Gayl Update

In news related to the Franz Gayl case, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Ma.) wrote a heavily critical letter to Gen. James Conway, who told a Senate committee last month that Marine Corps commanders requested Humvees instead of MRAPs in February 2005. Kennedy wrote Conway that he “misrepresented” the requests, which did call for MRAPs. Kennedy wrote that Conway’s assertions are “contradicted by the request itself.”

Gayl, a civilian Marine Corps official, authored a study showing that the deaths or injuries of hundreds of Marines in Iraq could have been avoided if military officials had granted the 2005 MRAP request. MRAPs are vehicles designed to withstand attacks from improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

-- Dylan Blaylock