Haven't received any emails from Republicans, but then again I never do, and don't expect to although they, as the Democrats, have long been aware that our troops lacked the proper armor for personal protective equipment and combat vehicles.
You see, all this "sudden outrage" is not so sudden. I have sent at least 25 letters in the last year alone demanding to know why a trillion dollar plus war could (or would from a readiness stand-point) have soldiers in the field -- where IEDs are the weapon of choice -- without armor; why these soldiers taxpaying families at home were raising money to buy their fathers, husbands, and children armor that a $2 trillion war should have had in spades (families paid S&H too); why there was talk in some media and the Pentagon about reimbursing these families; and why lying Rumsfeld, who claimed "lack of production capacity" never responded to the armor-supplier CEO that declared his company could produce at a 20% higher production capacity than was OKed by the Pentagon. Rumsfeld was sorely taken to task on one of his "impromptu" talks with US troops while visiting Iraq (in his arsenal/bunker on wheels -- armored-to-the-hilt). Yet now after close to 3 years, it is a big issue. Reportedly, the armor has been available since 2003.
The truth is that a new Pentagon report concludes that "[e]xpanded armor can save soldiers' lives." So now the Dems get righteous and mine political "paydirt." The Bush Chickenhawk Neocons and GOP will stay with the Rove playbook and act shocked but say or do little. And many of the 2,200 dead families and the 16,000 wounded will wonder why and what could have been.
