(From my wife)

I was going to send this out to a number of people,
but wondered if I'm missing some important point. So sending
it to you for your comments. I just wish our lawmakers
would spend time doing other more important stuff than
debating on the floor how correct one bullet is over another...
because we wouldn't want to OFFEND them more after killing
or shooting atthem. Now your and our soldiers' supplies
might be in danger.

Also, on another note... I see that Cheney said the "f-word"
on the floor. Now, this does show that he's human and expressing
himself coarsely -- but the way the argument was described,
I just really think of the Roman Senate as we think or
know it was at the end of Roman rule.

The original message follows
========

Political correctness to the extreme.... it's okay to
shoot 'em, just don't shoot 'em with the bullet made by
Isralis because they disagree with each other!!?!?
Oddly Enough - Reuters
U.S. Army Told Not to Use Israeli Bullets in Iraq

Fri Jun 25, 7:50 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli-made bullets bought by the
U.S. Army to plug a shortfall should be used for training
only, not to fight Muslim guerrillas in Iraq (news - web
sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites), U.S. lawmakers
told Army generals on Thursday. Since the Army has
other stockpiled ammunition, "by no means, under any circumstan
es should a round (from Israel) be utilized," said Rep.
Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii, the top Democrat on a House
of Representatives Armed Services subcommittee with jurisdictio
over land forces. The Army contracted with Israel Military
Industries Ltd. in December for $70 million in small-caliber
ammunition. The Israeli firm was one of only two worldwide
that could meet U.S. technical specifications and delivery
needs, said Brig. Gen. Paul Izzo, the Army's program executive
officer for ammunition. The other was East Alton, Illinois-base
Winchester Ammunition, which also received a $70 million
contract. Although the Army should not have to worry about
"political correctness," Abercrombie was making a valid
point about the propaganda pitfalls of using Israeli rounds
in the U.S.-declared war on terror, said Rep. Curt Weldon,
the Pennsylvania Republican who chairs the subcommittee
on tactical air and land forces. "There's a sensitivity
that I think all of us recognize," Weldon told the Army
witnesses, including Maj. Gen. Buford Blount, who led
the U.S. Third Infantry Division that captured Baghdad in
April 2003. Blount, now the Army's assistant deputy
chief of staff, said the Army had sufficient small caliber
ammunition -- 5.56mm, 7.62mm and .50 caliber -- to conduct
current operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
But taken together with training needs, the United States
had strained its production facilities, he testified.
"To fight a major combat operation in another theater
will require the Army to impose restrictions on training
expenditures and to focus current inventory and new production
on combat operations," Blount said. As a result, he
said the Army hoped to stretch U.S. supplies to supplement
the capacity of the government-owned Lake City plant in
Independence, Missouri, that currently makes more than
90 percent of U.S. small caliber ammunition. The Lake
City factory, operated by Alliant Techsystems Inc., has
nearly quadrupled its production in the past four years.
This year, it will produce more than 1.2 billion rounds,
Karen Davies, president of the ATK arm that runs it, told
the panel. Lake City provided more than 2 billion rounds
a year during World War II and Vietnam, she said. The
Army's needs will grow to about 1.5 billion to 1.7 billion
rounds a year in coming years, Blount said. "In the near-term,
balancing training requirements with current operational
needs is a manageable risk-mitigation strategy," he said.
The Army does not want to repeat its history of building
capacity during wartime "only to dismantle it in peacetime,"
Blount added.

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