Political Quotes

“I know something about body armor. There have been accusations that one of the candidates for president voted against an $87 billion supplemental request, somehow deprived our soldiers of body armor. I know something about this because, early on in the conflict, a young constituent of mine, a graduate of West Point and a gung-ho Army guy, wrote to me and said, my men wonder why they do not have this body armor protection. The fact is I started writing letters to Secretary Rumsfeld and General Myers. I got letters back, and basically, they said to me, we did not plan adequately, we do not have the materials that are necessary to provide this body armor. So the truth is, in answer to the gentleman's question, the President was wrong because the President chose to send our young soldiers into battle without body armor. It took this administration an entire year from March of 2003 until March 2004 to protect all of our soldiers with individual body armor. And the body armor I am talking about is referred to as the interceptor vest. It costs about $1,500 a piece. It is composed of a vest made of Kevlar with pockets in the front and back for the insertion of ceramic plates. This vest is capable of stopping an AK-47 round. I believe to the core of my being that we have had soldiers lose their lives and be unnecessarily injured simply because this administration prematurely sent our soldiers into battle without this vital equipment.”