Since before American men and women were sent onto the battle field in 2003, the Congress has insisted the administration send more men, more equipment and the appropriate equipment to help our troops accomplish their goals. We have been rebuffed for all this time and the problem has been ignored.

Recently Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld took a question from a Tennessee Army National Guardsmen. It’s a question members of Congress have been asking for months. It’s a question that the whole country should be asking now:

“Why don’t our troops have the armor they need to get their job done?”

And while the gross mismanagement of the war in Iraq has been deadly, the Administration’s unwillingness to accept responsibility is equally disturbing.

The role of Commander in Chief and the Secretary of Defense are not positions where excuses of this magnitude are acceptable. These are positions of profound influence, and the men who currently hold them cannot simply brush aside claims that their mismanagement has cost lives.

Unfortunately, instead of accepting responsibility and acting for change, Rumsfeld spends his time diverting issues to the Army or Congress or anyone other than himself.

William Kristol, the editor of the staunchly conservative “Weekly Standard” wrote in the Washington Post last week, “These soldiers deserve a better defense secretary than the one we have,” and he couldn’t be more correct.

It is time our leaders recognize the responsibility that accompanies their titles. It is time for those who have been selected to lead do so. It is simply unfathomable our soldiers do not have the armor they need – especially after Congress has appropriated the funds for them to do so; it is far, far worse for our leaders to pretend the problem doesn’t exist.

I have been to visit far too many wounded soldiers and grieving families over the last year for the President and Secretary Rumsfeld to keep their heads buried in the sand while thousands of Americans patrol Iraq without the armor necessary to keep them safe.