Hanoi John Kerry Voted Against Body Armor for U.S. Troops!!!!!!!!!!
Likely Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry slammed President
Bush over the weekend for not supplying U.S. troops in Iraq with
enough body armor to protect them from attacks. But, it turns out,
Sen. Kerry actually voted against supplying the troops with more body
armor in 2002.
Addressing a Texas audience on Saturday, the Massachusetts Democrat
said it was "shocking" that "tens of thousands of other troops arrived
in Iraq to find that - with danger around every corner - there wasn't
enough body armor."
But Bush campaign press secretary Scott Stanzel told WABC Radio's
Steve Malzberg on Sunday that Kerry "voted against supplying body
armor to our troops when it mattered most" - when President Bush
included the request as part of the $87 billion appropriation for the
Iraq war in 2002.
RNC Chairman Marc Racicot confirmed the Kerry vote against body armor,
telling ABC's "This Week" that the funding bill "did everything from
provide hazard pay for our troops in Iraq to body armor for our troops
in Iraq."
"And yet he has the audacity yesterday to continue to complain about
the fact that there was no body armor," Racicot complained.
Asked about his vote not to protect the troops with new body armor,
Sen. Kerry insisted he did no such thing.
"That $87 billion has nothing to do with the preparatory money" for
protective gear, he told the Fox News Channel.
He then blamed President Bush for not supplying the body armor sooner,
saying: "The president made the decision of when to go to war. If you
make that decision, you have to make sure your troops are properly
equipped."
.
|
