Casey: Obama's Shortages Claim Plausible

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.

"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," Obama said.

Obama's account prompted denials from the Pentagon. In a letter to Obama, Sen. John Warner, R-Va., demanded the name and whereabouts of the captain so he could investigate the matter.

Obama campaign has declined to release the name of the captain, citing the soldier's privacy.

"I find that account pretty hard to imagine," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman after the debate.

Casey said the Army has purposefully not tried to seek out the captain individually. But he did contact the platoon's brigade commander, which belonged to the 10th Mountain Division, and reviewed the division's readiness reports.

Casey said the brigade was manned at 100 percent during its entire deployment, but that it is possible a particular platoon within the brigade was not manned at the desired level.

"There may have been some spot shortages in spare parts and ammunition," he said. "But the commander said that there were never a shortage of ammunition that impacted the units ability to accomplish its mission."

Comments

[JJinWI]

http://www.democrats.org/page/s/mccainbusted

[ladygreenslippers]

If Obama cites this story, it's a lie!

If it came from McCain, we can trust that it absolutely true!

The republicans who lied to us about weapons of mass destruction, imminent danger, mushroom cloud, waterboarding, lost (literally, no one knows where it went) pallets of billions of dollars of money in Iraq, sent our troops to war without appropiate equiptment - i could go on, but why?

[sawdustinhershoes]

So true. Absolutely disgusting.

Casey says there was no shortage of ammunition - why does HE bother? We know what comes out of his mouth has been placed there by BUSH.

[SShaw490]

The issue isn't a military one: It's 100% caused by an incurious president that surrounds himself with yes-men; a president who invades and occupies a country without the slightest idea what happens after the invasion; a president who thinks his military is omnipotent and omniscient; a president who is so stupid that his advisors don't even ask any questions, they just do things however they want, knowing that the boss will never know anything, wonder about anything, or listen to anything. No matter who gets elected next, it'll be a 1000% improvement on what we've had for the last 8 years.

There has to be some kind of way to bring Bush and Cheney to justice after they leave office. The idea of those two criminals living happily ever after on the largesse of the taxpayers is unbearable.

[Jazz42]

I agree with you completely.

[CaptainObvious]

Better catch 'em before they leave for Bush's new 10,000 acre ranch in Paraguay (which has no extradition treaties with the US).

[incontempt]

That means the terrorists will be able to reach him then?

[midtown]

It's 98,000 acres, and the southern tip of it is a few km from the largest secret US military base in South America with a 10,000 or 12,000 ft runway.

[BubbaFlash]

Regarding your last paragraph: Considering the time constraints...

Toss 'em in the oval office with a few willing interns and a bit of KY. Oh, let's not forget the videorecorder.

[ndolomar]

his campaign is revealing obama is more a bellwether than many politicians wish to admit. even if he doesn't win the nomination, it would be wise for any political party to heed his takes on many issues.

[gcallaghan]

Republicans = Military Failure

[NeverRepublican]

This war...if that's what you call it...has been a disaster from day one...not enough body armor...the wrong kind of body armor...hum-vees not adequately outfitted...meal preperations have been contracted out to civilian firms and making millions...in fact it seems that EVERYTHING has been contracted out to he tune of billions...and lets not forget how $12 Billion dollars just vanished over in Iraq...real American money...lost. Gee...I just wnder HOW those bombs were being paid for at just the time all the money went missing...hmmmmmmmmm...just how did those insurgents pay for the materials to make road side bombs?...hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....I just wonder...who was funding all those bombs?....$12 billion goes missing.....bombs are being made and used daily....just wondering.

[nanotubz]

On of the things being over looked, were the reports of our troops preferring to use the AK-47 because of its superior reliability and stopping power, as compared to standard US military issue.
This has been on an issue since Vietnam, that pubically the Army won't own up. Much like the Browning cooled 50 caliber (US invention) that the Army refused by the Germans didn't.

[nanotubz]

That should be "One" and not "On"

[nihilon x]

Even the military is starting to support Obama.

Should make for an interesting contest when McCain brings up security issues in the debates.

[wyorange]

Don't know where you are getting that information. Have a newphew pretty high up in the officer ranks in the Navy who is for Sen. Obama but says that he would guess that about 80% of other officers he works with are for McCain and would guess that although quite a bit lower feels that moe than half (probably somewhere in the 55% to 60% range are for McCain.

[iPolitics]

Obviously.

