Iraq deaths "are on you."

A Miami Herald editorial blames a complacent populace for the mounting military death toll in Iraq. Arguing that armoring GIs and the vehicles they drive is a nonpartisan problem, and as such, we "can't seem to get excited about an issue unless it pits them against a known political enemy." Why didn't we "raise hell when 14 young Marines perished in an amphibious landing craft in the middle of the damn desert"?

...You allowed the Pentagon and Rumsfeld to pretend armor was no big deal. ''You go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you might want,'' Rumsfeld responded. If you had been paying attention, such a flip answer would have sent Rummy packing.

You allowed the president to remain oblivious. You didn't protest when your congressmen, from both parties, snatched money out of the military budget to pay for pork-barrel projects. You let them protect well-connected contractors even after it was obvious that they weren't up to fixing the problem.

Of course, Rummy, when he visited Iraq, didn't run the 10-mile terror gantlet from the airport to Baghdad in a tinny Humvee. Nope. He was snug inside a Rhino Runner, a reinforced steel bus manufactured by Weston-based Labock Technologies. The Pentagon VIPs and private contractors in Iraq know the Rhino, as opposed to the Humvee, will ward off bombs. The Pentagon brass may ride Rhinos. But they won't certify them. Not for our soldiers.

The military moves No. 1 prisoner Saddam Hussein around in a Rhino. Our soldiers get something far inferior...