LONDON, March 16 (UPI) -- A British all-party report has slammed the government for sending troops into battle in Iraq with insufficient supplies and protection, The Sun reported.
The Defense Select Committee report said soldiers went into action with too few machine guns, chemical warfare protection suits, camouflage fatigues, night vision goggles and grenade launchers.
Some soldiers were given only five bullets on arrival, where the normal issue is 750, the report said.
The hastiness could have had serious consequences, the members of parliament wrote.
"A more capable enemy could have exposed serious weaknesses in the preparedness and resilience of (British) forces," they wrote.
Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon has repeatedly denied soldiers were ill-equipped.
While the report praised the military's overall performance, it claimed military preparations were affected by the government's political desire to show it had not already made up its mind to go to war.
