Slow Mail Gets Troops Down, Report Says

WASHINGTON —  U.S. troop morale in Iraq is suffering because of slow mail deliveries caused by poor training, equipment shortages and bureaucratic inefficiencies, a congressional report said Wednesday.

The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said the Military Postal Service Agency was not doing a good enough job in Iraq, where U.S. troops are facing the highest level of violence since Saddam Hussein was toppled more than a year ago.

In its 38-page report, the GAO said it had surveyed 127 soldiers and found more than half were dissatisfied with their mail delivery, with many waiting up to four weeks to receive a package. In those cases, the Military Postal Service Agency -- operated by the U.S. Postal Service and the Department of Defense -- was unable to keep up with changing deployment information among the troops.

“These soldiers stated that these problems and delays had a negative impact on the morale of deployed troops, as mail was often their only link with family and friends,” the report said.

More than 65 million pounds of letters and parcels were delivered in 2003 to U.S. Central Command, the command center overseeing the war in Iraq.