GOOD PLAN

The U.S. European Command has shifted roughly 600 specially armored Humvees to Iraq, where they will be used to fill a shortage of the urgently needed vehicles, according to a Pentagon spokesman...

The shift is part of a plan to get nearly 3,000 of the specially outfitted Humvees to Iraq, where they can protect U.S. troops from insurgents using conventional firearms, improvised bombs and grenades that can cripple a regular Humvee.

Of the roughly 120 U.S. combat-related deaths in Iraq since May 1, about 30 were the result of attacks on vehicles either by a bomb or small-arms fire...

An armored Humvee has a 2-inch-thick windshield and windows and a metal-composite skin that can stop bullets. The underside, front and rear are also reinforced for protection against mines and grenades.

According to the company that produces the armored Humvee, American Motors General, the idea is that, although the vehicle may be destroyed, the occupants would survive the attack.