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U.S. commander in Iraq faulted supply chain - report
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-18 09:26

The former top U.S. commander in Iraq complained last winter to the Pentagon that a poor supply situation was threatening the Army's ability to fight, The Washington Post reported on its Web site on Sunday.

Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez wrote in a letter to top Army officials that the lack of key spare parts for tanks, helicopters and other systems was such a severe problem that "I cannot continue to support sustained combat operations with rates this low," the newspaper reported.

Senior Army officials told the newspaper that most of Sanchez's concerns had been addressed but that they continue to closely monitor the problems he identified.

Gary Motsek, deputy director of operations for the Army Materiel Command, was quoted as saying that the situation is "substantially better" now.

According to the newspaper, Sanchez said in a letter sent Dec. 4 that Army units in Iraq were waiting an average of 40 days for critical spare parts, which he noted was almost three times the Army's average.

He also protested that U.S. soldiers still needed protective inserts to upgrade body armor and that delivery twice had been postponed in the month before his writing, the newspaper reported.

The Washington Post said it was given a copy of the letter by a person familiar with the situation who was dismayed that front-line troops had not been adequately supplied.

Sanchez was the senior U.S. military commander in Iraq from June 2003 until the summer of 2004.



 
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