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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Johannes Pilch who wrote (486799)	11/5/2003 10:18:44 AM
From: Howard C.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

I am really glad to hear your are "no Bush fan." But your lack of the slightest understanding of America accounts for the rest of your statement.....do you understand there is a difference between supporting the "Presidency" and the "Presdient?" The former is a consititutionally created key part of government, the latter is a person. It is really, really hard not to disparage someone who continually demonstrates the knowledge and intelligence of a 10 year old - at best. Now, what do you think of today's revelation that pilots and others for months have been begging for available anti-aircraft protection on helicopters, and were TURNED DOWN. Does that represent the "best interests" of our troops? What a "friggen" scandal that is. Senator Says U.S. Copters in Iraq Lack Proper Gear WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many U.S. helicopters in Iraq lack standard anti-missile equipment that might have prevented last weekend's attack on a Chinook helicopter that killed 15 U.S. troops, a Democratic senator said on Wednesday. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin said he had received e-mails from "reliable military sources" who told him they had been battling for the past six months to get anti-missile equipment for helicopters being used in Iraq. "They've even had to take them off other helicopters leaving for Iraq. It's (anti-missile equipment) the most basic equipment they need to protect themselves," Durbin told ABC's "Good Morning America" program. An American military CH-47 Chinook helicopter, whose pilot came from Durbin's state, was downed by a shoulder-guided missile last Sunday, killing 15 U.S. troops and injuring 27, two of whom were aboard another helicopter that landed nearby in a rescue effort. "What we've learned from communications is that for months they've been flying without the protective equipment, and the crews and pilots have tried to secure the equipment from every source imaginable. That's unacceptable to me, to put them in harm's way with less than the best equipment," Durban said. He released an e-mail he said was from a pilot who backed his claim that helicopters were not properly equipped. "So we were essentially flying around for five months with no anti-missile equipment. And for the life of me, I cannot understand what goes through the head of commanders that would load 30 soldiers into an aircraft with no protection against such a credible threat," the pilot said in the e-mail. Durbin said he had asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to investigate whether flight crews had the proper protective equipment against attacks such as last weekend's. The Pentagon was not immediately available to comment.