Centrisity

Rummy has some 'splaining to do

Rumsfeld was at Camp Buehring, Kuwait yesterday, firing up the troops. During a Q & A portion after his prepared remarks, it was the troops firing away at Rummy.

``Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to uparmor our vehicles?'' Wilson asked. A big cheer arose from the approximately 2,300 soldiers in the cavernous hangar who assembled to see and hear the secretary of defense.

Rummy's response

``You go to war with the Army you have,'' . . . ``You can have all the armor in the world on a tank and it can (still) be blown up,''

Another concern raised was why regular Army units appear to get preferential treatment when it comes to doling out the best equipment.

``There's no way I can prove it, but I am told the Army is breaking its neck to see that there is not''

It's unusual when the administration is distracted off their message. I don;t think there was any squirming going on, but at some point you would think they would start listening to what is actually happening on the ground.

Flash