[pottylikearockstar]

Barack became a senator in 2004. If it happened in 2003, did he have the security clearance to discuss equipment shortages in a warzone? Is that why a billionaire Iraqi business loaned Obama contributor Tony Rezko $3.5 million? This story has legs.

[theJuanStar]

Those are the legs you got from this post. You have got to be kidding. The fact that our soldiers where not properly equipped or staffed to go to war is is less important than a trivial matter that has already been debunked by all involved? This is the true patriotism of the right!

[wyorange]

Less important! Heavens no it is not less important, but I think we have all heard about the shortages of equipment (humvees, body armor, and ammunition) off and on for the past several years. We have heard of our forces being stretched too thin. So does Sen. Obama's reporting what a captain told him rise to earth shattering news. Important yes. New, not really.

Question is, was the captain upset because his command had been depleted, or was he upset because the remainder of his command could not function efficiently? Nice to keep a group that trained together together as a unit; however it sometimes may be necessary to split units up depending up circumstances. And sometimes shortages in one area are offset by overages in another area.

Another question I have is: Is there a set number of personnel that must be involved in a squad, platoon, company, etc.? Seems to me when I was in the army either way to many personnel were assigned to a job to the point of getting in each others way, or not nearly enough were assigned to get the job completed within the time frame allocated.

That this war has been totally screwed up there is no question. That waging war in Iraq depleted our ability to fight effexctively in Afghanistan at the same time, there is no question. As for second guessing particular instances, I was not there to witness what took place and I will just not willing toss out decisions made by command without knowing the situations at hand.

[ACunningham]

Billary made $146,000,000.00 profit from dealing with a Middle Eastern DICTATOR and all you to talk about is the $300 K discount that Obama got from his association w Rezo?

.

[57andfemale]

By the way -- it's not even true. The Rezko assocation with the Obama's house purchase was debunked last week in Bloomberg and the Chicago Tribune. The sellers came forward and said that the negotiations on the house were totally above board, and they got the best price possible for the house. And that Rezko had nothing to do with the sale. The "asking" price b.s. about the vacant land -- there was more interest in it. The house had been on the market for awhile. There's no "there" there.

Is Rezko sleazy? You bet. If that's all you got on Obama rising to national prominence in Chicago politics, then he's even better than I thought. He did give all the money even marginally connected to Rezko to charity.

I don't think Hillary's done that yet with Norman Hsu's bundled $850,000. I think she was balking on giving back the bundled money, just the money under his name.

So if you want to go there on campaign donations, let's have at it.

[Obamacan]

Is this cpl. aimee cunningham, usmc?

[TXFreedomFighter]

Keep the facts straight... He didn't get a discount. His offer was the highest offer the seller received, and it $300K less than the original selling price. It was NOT a discount! It was the best and final offer! Repeat 3 times

[Arbos]

ron paul lost but party on dude, politics is obviously not the place for you.

[JadedAggie]

What are you even talking about? The anecdote was given to him by a veteran of the war. Any civilian with curiousity and the ability to walk to a VA could have gotten a similar story. The entire reason republicans attacked the story was it was based on a soldiers claims rather than on military documents. Btw although I disagree with Gen. Casey's assertion it didn't matter I applaud him for at least approaching the question honestly.

[57andfemale]

By all means, let's look into campaign donations. Hillary should be happy to open up those records. Let's start with Norman Hsu, and the Clintons' sordid history of campaign money.

And let's look at Bill's associations over the last 7 years.

Transparency. For everyone.

[Obamacan]

This doesn't shock me one bit. My squadron used to canabalize parts for aircraft constantly, even though that is a forbidden practice in the air wing. This was State-side close to supply depots. Now if they short change aircraft parts on a 20 million dollar aircraft; it doesn't surprise me at all that "Grunts" would get short changed in supplies and manpower in the middle of nowhere. Obama is right all the way around on this one which is why vets are for Obama, including me.

[HeironymousJosch]

Including me as well!

[Zhonni]

Me too!

[Bushgirlsgonewild]

.


Ok, then that obviously makes this man a disgruntled, ah, current, employee who did not earn the chest full of metals he's wearing.

In fact, the Drudge Report has revealed that this man has never even served in the military and may have connections to Al Queda units working in Obama's Dallas, Texas headquarters.

.

[wyorange]

"In fact, the Drudge Report..."

Oh come on, you know damn well that the Obamamites are not going to buy into anything that Drudge reports unless it involves something negative about the Clintons!