Tragically, the picture above may be an enduring image of the second Iraq war, replacing television footage of Saddam Hussein's statue tumbling among triumphant citizens and U.S. troops.

What this picture shows are resourceful Camp Pendleton Marines -- our friends, family and neighbors -- preparing for battle in Fallujah by strapping plywood and sandbags onto the roof of a Humvee. Why sandbags? Because President Bush, the Congress and the Pentagon have failed our troops, at least by this measure: Nearly 20 months after the U.S. invasion of this deadly country, our troops still don't have adequate armor for their vehicles.

At a hearing last month of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, the committee's powerful chairman, described a military bureaucracy hobbled by inefficiency and inertia.

By May 2003, it was clear to U.S. commanders that Iraqi insurgents were killing and wounding too many American troops with roadside bombs. The commanders requested beefed-up armor in the form of retrofit kits and increased shipments of heavier Humvees and troop transport trucks. So the Pentagon sprang into action.

It wasn't until August and September 2003 that war planners began drafting solutions. October through December 2003 was spent testing steel plates against various explosives. By February, the Pentagon announced it had reached full production.

Meanwhile, Marine and Army mechanics were improvising, and dying, in Iraq.

As of Oct. 4, defense officials said just 72 percent of Humvees in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa were armored. Now their goal is for 100 percent protection by May 1.

We're just beginning to dig into this, but some deeply troubling information has emerged:

• Marines, who left for Iraq for the initial invasion with "100 percent armored" Humvees, shipped out with dangerously thin steel armor. Army units apparently were equipped with hardened steel that was twice the thickness of Marine armor. Performance problems with the thin armor are being kept secret.

• A congressional staffer found the steel mill that makes the armor plating was running at just 60 percent of capacity.

• Budget mandates from Congress may play a role: Base construction funds flow while war equipment accounts run dry.

A Marine general told Hunter that acquisitions officers had responded to 69 urgent requests for items from flashlights to body armor over the last year. That is, the generals back home were doing the best they could.

Roadside bombs are overwhelmingly responsible for fatal attacks on our troops, and our generals are making excuses.