12/8/2004

In a photo op with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld at an aircraft hangar in Kuwait on December 8, 2004, “Specialist Thomas Wilson, a scout with a Tennessee Army National Guard unit about to head into Iraq, spoke of troops having to search through landfills for so-called ‘hillbilly armor’ to protect their trucks. ‘Why don’t we have those resources readily available to us?’ he asked as his fellow troops cheered and clapped. Rumsfeld promised more armor soon, but asked the assembled to make do in the meantime. ‘You go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time,’ he said.”

 – Frank Rich, The Greatest Story Ever Sold, Pages 156-157