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(CBS) Two weeks ago, a group of Army reservists in Iraq refused a direct order to go on a dangerous operation to re-supply another unit with jet fuel. Without helicopter gunships to escort them over a treacherous stretch of highway, and lacking armored vehicles, soldiers from the 343rd Quartermaster Company called it a suicide mission. The Army called it an isolated incident, a temporary breakdown in discipline, and an investigation is underway. But the 343rd isn't the first outfit to be put in harm's way without proper equipment, and commanders in Iraq acknowledged that the unit's concerns were legitimate, even...

60 Minutes just started on the East Coast. Is there any sign of SeeBS's last attempt at an October Surprise?

AIRING TONIGHT ON 60 MINUTES: IN HARM'S WAY Even though roadside explosive devices account for half of all the war's U.S. casualties, soldiers are still getting killed and wounded by them because the Pentagon hasn't provided enough fully-armored vehicles to protect them.

IN HARM'S WAY - Even though roadside explosive devices account for half of all the war's U.S. casualties, soldiers are still getting killed and wounded by them because the Pentagon hasn't provided enough fully-armored vehicles to protect them. Steve Kroft reports.

Iraq Commanders Getting All Armor Needed to Do the Job By Donna MilesAmerican Forces Press ServiceWASHINGTON, April 30, 2004 -- Commanders on the ground in Iraq are getting all the armored protection they determine necessary to do the job, the operations chief for U.S. Central Command told Pentagon reporters today. Marine Maj. Gen. John F. Sattler, speaking via teleconference from U.S. Central Command's forward headquarters in Qatar, said ground commanders' requests for additional M1A1 tanks, "up-armored" humvees and kits to up-armor vehicles already in the theater are being filled quickly and completely. The requests came from the 1st Marine...

WASHINGTON A show-and-tell press event using an armored Humvee as the prop devolved into what amounted to a partisan street fight on Capitol Hill yesterday morning. With smiles on their faces and backslaps still fresh, Rep. Marty Meehan, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Rep. J.D. Hayworth, a Republican from Arizona, excoriated each other over whose party is doing more to protect troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Clearly, funding for armoring Humvees has not been adequate," said Meehan, who infiltrated Hayworth's staged event without invitation and circulated a press release saying it was "outrageous" that the vehicle was in Washington rather...

<p>One year after U.S. troops invaded Iraq, soldiers are coursing through dusty country roads and teeming city streets without adequate armor protection. Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are equipped with roughly 2,300 armored Humvees - only about half as many as commanders say are needed to guard against the roadside bombs that have become the insurgents' deadly weapon of choice.</p>

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, March 12, 2004) – The Army continues to meet its Operation Iraqi Freedom force protection equipment requirements in a timely manner and Congress is helping to do that, the Army’s top leadership recently told some of the nation’s top lawmakers. Acting Secretary of the Army Les Brownlee and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker appeared before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations – Defense to give testimony March 10 on the 2004 Army Posture Statement, the Army’s blueprint of what it wants to accomplish in the coming year with appropriated funds. “Many of...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - On the grounds of Saddam Hussein's former presidential palace, near an ornamental pond and fountain, a few dozen Iraqi workers are engaged in one of the most crucial military undertakings in the country: putting armor on U.S. Army Humvees. Banging, sanding, welding and painting, laborers who earn $6 daily are creating from steel a lifesaving skin for American soldiers traveling in a dangerous country. The workers returned to the U.S. occupation headquarters less than a week after 16 of them were injured and one of their colleagues was killed in a Jan. 18 car bombing in front...

<p>When the 700 men and women of an Alabama National Guard battalion were told last year that they were going to Iraq, they worried about the canvas doors and thin metal floors on their Humvees — and the hazards of duty overseas.</p>

Thursday, January 29, 2004 More new Humvees, armoring kits are making their way to Iraq By Lisa Burgess, Stars and StripesEuropean edition, Thursday, January 29, 2004 ARLINGTON, Va. — With funding secured and contracting processes completed, the Army is starting to move ever-larger quantities of both armoring kits and newly built armored Humvees into Iraq, Army officials said.There are now more than 2,000 up-armored Humvees “in theater” in Southwest Asia, which includes Afghanistan and Iraq, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker told the House Armed Services Committee in testimony on Wednesday.Maj. Gary Tallman, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon,...