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December 10, 2004
Hummers For All

While Rumsfeld and Bush spin themselves silly pretending to give a shit about armor shortages in Iraq, the companies that make and armor the Hummers say they can produce lots more, if anyone asked them to.

The manufacturer of Humvees for the U.S. military and the company that adds armor to the utility vehicles are not running near production capacity and are making all that the Pentagon has requested, spokesmen for both companies said.

"If they call and say, 'You know, we really want more,' we'll get it done," said Lee Woodward, a spokesman for AM General, the Indiana company that makes Humvees and the civilian Hummer versions.

At O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt, the Ohio firm that turns specially designed Humvees into fully armored vehicles at a cost of about $70,000 each, spokesman Michael Fox said they, too, can provide more if the government wants them.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Contrast this with the following statement, from our Most Revered Leader:

"The concerns expressed are being addressed, and that is, we expect our troops to have the best possible equipment," Mr. Bush said. "And I have told many families I met with, we're doing everything we possibly can to protect your loved ones in a mission which is vital and important."

NY Times

Everything they possibly can? If the factories producing these armored vehicles aren't running at capacity, it really doesn't seem like that's true. It seems more like a lie. A more accurate statement would have been, "Now that we've been publicly embarrassed, we intend to pay all the lip-service necessary until this whole thing blows over. After all, we can't afford to ramp up production, we have our corporate overlords' financial statements to consider."

We should all remember that this was a preemptive war. A war of choice. We went into Iraq exactly when we felt like it, and had as much time to plan for it as we wanted, yet it is now almost TWO YEARS since Saddam's regime fell, and the troops everyone claims via bumper sticker to support so unequivocally are still under equipped, even unto their deaths.

It's tantamount to murder. I really hate these guys. But more than that, I hate that they're STILL getting away with this bullshit; that public opinion hasn't swung wildly against this insane, illegal, immoral and completely failed imperialist adventure.

Posted by ahecht at December 10, 2004 11:45 AM
Comments

Previous Comments

My guess is that the Hummer lines are undercapacity while procurement dollars are going to more generous Republican donors.

Seriously though, those that believe that Bush's foreign policy is animated by a desire to reward war profiteers will need to reconcile that theory with the fact that the administration appearantly isn't siezing this opportunity to throw some big procurement contracts in the direction of US industry.

Posted by: eas at December 10, 2004 12:01 PM

When I used to watch WEST WING, they'd have episodes in which the President, or his staff, knew what was clearly the correct thing to do, but couldn't do it, because public opinion would cost them key votes in certain districts, or some such silliness. And I'd always think "God, if only the President could just do what he knows is RIGHT without worrying about idiotic public opinion".

And now, the Administration can pretty much do anything it wants, regardless of public opinion, because, well, they've gotten really really good at cooking elections, and our media is so corporate controlled and otherwise con-whipped that they won't say a word about it.

And, you know, Lord, that isn't really what I meant at all...

Posted by: Handsome at December 12, 2004 4:49 PM