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From the Des Moines Register

You probably didn't hear or read about four soldiers from an Ottumwa-based Iowa National Guard unit being wounded in Iraq a few days ago.

It rated only four paragraphs in the paper, which is probably understandable given there were not many details available - including the soldiers' names.

The Iowans were wounded when an improvised explosive device - a roadside bomb - exploded next to their vehicle during a patrol near the Iraqi city of Samarra. Two of the soldiers were injured seriously enough to be flown to a military hospital at Landstuhl, Germany. The two other members of the 833rd Engineer Company were treated in Iraq and returned to duty.

Here's what initial news reports didn't say:

"They were in an RG-31 armored vehicle," said Lt. Col. Gregory Hapgood, chief spokesman for the Iowa National Guard. "If they'd been in a Humvee, they would have been killed. A Humvee couldn't have withstood the explosion."

You could call it "Exhibit A" in the argument over whether to build more of the state-of-the-art armored vehicles for use by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not that you would think such a thing would be a point of political controversy. But it is, and you can ask Joe Biden if you don't believe it.

More than any other member of Congress, the Delaware senator has pushed for funding and construction of thousands of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles - including the RG-31 - the type that saved the Iowa soldiers last week.

Why would championing these things cost a politician, when they are certain to protect American troops?

Well, Biden is a Democrat running for president. Democrats, particularly party activists who will attend the caucuses, are loathe to back anybody they even suspect might support the war in Iraq.

Biden opposes the war, and it's not just jabbering. He's come up with a plan to divide Iraq into three semi-independent regions with a strong central government and a fair split of oil revenues. It may be the best idea yet to resolve the ugly situation and get U.S. troops home.

Biden's political problem: He cast a Senate vote in May in favor of a supplementary appropriations bill to continue funding the war. The sole reason is because the bill included funding for buying MRAP vehicles.

There was, as they say, hell to pay. Especially because Democrat presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Christopher Dodd all voted against the bill. Those candidates support appropriations for the MRAP, just not when it is specifically tied to an Iraq war funding bill. Their spinning translation? Biden voted for the funding, therefore he supports the war.

Biden says the vote made him "the bastard at the family picnic." Anti-war activists held "Impeach Biden" signs when he visited Iowa City. His staffers warned he would "get his skin ripped off" if he attended an event in Council Bluffs.

All because of the vote. And he says he doesn't care.

"As long as there's one American kid over there, I'm voting the money for these things," Biden said in a chat the other day during a stop in Des Moines. "It's the one way we can save lives before getting them out."

He got an education a couple of years ago, during his fifth trip to Iraq, when he saw one of the relatively few MRAP vehicles in the country. Then he talked to some soldiers about an MRAP that had been hit by a roadside bomb. It was a large vehicle known as a Cougar and it had taken a direct hit. Soldiers explained to Biden it had been thrown 25 feet straight up and sustained massive damage. The soldiers inside were shaken, but all walked away.

Like the situation with the Iowa soldiers, the vehicle saved their lives.

The MRAP vehicles are built with a V-shaped undercarriage that deflects shrapnel from mines and roadside bombs from the passenger compartment.

The military estimates that MRAP vehicles would prevent from between 68 percent and 80 percent of deaths and injuries from the roadside bombs, as compared to armored Humvees.

"Seventy percent of all the kids killed or wounded are from IEDs," Biden said. "If you can extend life expectancy by 80 percent by having MRAPs, how can you not fund it?"

Then he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, checked the numbers, and gave a startling bit of information.

"From March of 2003 to July 19, 2007, if we'd had MRAP vehicles in Iraq it's reasonable to say that between 938 and 1,120 Americans who were killed by IEDs would still be alive."

Manufacture of the new vehicles is under way, largely because Biden became such a pain in the neck to his congressional colleagues on the issue. So far, $23.6 billion has been appropriated for building and deploying 18,000 MRAPs in Iraq. Ideally, they would replace all of the Army's up-armored Humvees in the country.

Biden promises to keep up the fight to see that funding continues.

"It's cost me politically," Biden said. "But some things are worth losing elections over. This is one."

You can bet the four Iowa National Guard soldiers who were wounded last week and their families would agree.

Columnist John Carlson can be reached at (515) 284-8204 or jcarlson@dmreg.com