This is "Supporting the Troops," Mr. Bush?

I first saw this at BFOP, but for some reason couldn't pull up the link while at home. Here it is:
From The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Mississippi:

A 17-member Army Reserve platoon with troops from Jackson and around the Southeast deployed to Iraq is under arrest for refusing a "suicide mission" to deliver fuel, the troops' relatives said Thursday.

The soldiers refused an order on Wednesday to go to Taji, Iraq — north of Baghdad — because their vehicles were considered "deadlined" or extremely unsafe, said Patricia McCook of Jackson, wife of Sgt. Larry O. McCook...

The 343rd is a supply unit whose general mission is to deliver fuel and water. The unit includes three women and 14 men and those with ranking up to sergeant first class.

"I got a call from an officer in another unit early (Thursday) morning who told me that my husband and his platoon had been arrested on a bogus charge because they refused to go on a suicide mission," said Jackie Butler of Jackson, wife of Sgt. Michael Butler, a 24-year reservist. "When my husband refuses to follow an order, it has to be something major."

The platoon being held has troops from Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina, Mississippi and South Carolina, said Teresa Hill of Dothan, Ala., whose daughter Amber McClenny is among those being detained.

McClenny, 21, pleaded for help in a message left on her mother's answering machine early Thursday morning.

"They are holding us against our will," McClenny said. "We are now prisoners."

McClenny told her mother her unit tried to deliver fuel to another base in Iraq Wednesday, but was sent back because the fuel had been contaminated with water. The platoon returned to its base, where it was told to take the fuel to another base, McClenny told her mother.

The platoon is normally escorted by armed Humvees and helicopters, but did not have that support Wednesday, McClenny told her mother.

The convoy trucks the platoon was driving had experienced problems in the past and were not being properly maintained, Hill said her daughter told her.

The situation mirrors other tales of troops being sent on missions without proper equipment.

Note: The Guardian UK has additional information.

The last line--being sent on missions without proper equipment--is putting it diplomatically. Bob Herbert's op-ed about Eugene Simpson (I linked to it this morning) points out that Mr. Simpson was trained as a tank driver, but was ordered to do interdiction work from the confines of a Humvee. Sue Niederer's son, who was killed in Iraq, wasn't trained to defuse bombs--yet he was put on a bomb squad. Soldiers become mere fodder in the eyes of war planners (yet another reason to always use war as a LAST resort).

But, back to the platoon. Their mission--running supplies--has got to be by far and away the most dangerous operation in Iraq right now. Most occupation troops are garrisoned in at least reasonably secure sites, although even the Zone formally known as Green, aka Fortress America in Baghdad, is vulnerable. But if the Zone isn't safe, imagine the conditions on the roads.

Then, consider: for $400 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR--$400 Billion!--we don't have adequate equipment like body armor, armored vehicles, or night vision goggles, i.e., the equipment an army NEEDS for day to day operations in a combat zone. What the hell has Bush been doing with all the money?

Infuckingcredible...