Inside the Ring

No show

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the front-runner to win the Democratic Party presidential nomination, has made armor in Iraq a new issue on which to bash President Bush.

The junior senator from New York appeared on ABC News to criticize Mr. Bush after a military study determined that body armor with side plates around the shoulders and neck would have increased the survival rate of Marines.

Mrs. Clinton, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, also issued a press release that called on Committee Chairman John W. Warner, Virginia Republican, to convene a hearing “to investigate these reports.”

By the time the press release had hit the street on Monday, Mr. Warner had scheduled a closed-door hearing. Two generals in charge of procuring armor and an Army soldier fitted in the armor that is currently protecting troops in Iraq were the featured witnesses. Some Marines say they do not want side-plate armor because it adds weight and limits mobility.

With the Senate in recess, the attendance was light when Mr. Warner convened the classified hearing on Wednesday. Only two other senators attended: Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat; and Sen. Jack Reed, Rhode Island Democrat.

We asked Mrs. Clinton’s press secretary about her no-show. “Senator Clinton had a long planned day of events with her constituents in New York and wasn’t able to attend the short-notice briefing attended by the chairman and two members of the minority,” said Philippe Reines in an e-mail. “Her defense aide attended, and she’s going to continue to work hard to make sure that our men and women in uniform get the resources they need.”

At the hearing, officers said the Army is continually researching and developing better forms of armor. The Army is sending to Iraq an improved version of the Interceptor body armor. “The improvement provides increased ballistic protection at the expense of a small increase in weight,” said Maj. Gen. Stephen M. Speakes, the Army’s director of force development.

He said the Army is set to begin purchasing side plating. “It is important to note that we must not burden our soldiers with weight to the point that they become ineffective and susceptible to other dangers,” Gen. Speakes said. “The Army gave special consideration to the balance of soldier armor protection and the impact on soldier performance.”

No vacancies

The Days Inn Gateway, a popular low-cost motel for Washington tourists, has closed its doors. But it expects all 195 rooms to be filled the next two years.

The Days Inn, the first lodging for travelers entering Washington’s east side on New York Avenue, has rented out the entire motel — restaurant, lounge and rooms — to the China Construction America Co., according to a Gateway worker who declined to give his name.

The Chinese government has tapped its homegrown company to build its new embassy at the International Center on Van Ness Street Northwest, off Connecticut Avenue. It is importing scores of Chinese workers who will stay at the refurbished Days Inn. The worker said the motel signed a 2½-year lease. “Then we will come back and go back to normal,” the worker said.

Chu Maoming, Chinese Embassy spokesman, tells us construction began in April and will be completed in 2008.

It was all part of a deal with the U.S. State Department, which won access to land in Beijing to build a new embassy, which also will be finished in 2008.

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