Casey: Obama's shortages claim plausible

[jackson_dem]

Source: Yahoo

-snip-

WASHINGTON - Gen. George Casey, the Army's chief of staff, said Tuesday he has no reason to doubt Barack Obama's recent account by an Army captain that a rifle platoon in Afghanistan didn't have enough soldiers or weapons. But he questioned the assertion that the shortages prevented the troops from doing their job.

Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Casey said the incident would have occurred in 2003 and 2004 following the Iraq invasion. He said he remembers it as a "difficult time" trying to rush armor and other equipment to the troops.

"I have no reason to doubt what it is the captain said," Casey said. "This was 2003 and 2004, almost four and a half years ago. We acknowledge and all worked together to correct the deficiencies that we saw in that period, not only in Afghanistan but in Iraq. It was a period that we worked our way through."

During a Democratic debate last week, Obama said an Army captain remembered leading a platoon in Afghanistan that was short on men, ammunition and humvees.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080226/ap_on_el_pr/obama_afghanistan

[Hawkeye-X]

1. And what does your gal Hillary

have to say????

[sabra]

2. Army general (George Casey): 'No reason to doubt' Obama's story

Source: CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Army chief of staff Gen. George Casey, testifying on troop strain before the Senate Armed Forces Committee Tuesday, said there is "no reason to doubt" Sen. Barack Obama's military shortage story during CNN's debate in Austin, Texas, last week.

"You know, I've heard from an Army captain who was the head of a rifle platoon — supposed to have 39 men in a rifle platoon. Ended up being sent to Afghanistan with 24 because 15 of those soldiers had been sent to Iraq," Obama told CNN moderator Campbell Brown.

"And as a consequence, they didn't have enough ammunition, they didn't have enough Humvees. They were actually capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief," he added.

...

War supporters have challenged the story, but Casey said he had "no reason to doubt what it is the captain says."

"We acknowledged and we all worked together to correct the deficiencies with equipment that we saw during that period, not only Afghanistan but in Iraq," he said in response to the question posed by Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham, a longtime supporter of GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain.

Read more: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/02/27/army-general-no-reason-to-doubt-obamas-story/

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. Reminds me of stories of how the grunts in VN would use

captured AKs, because the early model of M-16 was so unreliable.

[coalition_unwilling]

8. And, in an ironic twist, Col. John Paul Vann used to get

outraged that so many rifles we had supplied to the troops of the puppet regime in the South wound up in the hands of the National Liberation Front (aka the 'Viet Cong'). Neil Sheehan's "A Bright Shining Lie" discusses the issue of how the National Liberation Front armed its infantry first with captured French weapons pre-1954 and then, at US taxpayer expense, with captured weapons from the South Vietnamese puppet forces after 1954.

Incidentally, anyone seeking to understand Iraq-nam should place "A Bright Shining Lie" at the top of his or her reading list, right next to David Halberstam's "The Best and the Brightest" and (if and when non-fiction grows dull) next to Tim O'Brien's masterpiece "Going After Cacciato."

On edit: makes me wonder how many US weapons are winding up in the hands of the Taliban, through the heavily infiltrated Afghan army. And how many US weapons have made their way to the Iraqi Resistance through the heavily infiltrated Iraqi Army and police forces.

[skypilot]

4. Jesus H. Christ

They were actually capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief

I'm just speechless.

[Thothmes]

6. At least the ones that American made weapons

had weapons that worked. In Viet Nam they issued you one that would jamb up after a few rounds fired and then not give you a cleaning kit to keep it operable. The VC & NVA use using unsophisticated but reliable Kalashnikov's.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. Like I said at the time.

Saying it wasn't true won't fly with anyone who knows someone that' been there. Then there's the people their friends and family have told similar stories to who won't believe it's not true either.

They forget how things like this spread.

[JPZenger]

7. WWI: US Had to Use Crappy Guns Because of Politics

I saw a story on Discovery in which they interviewed the head of the US Army Ordnance Museum. He said that US soldiers in WWI were forced to use really inferior French sub-machine guns that frequently jammed and were poorly manufactured. The US had the great Browning sub-machine gun, but the US troops weren't allowed to use it becauae the Army was afraid the Germans could capture it.

The British had a better weapon, but they wouldn't let the US use it because the US would not put US troops directly under British command.