$17M slated for inaugural security would be better spent on armoring the troops

Their sons killed in Iraq, women speak out on whether $17M slated for inaugural security would be better spent on armoring the troops

BY MARTIN C. EVANS
STAFF WRITER

January 20, 2005

In November, Jeanette Urbina’s soldier son telephoned from Iraq with a simple request.

It was cold there, Army Spc. Wilfredo F. Urbina told her. Could she send him a sweater?

Three days later, he was dead. An explosive device had sliced into his Humvee while he was patrolling in Baghdad.

Yesterday, parents of several Iraq veterans said they are angry that

more than $17 million will be spent on security for today’s inaugural festivities for President George W. Bush, while troops he sent to war still lack sufficient armor to keep them alive.

"What is the life of a soldier worth?" asked Urbina, of Baldwin, whose son was killed Nov. 29. "Is one or two thousand dollars too much to ask? They are fighting for democracy and freedom. They need more protection."

"How dare he?" said Dorine Kenney, of Bay Shore. Her son, Spc. Jacob S. Fletcher, was killed in Iraq Nov. 13, 2003, when a bomb detonated near a bus he was riding in.

"He’s paying so much for his safety, but what about the troops?" Kenney said. "What about the steel for the trucks, for the security?"

Kenney said she decided to speak out when she and Urbina encountered each other by chance while visiting their son’s graves, which lie within steps of each other at Long Island National Cemetery in Pinelawn.

Washington, D.C., Mayor Anthony A. Williams has told the Department of Homeland Security that his city faces $17.3 million in security costs related to the inauguration - a figure that does not include military and other federal security measures.

Explosive devices that have ripped through lightly armored military vehicles have claimed the lives of dozens of U.S. troops in the past year.

Last month, a soldier in Iraq complained of the lack of armor to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who replied, "As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time."

After Rumsfeld’s answer sparked a torrent of criticism, the military asked Florida-based Armor Holdings to speed production of more heavily armored Humvees from 450 per month to 550 per month, a target the company expects to reach in March.

To be sure, many Long Islanders see the inaugural festivities as a celebration of America’s democratic traditions - a celebration that should not be squelched.

"This is something the country needs to do," said Thomas Kolm, of Hicksville, whose son, Cpl. Kevin T. Kolm, was killed in an April bombing of the troop carrier he was riding in. "This is the inauguration of the president of the United States. It’s reassuring."

Yesterday, Bush saluted the armed forces at a ceremony honoring troops in Washington, D.C.

"As I prepare to take the oath of office, I want you to know how grateful I am for your service and sacrifice and how proud I am to be your commander in chief," he said.

But several people said although some danger is to be expected in war, there is something unseemly about extravagant celebrations in times of war and tragedy.

"It’s just not right with our boys dying," said Dorothy Oxendine, of Farmingdale, a past national president of the Gold Star Mothers, a Washington-based organization that represents women whose soldier children have been killed in U.S. wars.

Cathy Heighter, of Bay Shore, whose son, Cpl. Raheen Tyson Heighter, was the first Long Islander to be killed in the war, said, "I think soldiers and their families are really being taken for granted. I don’t remember any president in history who has needed to have so many inaugural balls."

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