When a group of US reserve soldiers in Iraq refused to carry out orders last week, they started a process which has evolved into an emotive campaign issue over how well the Bush administration has equipped American troops for deployment in a combat zone.
The 18 soldiers defied a command to take a fuel convoy across central Iraq, claiming that their vehicles lacked armour and were in poor repair and that the trip was too dangerous.
The US army has launched an investigation that could lead to disciplinary charges, but it has now emerged that the American commander in Iraq 10 months ago complained to the Pentagon that the supply situation was so poor that it threatened troops' ability to fight.
Army Gen Ricardo Sanchez wrote, "I cannot continue to support sustained combat operations" with the low rate of key spare parts for combat material, such as tanks and helicopters.
The situation is "substantially better" now, a US army spokesman told the Washington Post which published the Sanchez letter yesterday.
The 18 soldiers were members of the 343rd Quartermaster Company from South Carolina and have been in Iraq since February.
On Wednesday they refused to make the 150-mile trip with fuel trucks from Tallil Air Base to Taji, north of Baghdad, because they said the vehicles were in poor condition, lacked armour, had no armed escort and the fuel was contaminated and most likely useless.
Senator John Kerry used the evidence of growing military dissatisfaction to step up his attacks on President George Bush for not making adequate plans for post-war Iraq, telling a Florida rally that "the day after Sanchez wrote that letter, the president said our troops were properly equipped". This was "arrogant boasting" and "the truth is beginning to come out and catch up with him", he said.
The defiance of the reserves has been supported by their families in the US who have been speaking out in the broadcast media after getting calls and e-mails about the incident from the part-time soldiers involved.
Mrs Teresa Hill said that her daughter in the unit was a "smart girl" and "I'll stand behind her 100 per cent" if she said the job was too dangerous, and Mr Rick Shealey said his son had volunteered to stay on in Iraq and was a good soldier.
Four in ten US troops in Iraq are drawn from the National Guard and reserves and many are involved in resupply missions which come under frequent attack. The Pentagon said yesterday that it was unlikely any of the soldiers would be charged with mutiny.
General Sanchez, who was ground commander in Iraq for a year until mid-2004, said in his letter that army units were "struggling just to maintain relatively low readiness rates" on key combat systems and he also complained about the delay in strengthening body armour for 36,000 troops.
This month Mr Bush told a rally in New Hampshire: "When America puts our troops in combat, I believe they deserve the best training, the best equipment, the full support of our government."