| TheTip.org |
| Polls | Members | Refer | Forums | Write for TheTip! | Home | Impeach Bush |
Impeach George Bush
Reservists Refuse Iraq Mission
Reservists refuse mission citing faulty or unsafe equipment. Is it a breakdown in command or are the soldiers on the ground not as 'gung ho' as Bush would have us believe?
Source: AP, 2004-10-16
Candidate: TheTIP
Army Probing Up to 19 Members of Supply Platoon
By JOHN J. LUMPKIN, AP
Teresa Hill was told by her daughter, reservist Amber McClenny, that those who refused to carry out the supply mission are being "held against our will."
WASHINGTON (Oct. 16) - Relatives of soldiers who refused to deliver supplies in Iraq say the troops considered the mission too dangerous, in part because their vehicles were in poor shape.
The Army is investigating up to 19 reservist members of a platoon that is part of the 343rd Quartermaster Company, based in Rock Hill, S.C. The unit delivers food, water and fuel on trucks in combat zones.
Convoys in Iraq are frequently subject to ambushes and roadside bombings.
Some of the troops' safety concerns were being addressed, military officials said. But a coalition spokesman in Baghdad said "a small number of the soldiers involved chose to express their concerns in an inappropriate manner, causing a temporary breakdown in discipline."
The coalition said in a statement Saturday that the troops are "not being guarded or detained. They are being interviewed. They're taking statements."
But the relatives said they were told the soldiers had been confined.
Teresa Hill of Dothan, Ala., who said her daughter, Amber McClenny, was among in the platoon, received a phone message from her early Thursday morning saying they had been detained by U.S. military authorities.
"This is a real, real, big emergency," McClenny said in her message. "I need you to contact someone. I mean, raise pure hell."
McClenny said in her message that her platoon had refused to go on a fuel-hauling convoy to Taji, north of Baghdad. "We had broken down trucks, non-armored vehicles and, um, we were carrying contaminated fuel. They are holding us against our will. We are now prisoners," she said.
Hill said she was later contacted by Spc. Tammy Reese in Iraq, who was calling families of the soldiers.
"She told me (Amber) was being held in a tent with armed guards," said Hill, who spoke with her daughter Friday afternoon after her release. Her daughter said they are facing punishment ranging from a reprimand to a charge of mutiny.
The incident was first reported Friday by The Clarion-Ledger newspaper in Jackson, Miss. Family members told the newspaper that several platoon members had been confined.
The supply route the soldiers were to have used, is among the most dangerous in Iraq. The military calls it "Main Supply Route Tampa." Many soldiers have been wounded there by roadside bombs and rifle and rocket-propelled grenade fire.
A commanding general has ordered the unit to undergo a "safety-maintenance stand down," during which it will conduct no further missions as the unit's vehicles are inspected, the military said.
On Wednesday, 19 members of the platoon did not show up for a scheduled 7 a.m. meeting in Tallil, in southeastern Iraq, to prepare for the fuel convoy's departure a few hours later, the military statement said.
"An initial report indicated that some of the 19 soldiers (not all) refused to participate in the convoy as directed," the statement said.
The mission was ultimately carried out by other soldiers from the 343rd, which has at least 120 soldiers, the military said.
Staff Sgt. Christopher Stokes, a 37-year-old chemical engineer from Charlotte, N.C., went to Iraq with the 343rd but had to come home because of an injury. He said reservists were given inferior equipment and tensions in the company had been building since they were deployed in February.
"It wasn't really safe," he said. "The vehicles are not all that up to par anyway. The armor that they have is homemade. It's not really armor. It's like little steel rails."
A whole unit refusing to go on a mission in a war zone would be a significant breach of military discipline. The military statement said the incident "isolated" and called the 343rd an experienced unit that performed honorable service in nine months in Iraq.
U.S. military officials said the commanding general of the 13th Corps Support Command., Brig. Gen. James E. Chambers, had appointed his deputy, Col. Darrell Roll, to investigate. An investigative team under Roll is in Tallil, questioning soldiers about the incident, the military said.
