Military has tough job keeping equipment in good order

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Blowing sand. Blistering heat. Shrapnel-spewing roadside bombs. The U.S. Army says it does its best to keep its hard-pressed vehicles and helicopters running despite these conditions.

Now maintenance is at the heart of the controversy over an Army Reserve unit that refused to carry fuel along one of Iraq's most dangerous stretches of road.

Last week, the Army said it was investigating members of a platoon from the 343rd Quartermaster Company after they refused to transport supplies from Tallil air base near Nasiriyah to Taji north of Baghdad.

The unit's members complained that the fuel trucks they were to drive lacked the armor needed for the dangerous mission, and were in bad shape. The U.S. military said Monday no decision had been made on whether to discipline the reservists.

U.S. officers say the refusal to carry out the mission last week was an isolated incident. Still, it's no secret that convoy duty is one of the most perilous jobs in Iraq.

Across the country, Humvees patrol with smashed front windshields or punctured doors from chunks of shrapnel. Dozens of vehicles have been lost in attacks.

The Army's fleet of aging Black Hawk helicopters requires lots of maintenance to keep flying. The helicopters' engines and rotors suffer even more than land vehicles from blowing sand and the heat, and the craft are in higher demand than ever to ferry passengers trying to avoid Iraq's ambush-prone roads.

Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq from mid-2003 until this summer, sent a letter to the Pentagon in December 2003 complaining that a shortage of supplies was hurting the troops' ability to fight, The Washington Post reported Monday.

U.S. military officials have said maintenance has improved. Maintenance bays are better stocked now than they were earlier in the war. Still, it's a tough job, said Marine Maj. Jay Antonelli, a military spokesman in Baghdad.

"The environment in Iraq, which consists of heat, blowing sand and other extreme conditions ... is a difficult place to maintain aircraft and vehicles," Antonelli said. "It would be unrealistic to expect that vehicles, aircraft and other equipment do not break down. We have enough spare parts and logistics support to maintain our fleet of aircraft and vehicles to perform required missions."

On Sunday, the commanding officer of the 13th Corps Support Command, Brig. Gen. James E. Chambers, ordered the South Carolina Reserve unit that refused the supply run to undergo a two-week "safety-maintenance stand down," during which it will conduct no missions as its vehicles are refurbished and armored.

Latest developments in Iraq

• Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi announced plans to extend a cash-for-weapons program for Shiite fighters in Baghdad's Sadr City to cities nationwide in an attempt to disarm Iraq.

Iraqi government officials and commanders of the U.S.-led military coalition killed a proposal by Saudi Arabia for a Muslim peacekeeping force in Iraq, the White House said, citing concerns over who would be in charge.

The city of Fallujah's chief negotiator in peace talks with the government was released from U.S. custody and ruled out any quick resumption of talks.

The British government said it would be failing an important ally if it refused to redeploy British troops closer to Baghdad and free up American soldiers for anti-insurgent operations.

In Baghdad, a car bomb exploded late Sunday near a police patrol in the Jadiriyah district, killing six people, including three police officers, and wounding 26 others.

In Mosul, a car bomb detonated Sunday morning on a bridge, killing five Iraqis and wounding 15 others, the U.S. military said. Another car bomber Monday hit a civilian convoy, killing one and wounding four others.

A patrol from the 1st Infantry Division's 3rd Brigade discovered a huge weapons cache at a home in Salman Pak, south of Baghdad, and detained six suspects.

Al-Jazeera television broadcast a video by a militant group that claimed to kill two Macedonian men it accused of spying for the United States.

A headless body was found in the Tigris river north of Baghdad, witnesses said. The body is suspected to be that of an Iraqi driver who carried supplies to an American military base, witness Abbas Mahmoud said.

A militant group, Ansar al-Sunnah, claimed responsibility for the ambush and killing of nine Iraqi policemen on Saturday, according to a Web statement.