  There is a continuing problem in the war zone. As I stand here in the 
Chamber of the people's House tonight, there are American soldiers in 
Iraq, in various cities in Iraq, who are using vehicles without proper 
armor. There is one company that the Pentagon has a contract with to 
provide up-armored Humvees for our military personnel. It is located in 
Fairfield, Ohio. It is called O'Gara-Hess and Eisenhardt. It is the 
company that has the ability and the contract with the Pentagon to 
produce these vehicles which provide a high degree of protection when 
our soldiers may drive over a roadside bomb, for example; and yet the 
Pentagon is only contracting for 300 of these up-armored Humvees per 
month, although thousands are needed in Iraq.
  The company tells me that they are capable by November, if not 
sooner, of producing some 500 of these Humvees per month. What that 
means is if the President and the Secretary of Defense and those who 
make decisions regarding this matter at the Pentagon were willing to do 
so, they could have these up-armored vehicles in Iraq so that our 
troops would be protected much more quickly than they are willing to 
do.
  I do not understand this. I simply do not understand why the 
President does not call Secretary Rumsfeld up and say, listen, there 
are reports that our troops need up-armored Humvees; I want this 
problem solved as quickly as possible. Do everything necessary; move 
heaven and Earth but get this problem solved.
  A young West Point graduate from my district called me a few weeks 
ago. He had returned after spending 14 months in Iraq; and he said, 
Congressman, the Explorer you drive around is more armored and offers 
better protection than did the Humvee that I drove around the streets 
of Baghdad.
  It troubles me that those of us who serve here in this Chamber and 
the President, who is the Commander in Chief, would allow this 
situation to continue when they can do something about it.
  So if the President cannot think of any mistake he has made, I would 
offer this mistake. I would say to the President, you should not have 
sent our soldiers into battle without body armor, and you should not 
have our soldiers over there tonight without up-armored Humvees to 
provide them adequate protection.

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