Kerry Voted Against Body Armor for U.S. Troops

Likely Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry slammed President Bush over the weekend for not supplying U.S. troops in Iraq with enough body armor to protect them from attacks.

But, it turns out, Sen. Kerry actually voted against supplying the troops with more body armor just last year.

Addressing a Texas audience on Saturday, the Massachusetts Democrat said it was "shocking" that "tens of thousands of other troops arrived in Iraq to find that – with danger around every corner – there wasn't enough body armor."

But Bush campaign press secretary Scott Stanzel told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg on Sunday that Kerry "voted against supplying body armor to our troops when it mattered most" – when President Bush included the request as part of the $87 billion appropriation for the Iraq war in 2003.

RNC Chairman Marc Racicot confirmed the Kerry vote against body armor, telling ABC's "This Week" that the funding bill "did everything from provide hazard pay for our troops in Iraq to body armor for our troops in Iraq."

"And yet he has the audacity yesterday to continue to complain about the fact that there was no body armor," Racicot complained.

Asked about his vote not to protect the troops with new body armor, Sen. Kerry insisted he did no such thing.

"That $87 billion has nothing to do with the preparatory money" for protective gear, he told the Fox News Channel.

He then blamed President Bush for not supplying the body armor sooner, saying: "The president made the decision of when to go to war. If you make that decision, you have to make sure your troops are properly equipped."

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2004 Elections
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