BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 4, 2007
Friendly Fire Probed In U.S. Troop Deaths
Families Of 2 Soldiers Were Initially Told They Were Killed By Enemy Fire In Iraq
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Iraqi Army soldiers walk past a man painting the Iraqi national flag on the wall of a bridge, as they patrol an area in central Baghdad on April 4, 2007. (AFP Photo)
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The Army said it is investigating the deaths of Pvt. Matthew Zeimer, 18, of Glendive, Mont., and Spc. Alan E. McPeek, 20, of Tucson, Ariz., who were killed in Ramadi, in western Iraq, on Feb. 2. The families of the two soldiers were initially told they were killed by enemy fire.
According to Army Col. Daniel Baggio, unit commanders in Iraq did not at first suspect they were killed by U.S. forces, but an investigation by the unit concluded that may be the case.
A supplemental report filed Feb. 28 suggested that the initial reports might have been wrong but that an investigation was still under way, he said. According to the Army, the unit did not include friendly fire in that report "because they were reluctant to make the claim until the unit-level investigation was complete."
It took another month before the families of the two soldiers were told, on March 31, that friendly fire was suspected.
Rose Doyle, McPeek's mother, declined to discuss the latest development. "I don't feel comfortable talking," she said. "Whatever I say isn't going to bring my son back."
Meanwhile, six power plant workers were gunned down in northern Iraq on Wednesday, while heavily armed gunmen abducted 22 Shiite shepherds who were tending thousands of sheep and had wandered into a dangerous Sunni area west of Baghdad.
The attacks reflected the spread of sectarian violence outside Baghdad as violence declines in the capital, where a U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown is in its eighth week.
The shepherds had traveled from the Shiite holy city of Karbala to a greener stretch of land in the vast area around Amariyah, some 25 miles west of Baghdad in the Sunni-dominated Anbar province, Karbala police spokesman Rahman Mishawi said.
A shepherd who escaped the attack said about 20 men with automatic rifles drove up in vehicles and opened fire on the group as their several thousand sheep were grazing.
"I suddenly realized that we must be near Amariyah and that Sunnis were attacking us," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. "Six of us were able to flee in our pickup, but unfortunately they kidnapped 22 friends of mine and stole our sheep."
In other developments:
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Add a Comment See all 38 Comments
- RandalDS, your a tired liberal whos life has ammounted to nothing and you blame everyone else for your own demise. All of your postings reflect your hatred for those who have succeeded in life and achievements you will never see.
Suggestion: Throw your medals over the WH fence and run for congress along with your friend bluestardad.
Posted by hillaryin08 at 06:16 AM : Apr 05, 2007
Aw Lawdy! Ya found me out! Oh my life is SUCH a failure! Oh plese won't you an' singingrick please save po' ole me! Oh lawdy I can't stand my life! So many people has mo' money den I! Oh please save ole me! Please! - Reply to this comment
- But the arms industry has won with it every time.
Richard Perle enjoys his Swiss account from Ratheon, Grummans, Boeing...err I mean Jupiter.
Posted by zootallures2 at 08:17 AM : Apr 05, 2007
Just as the merchants were the big winners in the California gold rush, not the prospectors, arms merchants (and now, service providers like Haliburton) always win regardless of the military outcome.... - Reply to this comment
- No matter who got shot or who shot who, someone needs to buy more bullets.
Take the amazing Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm company. After supplying Nazi Germany, they supplied of all things... Israel. - Reply to this comment
- But the neocons think that somehow, for them, this proven loser of a strategy will be a winner.
Posted by formrusmcsgt at 08:06 AM : Apr 05, 2007
But the arms industry has won with it every time.
Richard Perle enjoys his Swiss account from Ratheon, Grummans, Boeing...err I mean Jupiter. - Reply to this comment
- Apparently the neocons, as a result of their inherent arrogance, believe that they can defy history.
Colombia and the Philipines have failed with this strategy for 40 years, as I said.
Guatemala failed with it for 36 years.
We failed with it in Viet Nam for 12 years.
The USSR failed with it for 12 years in Afghanistan.
The Germans, with their multitude of forces, never stopped the French resistance, either.
But the neocons think that somehow, for them, this proven loser of a strategy will be a winner. - Reply to this comment
- What we need to do is tell Jupiter to tell Mars to knock this sh*t off and it's over.
