US: US Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld came under friendly fire yesterday from troops who took up his invitation to ask tough questions about Iraq.
Hundreds of soldiers applauded a comrade who complained to Mr Rumsfeld that US troops were being forced to dig up scrap metal to protect their vehicles in Iraq because of a shortage of armoured transport. "Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to armour our vehicles . . . (scrap) that has already been shot up, dropped, busted, picking the best out of this scrap to put on our vehicles to take into combat?" the soldier asked. At Camp Buehring in Kuwait Mr Rumsfeld conceded that "not every vehicle has the degree of armour that it would be desirable for it to have," but said the US army was hurrying to plate more vehicles.