Grassley upset over reports of poor equipment for troops

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s alarmed by Sunday night’s “60 Minutes” episode that showed how ill-prepared some U.S. troops now in the Persian Gulf are for chemical warfare. Grassley says it’s shameful some soldiers are holding their worn-out gas masks together with duct tape. Grassley says in general, we’re very well prepared, but “I think it’s very disturbing, particularly with the anticipation of Saddam Hussein using gas that we would not have the best equipment for our men and women.” Grassley says Saddam used gas on his own people in the 1980s, killing thousands, so it should be assumed he’d use chemical weapons again on U.S. troops. He says we have an obligation to protect troops. Grassley says if the U.S. military can create laser-guided bombs that can hit a postage stamp from 500 miles away, they can certainly do a better job of protecting our most valuable asset, the soldiers.