WHAT REALLY MATTERS

Army generals say a more effective answer to the threat of explosives [to U.S. troops in Iraq] may lie in electronic instruments that have proven successful in blocking the detonation of homemade bombs....

Such an electronic countermeasure was used at the start of the war to shield Iraqi oil fields from possible sabotage. But some members of Congress and security experts say shortsighted planning and piecemeal buying on the part of the Army has resulted in too few of the devices being used to protect the troops.

--New York Times today

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(That's just a small detail in a very good story about how the Pentagon botched the armoring of vehicles and the manufacture and distribution of bulletproof vests for U.S. troops.)