US marines `running out of food'

From The Daily Mirror (UK)

US marines `running out of food'

01:48, Mar 28 2003

Some US Marines fighting in Iraq are reportedly running short of food and ammunition. Others have been pinned down for days trying to clear Iraqi resistance.

But US Central Command headquarters insists that everything in Operation Iraqi Freedom is going fine. "Our plan is working, and we're one day closer to achieving our objectives," Brigadier General Vincent Brooks said at a daily briefing.

Reporters in central Iraq have reported some units are running short of food, fuel and ammunition, much of which was expended battling an Iraqi army the brass and some politicians hoped would melt away.

According to some reports, a few units are issuing Marines only two Meals Ready to Eat every 36 hours -- compared to the usual three per day. At least one helicopter transport headed to An Nasiriyah to deliver supplies and fetch wounded had to turn back because of Iraqi ground fire.

An embedded reporter with the Rocky Mountain News said that Brigadier General Charles Fletcher of the 3rd Infantry Division reported up the chain of command that: "The division is out of rations."

But when the question was raised at the Central Command briefing, Brooks replied: "We feel pretty comfortable right now about the condition we're in with our logistics."