VII: The Hope Pope and his Trilateral Money Machine 275The M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting vehicle is a three million dollar version of the World War II
Sherman tank, with room in the back for six guys. It weighs 30 tons, so it’s too heavy to be
picked up by any helicopter and too large to be carried by a C-130, and is not truly amphibious.
It’s expensive to operate, expensive to maintain, and only carries six infantrymen. Worst of all,
it’s a huge vehicle with little armor and packed with explosive TOW missiles. The idea of
mechanized vehicles is to carry infantrymen behind tanks until they are needed. However, the
US Army cannot field a vehicle to safely transport a dozen grunts, it must add every known
gadget to field a golden “fighting vehicle”. The M1A1 tank is a fighting vehicle, the Bradley is
an exploding coffin. The Bradley is almost 10 feet tall, but can only carry six grunts who are
trapped inside with explosive TOW missiles. During live fire tests of the Bradley, a hit usually
ignited a stored TOW causing massive explosions. The Bradley looks good in peacetime
exercises, including the invasion of Iraq, but it will not do well with an enemy who shoots back.
The Army has tried to counter criticism by putting extra armor on the upgraded Bradleys, but its
still a huge target with little armor slope. Upgraded Bradleys are weighted down with external
armor plates, but even these can be penetrated with light infantry anti-armor weapons.^121
Crown’s General Dynamics also manufactures the Stryker troop carrier, which has been
associated with heavy losses in the Iraq war because of its vulnerability to rocket propelled grenades
and roadside bombs. Recent press accounts have emphasized the inadequate engineering that went
into the high-priced Stryker:
The Strykers are the first new combat vehicle in 20 years and a cornerstone in the Army’s
efforts to transform itself into a new, 21st-century fighting force. Critics say the eight-wheeled
vehicles each costing an average of $1.5 million may be a costly misstep on that path. The
Army recently discovered flaws in the Stryker’s ceramic composite armor and is racing to fix it.
The vehicle’s remote weapon systems can’t be fired accurately on the move, and soldiers must
get out of the vehicle to reload, exposing them to enemy fire.^122
As the Iraq war ground on, Stryker losses increased because they had not been designed to deal
with the weapons deployed by the Iraqi national resistance:
A string of heavy losses from powerful roadside bombs has raised new questions about the
vulnerability of the Stryker, the Army’s troop-carrying vehicle hailed by supporters as the key
to a leaner, more mobile force. Since the Strykers went into action in violent Diyala province
north of Baghdad two months ago, losses of the vehicles have been rising steadily, U.S.
officials said. A single infantry company in Diyala lost five Strykers this month in less than a
week, according to soldiers familiar with the losses, who spoke on condition of anonymity
because they are not authorized to release the information. The overall number of Strykers lost
recently is classified. In one of the biggest hits, six American soldiers and a journalist were
killed when a huge bomb exploded beneath their Stryker.... It was the biggest one-day loss for
the battalion in more than two years.^123
In order to stop these unsustainable losses, the Pentagon had to invest $22 billion to set up an
assembly line capable of turning out 1,200 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected trucks per month. But
it was not General Dynamics that provided these vehicles, but International Military and
Government, a subsidiary of Navistar International. These new vehicles with their characteristic V-
shaped hulls were able to reduce losses significantly. How many GIs died to pad Crown’s bottom
line? Look for more sweetheart contracts to go to General Dynamics in any future Obama regime,
independent of the merits, and look for the death rates among American troops to go up
accordingly.