“Yesterday we refused to go on a convoy to Taji. We had broken-down trucks, nonarmored vehicles. We were carrying contaminated fuel.”

—Specialist Amber McClenny, 21, on her mother’s answering machine

“My message to our troops is, ‘Thank you for what you’re doing. We’re standing with you strong. We’ll give you all the equipment you need. And we’ll get you home as soon as the mission’s done, because this is a vital mission.’”

—President George W. Bush, September 30, 2004, Presidential Debate

As The New York Times reports this morning, members of an Army reserve unit who refused to deliver a fuel and provisions shipment to troops north of Baghdad are currently under investigation for insubordination. Reports that 18 soldiers have been held at gunpoint for two days remain unconfirmed by the Pentagon, but relatives insist that the soldiers acted out of conviction as they felt they were being ordered to undertake a suicide mission.

The troops claim their trucks were deadlined — unsafe and unsuitable for combat operations.  Despite Pentagon claims that this remains an “isolated incident,” these claims echo concerned rumbles heard earlier in the war: American soldiers  are ill-equipped and insufficiently prepared for their duties. As John Kerry pointed out in the first debate, parents shouldn’t have to purchase body armor for their enlisted children as a birthday present.  

The gap between the President’s rhetoric and the reality American troops face grows ever wider.

llouison