Our Troops In Iraq Still Shortchanged; And If You Complain Your Career is Over

The NYT has an excellent, despairing story about an illustrious Marine unit in Iraq and the travails they underwent thanks to a lack of armor on their vehicles and a lack of troop support. Stories like these should be on the FRONT PAGE every day until our men and women get the full support they deserve.

Among the sad details: soldiers propping up cardboard dummies at outposts to fool the enemy when we were undermanned; soldiers forced to literally hold shut the doors on vehicles that wouldn't stay closed on their own; and the travesty of justice about an excellent Marine who fought for better treatment of his men and was rewarded with seeing his career go down the toilet.

But among the tales of low funding and lack of committment, here's the kicker: the Marines are finally going it alone to make certain all the Humvees of their troops will be fully armored. They expect to reach 100%...BY THE END OF THE YEAR. Yep, it's another eight months away.