Thanks Again, Mr. Rumsfeld

One of the truly puzzling things about the conduct of the war in Iraq is why the Pentagon has been as bad at doing small but important things as it has at doing big and important things.

A case in point is body armor.

Almost from the outset of the nearly three-year-old war, there has been a cry that GIs did not have enough body armor and the right type of body armor to reasonably protect them on the ground, especially from roadside bombs.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his mouthpieces at he Pentagon have harrumphed and prevaricated -- and eventually acknowledged that it takes a ridiculously long time for its civilian suppliers to manufacture and ship body armor, a problem that continues. (It take a fraction of the time in the U.K.)

Now, nearly three years into the war (oh! I said that already!), a secret Pentagon study leaked to the New York Times has found that as many as 80 percent of the Marines who have been killed in Iraq from upper body wounds could have survived if they had been issued extra body armor.

The Times says such armor has been available since 2003, but until recently the Pentagon, which continues to insist that it does every thing it can to protect its troops, has largely declined to supply it despite calls from the field for the additional protection.

For more gorey details and to stoke your sense of outrage, you can read the article here.