Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry accused the Bush administration on Saturday of failing to adequately prepare and equip US forces for the war in Iraq.
Kerry, giving the Democrats' weekly radio address, said US President George W. Bush had misplaced priorities in Iraq, spending billions of dollars on contracts to Halliburton Co but not providing troops enough body armour and other protective equipment.
The Massachusetts senator said helicopters were flying dangerous missions without top-notch anti-missile systems, National Guard units were getting donated steel from local businesses to put home-made steel armour on their vehicles, and families were buying body armour for their sons and daughters. "Families should be sending pictures and care packages to Iraq and the Department of Defence should be sending the body armour," Kerry said.
"If I am president, I will be prepared to use military force to protect our security, our people and our vital interests," he said. "But I will never send our troops into harm's way without enough firepower and support."
Kerry called on Bush to support a bill in Congress to reimburse families who "had to buy the body armour this administration failed to provide."
He said he will introduce legislation later this month called the Military Family Bill of Rights "to prevent anything like this from ever happening again."
And to ease the strain on the reserves from deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, Kerry said active duty forces should temporarily be expanded by 40,000 troops.
The Pentagon has said it will expand active duty forces by up to 30,000 over four years, but has resisted calls by many in Congress for a permanent increase.
"We cannot let the strongest armed forces in the world be weakened," Kerry said. "We must resolve that America's leaders will never let them down".