A powerful ad aired recently in Virginia attacking Sen. George Allen (R-VA) relies on “false statements” and “is just plain wrong,” according to the nonpartisan group, FactCheck.org.
The spot, produced by the VoteVets.org PAC, shows an Iraq War veteran firing rounds into two different protective vests, and slams Allen for failing to vote for buying strong body armor to troops.
Earlier, we reported that questions were raised over the ad’s claim that troops were sent into Iraq with vests “left over” from the Vietnam War — including one shown in the spot. “[C]alling them ‘left over from Vietnam’ is false,” concludes the FactCheck.org article, co-authored by veteran reporter Brooks Jackson. “To be accurate on this count, Granato would should have said, ‘This is a vest left over from 1999.'”
More importantly, Jackson and his co-author, Justin Bank, found that the central claim in the ad — that Allen “voted against giving our troops” modern body armor, is “just plain wrong”:
That’s false. Allen did not vote against giving troops modern body armor. What the ad cites is a vote on an amendment April 2, 2003, just days before the fall of Baghdad, that would have appropriated just over $1 billion for unspecified “National Guard and Reserve Equipment.” It made no mention of body armor. . . .
More importantly, there was already money for buying body armor. . . . [T]he Pentagon was already in the process of vastly increasing its orders for the latest-model armored vests, and the shortages that plagued some units in Iraq for the first few months of the war were due not to a lack of money, but to the inability of Pentagon contractors to manufacture the vests fast enough to meet the sudden spike in demand, and problems getting the gear shipped to the troops.
The group who created the ad and paid for its airing, VoteVets.org, has said it is airing a similar ad attacking Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) on the same issue.
