Armored Humvees

According to Maj. Gary Tallman, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon, a 4,000-vehicle requirement has been established for armored Humvees in Iraq and Afghanistan � 3,200 for Iraq alone. These Humvees will have heavily armored skins, bullet-resistant windshields, and reinforcement on the undercarriage to protect against mine explosions. To meet this requirement, General Motors is building a new factory specifically for up-armored Humvees.

Last fall, despite the efforts of anti-war legislators, Congress passed the 2003 defense supplemental bill, which included $177 million in funds for armored Humvees.

My take on Washington's allocation of resources to American forces can't help but relate to a previous post which discusses the lack of fundamental resources (bullets) given to Canadian Forces by the government in Ottawa. The opposition of Canada to be allied with the US and Britain in the Iraq war may have derived from a fear that they would have had to buy real bullets for the Canadian soldiers.