"Preliminary findings indicate that there were several contributing factors that led to the late convoy incident and alleged refusal to participate by some soldiers," the military said. "It would be inappropriate to discuss those factors while the investigation continues."
Separately, the commander of the 300th Area Support Group, listed on a military Web site as Col. Pamela Adams, has ordered a criminal inquiry to determine if any soldiers committed crimes under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and, if so, whether disciplinary measures are warranted.
The platoon has troops from Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina, Mississippi and South Carolina, said Hill.
Add a comment to this Message in our Forums.
While you're at it, check out our forums too!
User Originated Comments:
From: Salman El-Arabi
2004-10-19 14:16:55
the thai care who is in power in the us so do the
senegalese, the peruvians and hundred of millions
of people all over the world.
in 1999 you
needed 92 cents to buy a euro. under the oil
junta in dc it reached $1.30 for a euro and today
it is $1.25 if bush is re-elected, i predict the
us dollar to drop to $1.40 for a euro. this is
the savings of the developing, and the under
developed world that these greedy hateful bunch
are squandering not just the american’s
wealth.
the oil junta says it is not bad
in iraq and the iraqis are happy to have their
country occupied and ruined and their resources
and history robbed at gun point; the american
service men and women know that it is not so and
when they act to contradict the propaganda machine
in washington and to protect their lives they are
put under arrest.
on the other hand, the
parties who are making billions out of this war
including dick cheney are further rewarded with
yet more lucrative contracts. big money tainted
with the blood of the arabs of iraq and the poor
youth of america.
here is four links that
will, hopefully, help give an understanding of the
nature of the neo zion’s war in
arabia.
the
accusation...
http://www.antiwar.com/orig
/shumway.php?articleid=3806
the
bonanza…
i looked in the internet for
photographs for the gis who refused a mission
because of safety concerns but could not find any
but one; however, i am sure they do not look
anything like these
officers:
http://www.titan.com/about/offi
cers/index.html?select=5
the destruction
of
iraq:
http://www.albasrah.net/index1.html
From: NOT BUSHWACKED
2004-10-18 18:05:54
bush has declared that he is "a war
president".period.
what other proof do we
need...he is on the offensive, pre-emptive
mode, with eyes on
iran,[ osama bin laden is
being harbored there.] bingo.
that is
what the media announced today....
now
bush's intellegence reports or would it be more
correct for me to say instincts..or gut feelings,
guide him on making faulty judgements.....
he
also thinks that he is infallible..can you
imagine, now that is sick....
as an american
citizen, i will not be brought or bought to the
bidding of any leader, i will search for the
truth.....it is time to
"drop bush not
bombs".
vote kerry... last chance for a
safe america..
From:
2004-10-18 17:34:26
the last poll i saw had 70% of the troops
supporting bush, slightly less that 30% for kerry.
deserters are very few and far between. nearly all
u.s. soldiers are smart enough to know the dangers
when they volunteered, and have the courage to
carry out the mission.
From: an american, not a bushie
2004-10-17 05:53:03
i am very surprised that thousands of other
reservists and national guard units from coast to
coast haven't done the same thing already, refuse
to go!!! after all, this so-called war on terror
is bullshit, as you cannot wage a war on a tactic,
and the invasion of iraq was absolutely wrong, as
iraq had nothing to do with 9-11 or the
terrorists. so, a refusal by the national guard
and the reservists, some of them 40 years old and
out of the service for many years, refusing to
participate in the "little monkey's private war"
should be charged with desertion, what a fu*king
joke. what is the chimp administration gonna do,
charge 40,000 people with desertion. all guard
units and all reservists people, and refuse to go
to dubya's private war!!!!!!!
Related News
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
owned by TheTIP.
[ Skip Next | Next | Random Site | List Sites |Previous ]
NEWS | ACTION | RESULTS | POLLS | MEMBERS | SEARCH