Mikey responds:
I've lived around the DoD procurement system for some time and IMHO, it
makes as much sense to blame the generals and Rummy for the lack of
up-armored Humvees as it does to fault the surfer for the wave he rides on.
Take a congress, add a generous helping of back-home pork, mix well with
over-active specifications, garnish with a byzatine procurement mechanism,
and you get the current SNAFU.
Also we need to keep in mind that a budget is just that - a budget. If you
have more Hummers, you have fewer Apache gunships (both useful but not
interchangable- or free)and at some point somebody has to say "We'll need
15,000 of these"
INVARIABLY someone will say "That's not enough."
Someone else will say "That's too many".
The guy that bought these is a hero for sticking with it long enough over
the past 5 years (the DoD procurement cycle) that there are ANY up-armored
Humvees to send to Iraq.
But no-one wants to think about the hard stuff.
Finally, nine women can't have a baby in one month even if they co-operate.
This stuff takes time.
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