Army Study of Iraq War Details a 'Morass' of Supply Shortages
By ERIC SCHMITT
Published: February 3, 2004
WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 - The first official Army history of the Iraq war reveals
that American forces were plagued by a "morass" of supply shortages, radios
that could not reach far-flung troops, disappointing psychological
operations and virtually no reliable intelligence on how Saddam Hussein
would defend Baghdad.
Logistics problems, which senior Army officials played down at the time,
were much worse than have previously been reported. While the study serves
mainly as a technical examination of how the Army performed and the problems
it faced, it could also serve as a political document that could advance the
Army's interests within the Pentagon.
Tank engines sat on warehouse shelves in Kuwait with no truck drivers to
take them north. Broken-down trucks were scavenged for usable parts.
Artillery units cannibalized parts from captured Iraqi guns to keep their
howitzers operating. Army medics foraged medical supplies from combat
hospitals.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/03/politics/03ARMY.html
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U.S. Military
Two US Soldiers ask: "When will we stop dying so senselessly?", Jay Shaft,
January 31, 2004
By Jay Shaft Interviews 2 U.S. Soldiers
Jan 31, 2004, 10:02
-snip-
O1- Every day that we stay in Iraq, the resistance builds, and the attacks
are bigger and more prevalent. We are going to see many more US soldiers die
because of the failure of the US to live up to their basic promises. In the
end it is the basic line grunt that is the victim of the Bush regimes drive
for oil and profits. You won t see one of the senators kids over there. You
will not see one of the board members of Halliburton, Bechtel, KBR, or the
other big contractors losing a son or daughter. All they are going to do is
make money and send more troops to guard their convoys and assets.
We can t even go out in convoy with anyone from Halliburton or Bechtel
without drawing a crowd of angry Iraqis. They hate the Halliburton and
Bechtel guys worse than they hate the soldiers. It s like painting a target
on your back just to travel with those contractors and try to protect them.
O2- Let me jump in here. I want to say that I am extremely mad that
Halliburton and Bechtel have better equipment than our own troops do. The
contractors have fully armored Hummers and the best body armor. The have us
escort them in our lightly armored Humvees and they ride in heavily armored
vehicles. That is bullsh.t and every American needs to know about it. It s
been in the paper recently about how bad the casualties have been from the
older Hummers. Our vehicles don t provide adequate protection, and that is a
fu..ing outrage that needs to be fixed.
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http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_4893.shtml
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