Bake Sales for Body Armor

The families of Iraq soldiers are having real and virtual bake sales to raise money to buy armor for their loved ones. I'm sure the rich beneficiaries of Bush's tax cuts will buy a cookie or two...if the families ask nicely:

Last month, in the wake of a Pentagon study that found side armor could have saved dozens of U.S. lives in Iraq, the Army signed a $70 million emergency contract with a California-based company for ceramic body armor.

But not all soldiers will get it, and some troops currently have the wrong size armor, so the need still exists, said Tammara Rosenleaf, whose husband was deployed from Fort Hood in Central Texas in December. The Bake Sales for Body Armor fundraiser also will provide medical supplies, communications equipment and other needed gear, she said.

"When I realized my husband didn't have the side and deltoid body armor, the feeling of desperation to have it for him was overwhelming," said Rosenleaf, who recently moved back to her native Helena, Mont. "It occurred to me that no one loves their soldier any less than I love my husband, and people would do just about anything to get the armor to them."

Rosenleaf hosts the first bake sale Saturday at the Lewis & Clark Library in Helena, and others are planned this month in New York, Virginia and Texas. Beatriz Saldivar of Fort Worth, whose nephew Daniel Torres was killed in Iraq a year ago, said she plans to help organize one soon.

Bake Sales for Body Armor is sponsored by Veterans for Peace.