December 28, 2007:
The U.S. Army and Marines are trying to back
out of commitments to buy thousands of
are armored trucks (MRAPS), Congress gave them $17.6 billion (50 percent
more money than originally requested.) That's good politics. But with violence
rapidly declining in Iraq (and never that high in Afghanistan to begin with),
the 17,000 MRAPs the politicians promised to buy are now being seen as a long
term liability. These 12-20 ton trucks are harder to maintain than hummers, are
not very good off roads, and are too heavy for over 70 percent of the world's
bridges. The troops fear getting stuck with these behemoths, to the exclusion
of new weapons and gear that are more needed.