Most Marines killed in Iraq could have been saved by body armor

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2006

WASHINGTON (AFP ) — A secret Pentagon study reportedly found that as many as 80 percent of Marines killed in Iraq from wounds to the upper body could have survived if they had had extra body armor.

"Such armor has been available since 2003, but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field for additional protection," The New York Times reported citing unnamed military officials.

"For the first time, the study by the military's medical examiner shows the cost in lives from inadequate armor, even as the Pentagon continues to publicly defend its protection of the troops," the report said.

The United States has "maintained that it is impossible to shield forces from the increasingly powerful improvised...