More Fallout From the 'Rumsfeld Effect'?

The Washington Post reports that the Army is working to fill a shortfall of thousands of advanced Humvee armor kits designed to reduce U.S. troop deaths from roadside bombs, including those particularly lethal weapons linked to Iran known as "explosively formed penetrators" (EFPs) that are now inflicting 70 percent of the American casualties in Iraq.

The additional protection is needed for thousands of U.S. troops flowing into Baghdad under president Bush’s “surge” strategy, where these devastating weapons are particularly prevalent.

The Army declines to disclose how many kits have been installed and what the shortfall is, but past experience has shown that chronic shortages of vital war materiel have been a result of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s determination to fight the war on the cheap and his belief that it would soon be over.

More here.

Meanwhile, Juan Cole asks a provocative question:

If Iran is providing EFPs, they would be for Shiite militias. Why then are Sunni insurgents doing most of the damage with them?

More here.

Meanwhile meanwhile, the Army finally presented its oft delayed Blame Iran dog-and-pony show over the weekend in Baghdad, but there are some . . . um, issues.

More here.