by James Glaser
October 20, 2004

President Bush has been telling the country that our troops in Iraq have all the equipment they need. In the debates, John Kerry looked right at George and talked about how families had to raise the money to buy body armor for their loved ones over in Iraq. George would blow off this comment and go on to something else.

Well it seems that President Bush was either lying or he is totally kept in the dark when it comes to the safety of our troops in the war zone.

Somebody in the Pentagon cares about our troops and how they are getting screwed by George Bush and his administration, because they leaked a letter from the Commander of our troops in Iraq, to Washington telling them about what the troops needed.

Army Lt. General Ricardo S. Sanchez wrote to the top Army brass, back on December 4th, that his soldiers still needed 36,000 sets of body armor. He also wrote, in some of the Army supply depots in Iraq, 40 percent of critical parts were at "zero balance," meaning they didn't have 40% of the parts needed to keep a war machine going. That costs lives, because soldiers have to go without. Vehicles are used that would be "red lined" any place else.

President Bush said in May, "I have pledged, as has the Secretary of Defense, to give our troops everything that is necessary to complete their mission with the utmost safety." For months and months the American troops were fighting, but they were short of at least 36,000 sets of body armor and yes, Parents and whole communities were raising the money to buy armor and ship it over to their loved ones.

Just this last month President Bush said in Manchester, N.H., "When America puts our troops in combat, I believe they deserve the best training, the best equipment, the full support of our government."

George Bush might believe that, but he sure has failed to support our troops. Just last week a whole unit refused to go out on a mission because their equipment was substandard and they had NO ARMOR for their trucks.

Washington will sweep this leaked letter from General Sanchez under the rug and say everything has been taken care of, but when whole units risk years in prison by disobeying an order, like what happened last week with a unit driving a fuel convoy, we know they are lying. That unit was not going to have any sort of armed escort and the choppers that usually give them air cover were absent. They lacked the armor needed to protect their lives and they said the mission would be suicide.

The supply lines in Iraq are getting longer and American troops are suffering because supporting our troops is not Job #1 in Washington. Getting George Bush a second term is. Washington is not supporting our troops like they should, but George Bush is telling America that they are. Now we know the Truth.