'You can't armor your way out of this problem'

A U.S. Marine inspects the remains of a vehicle
destroyed in a roadside bombing that killed 14
Marines and a civilian interpreter near Haditha,
Iraq. (Antonio Castaneda / Associated Press)
This story is nothing without the photo. Thank you AP.

On with the post. Let's return to the MRAPs the government is spending billions on. Will they work? Are they just more money down the drain? Its always important to look like the troops are being helped, but is it possible?

On Aug. 3, 2005, the deadliest roadside bomb ever encountered by U.S. troops in Iraq detonated beneath a 26-ton armored personnel carrier, killing 14 Marines and revealing yet another American vulnerability in the struggle against improvised explosive devices.

"Huge fire and dust rose from the place of the explosion," an Iraqi witness reported from the blast site in Haditha, in Anbar province. In Baghdad and in Washington, the bleak recognition that a new species of bomb -- the underbelly, or "deep buried," IED -- could demolish any combat vehicle in the U.S. arsenal "was a light-bulb moment for sure," as a Pentagon analyst later put it.

Of the 81,000 IED attacks in Iraq over the past 4 1/2 years, few proved more devastating to morale than that "huge fire" in Haditha. At a time when coalition casualties per IED steadily declined, even as the number of bombs steadily increased, the abrupt obliteration of an entire squad -- made up mostly of reservists from Ohio -- revealed that the billions of dollars being spent on heavier armor and other "defeat the device" initiatives had clear limits.

Haditha provided a light-bulb moment for insurgents as well. During the next year, underbelly attacks just in the Marine sector of western Iraq would increase from a few each month to an average of four per day. By early summer of this year, the underbelly IED -- considered a specialty of Sunni bombers -- was killing more American troops in Iraq than all other variants of roadside bombs combined.

A bomb with 100 pounds of explosives detonating beneath an armored vehicle was equivalent to a direct hit from a six-gun artillery battery, but with an accuracy no gunner could hope to achieve. A single 155mm artillery round, which by itself can destroy a tank, typically contained 18 pounds of explosives. "That's just a damned difficult thing to defeat," said Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson, the current chief of staff for the Multinational Corps in Baghdad.

Via WaPo.

Bush to ask for US$195b to fund Iraq, Afgan wars: report

OK Democrats, you're getting another chance to redeem yourselves in the eyes of Americans and the world.

Tell the American people you care about the troops and that's why your trying to get them home. Don't buy into the "don't support the troops" shit the Republicans will bellow. Support is sending good money after bad. Caring is bringing them home so they won't be killed or maimed.

Don't blow it this time.

The White House will ask Congress next week to approve another massive spending measure for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan totalling nearly 200 billion US dollars, The Los Angeles Times reported on its website late Saturday.

Citing unnamed Pentagon officials, the newspaper said if President George W. Bush's spending request is approved, 2008 will be the most expensive year of the Iraq war.


Mine Resistant Ambush Protected armored vehicle (MRAP)

US war costs have continued to grow because of the additional combat forces sent to Iraq this year and because of efforts to quickly ramp up production of new equipment, such as mine-resistant trucks, the report said.

The new trucks can cost three to six times as much as an armoured Humvee, according to the paper.

Of course, if the troops aren't in Iraq, they won't need these MRAPs will they?

The Bush administration said earlier this year that it probably would need 147.5 billion US dollars for fiscal 2008, but Pentagon officials now say that and 47 billion US dollars more will be required, The Times said.

Mercenaries don't come cheap I guess.

And NOLA, just wait your turn. Jesus H Christ in sandals, can't ya show a little patience? Its only been a couple years now.

Via Channelnewsasia.