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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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Pentagon, Army Captain Differ on Obama Tale

Army doubts, captain confirms weapons, troop shortages

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(Newser) – Pentagon officials moved quickly yesterday to rebut Barack Obama's tale of an Army captain whose platoon, deployed in Afghanistan, was stripped of men and so lacking in equipment that they resorted to using captured Taliban weapons. "I find that account pretty hard to imagine," an Army spokesman said of the anecdote Obama told during Thursday's debate, MSNBC reports. But the captain himself confirmed the details to ABC yesterday.

The captain, then a lieutenant, said the squad experienced shortages of humvees and ammunition both during training and in combat in 2003, ABC reports. When they couldn't get parts for a machine gun—Iraq had priority over Afghanistan, he said—the unit used a Taliban weapon in its place. The army captain also confirmed Obama's assertion that over a third of his platoon was re-assigned without being replaced.

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., listens to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. during the debate at the Austin Democratic Debate at the Recreational Sports Center on the University of Texas campus in Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008 in Austin, Texas. Comments Obama made during the debate have ruffled...
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., listens to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. during the debate at the Austin Democratic Debate at the Recreational Sports Center on the University...   (Associated Press)
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., responds to a question during a Democratic presidential debate in Austin, Texas, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008. His recounting of a story of soldiers lacking proper equipment has drawn rebuttals from the Pentagon. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., responds to a question during a Democratic presidential debate in Austin, Texas, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008. His recounting of a story of soldiers...   (Associated Press)
U.S. Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez left, along with the U.S. soldiers of 82 Airborne, takes oath during re-enlistment in army at Airborne forward operating base in Wardak west of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Feb 19, 2008. The U.S., which already has some 28,000 forces in the country,...
U.S. Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez left, along with the U.S. soldiers of 82 Airborne, takes oath during re-enlistment in army at Airborne forward operating base in Wardak west of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday,...   (Associated Press)
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks during a rally Friday, Feb. 22, 2008, in Corpus Christi, Texas. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks during a rally Friday, Feb. 22, 2008, in Corpus Christi, Texas. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)   (Associated Press)
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., responds to a question during the Democratic presidential debate in Austin, Texas, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., responds to a question during the Democratic presidential debate in Austin, Texas, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008. (AP Photo/LM Otero)   (Associated Press)
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