Armor Question - Setup for Rummy

I didn't say anything about this story; however, now want to give my opinion since I have heard nothing else but this story for the last two days. Unaware of what I am talking about? I do not see how it is news everywhere, but while taking questions from Soldiers in Kuwait Donald Rumsfeld was asked a "hard" question about the lack of armor - this questioner, a solider, it was discovered was coached by a reporter. You can read about here, here, and here.

This story, once again is regurgitated old news. There have been claims Kerry knew this and Bush denied it in the debates; well this is bunk - here is the only reference I found during the debates.

KERRY: We didn't guard 850,000 tons of ammo. That ammo is now being used against our kids. Ten thousand out of 12,000 Humvees aren't armored. I visited some of those kids with no limbs today, because they didn't have the armor on those vehicles. They didn't have the right body armor.
I've met parents who've on the Internet gotten the armor to send their kids.
There is no bigger judgment for a president of the United states than how you take a nation to war. And you can't say, because Saddam might have done it 10 years from now, that's a reason; that's an excuse.
GIBSON: Mr. President?
BUSH: He complains about the fact our troops don't have adequate equipment, yet he voted against the $87 billion supplemental I sent to the Congress and then issued one of the most amazing quotes in political history: "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it.

Please noticed also included in this debate on October 7 we hear about the 850,000 tons of ammo that was such a surprise - Sunday, October 26th - regurgitating old news in an effort to produce "new" bad news has been common practice for the media during the last eighteen months or so. Simply added a new twist - get a solider to do it.

Is it a valid question - yes - using it a "gotcha" devalues the question! The reporter, that is suppose to be so worried about our men and women, had the "best day of his journalistic career" - give me a break he (the reporter) and his colleagues don't care one iota about the men and women - simply need that gotcha!

Once again, to add credence to the question - we get it had to be said - as if commanders were not aware and not speaking up for their troops. Oh sure I forgot they are part of the vast "Bush conspiracy" just as this the young soldier would have been demonized had he added "thank you sir that makes sense to me" - of course if he said it would not have made to the news, well maybe he did?

Once again - as far as news goes this is a non-story; heck, Jag did an episode (#211) on lack of vehicle Armor in Iraq last month - that is amazing Hollywood had the blockbuster story before the newspapers.

Are there issues with equipment improvement - yes - because, we are constantly finding new and better ways as we improve technology and learn methods and procedures of the enemy. To through a blanket over the entire DOD and say it is incompetence is ludicrous - in every war there have been improvements to save lives that everyone wishes we could have gotten to the battlefield quicker. An example would be WWII the Sherman tank was a "fireball" waiting to happen, but we did not know that until we went against German Panzers and Tigers and found that our Fuel Tank could be penetrated so easily even by their handheld launchers add that with the choice of gasoline instead of diesel - lot of people died - we corrected it but could not stop the war until all new equipment was manufactured and reissued.....There is a little common sense missing in the glee of attacking Bush and the administration....