Troops deserve armored vehicles

To the editor:

When I read about what our troops in Iraq have to do to increase their safety, I wonder why. Our defense budget seems to be a favorite target for pork-barrel projects. In the 1990s, the Air Force requested five C-130 planes that cost $50 million each. Through political pork-barrel spending, it received 262 of them. The Navy got a $1.5 billion ship it didn't need or want. Certainly our defense budget could supply vehicles with better armor for our troops in Iraq.

The politicians who have voted for the pork-barrel spending by the Defense Department should feel some responsibility if the department has budget problems to support our troops in Iraq.

With politicians like Tom DeLay and lobbyists like Jack Abramoff being so popular on the congressional scene, the only way I can do anything about that is to never cast a vote for an incumbent.

JAMES HOCHBERGER, Jackson