- Reply to this comment
- Let me Clue you. With the Pat Tillman Friendly Fire incident, one third to one fourth of the Rangers deployed are not Black Tab School Trained Rangers, they are infantry men that are ran thru an abbreviated three week Pre-Ranger Course and assigned to a Ranger Unit. Therefore they are short changed in training, cannot wear the Black and Gold of a Ranger but are expected to and do go into combat and perform as a Ranger do in a Ranger Unit. This abbreviated training practice fills the ranks of the Ranger Units for deployment and looks good on paper but is short changing, the soldiers on their training, the Unit readiness they are assigned to, and is a detriment to the operations they are assigned, and degrades the overall readiness of the Ranger Unit as a whole. If you look at these Ranger Units and even the Pat Tillman incident you will find out just how many soldiers were serving in the Ranger units that are not Fully School Trained Rangers, this Training short cut could have contributed to Pat Tillman%u2019s death and other Friendly fire accidents. I recommend that all of the Pre-Ranger soldiers over the last 5 years be immediately sent as a priority back thru the entire Full Black and Gold Full Ranger Course to become fully Ranger Qualified. It is the only honorable thing to do for them and is the best course of Action for the Military!
- Reply to this comment
- The neocons, in their steadfast insistance that we "stay until we win", don't realize that there will be generation after generation asked to do the impossible if we follow their insanity.
Posted by formrusmcsgt at 07:52 AM : Apr 05, 2007
Richard Perle is Mars. You can't argue with the God of war when he has issued his command. - Reply to this comment
- The attacks reflected the spread of sectarian violence outside Baghdad as violence declines in the capital, where a U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown is in its eighth week.
As predicted, more of the "squeeze the balloon effect" that occurs when regular forces engage guerillas. You squeeze here, and it expands there.
After four full years of the demonstrated failure of this strategy, I am amazed that there are those who refuse to recognize that this will be the result as long as we are there.
The neocons, in their steadfast insistance that we "stay until we win", don't realize that there will be generation after generation asked to do the impossible if we follow their insanity.
Colombia and the Phillipines have been failing with this same strategy for forty years now, and guess what? They are no closer to defeating their guerillas than they were when they started 40 years ago. - Reply to this comment
- AIPAC... American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Notice that it's not IAPAC. So we can see who comes first. - Reply to this comment
- George Bush is getting the illegal propaganda money to neo-con talk show hosts to see if he can recuit sheep in the war on terror.
Bill O'Reilly is learning to do his talking points in Baa Baa to stir up the heard. - Reply to this comment
1000's of sheep kidnapped ...
How low will they go???
How cruel can they get???
Has humanity reached a new low???
Save the sheep ...
Pay the ransom ... pay the ransom ...- Reply to this comment
- TRUTH AND FACTS ARE HARD TO SWALLOW! If you cant get them down try using them as a suppository!
Our government has diverted funds from Afghanistan and the hunt for bin laden to Iraq that did not attack us on 911 and are funding Sunni Al Qaeda in Lebanon to counter Shiite Hamas against Israel. While cutting programs that support the troops in the United States and Veterans affairs realms. American School Kids are having bake sales to get band uniforms while America sends millions of dollars to Israel and Arab states that are fighting each other.
Follow the money trail you will find that most of those elected officials who support the war in Iraq are under the influence of AIPAC.
http://www.aipac.org/forms/join_aipacClubs.htm
Bush administration said Nancy Pelosi is undermining the situation in Lebanon what a hypocrite!
Now here is the real kicker! President Bush is funding Al Qaeda in Lebanon with funds from Iraq! This is Impeachment and Treason! Here is the proof Read it!
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/070305fa_fact_hersh
If you think Americas sacrifice is worth it contact your ELECTED OFFICIAL and tell them http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
Speakers email address: AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov
info@gop.com
Republican Party email
democraticparty@democrats.org
Democratic Party email - Reply to this comment
- Seeing what US and A is doing in Iraq, with this divide into never ending war, I would think other nations would catch on.
Seeing that US and A are such Jew haters, if I were priminister of Israel, I would buy arms from Russia and ship all the poor poor Palestinians to America. It would fix their poverty and sewage problems. If the Arabs need another country, why not Michigan. They can rename it to Italy and call themselves Italians seeing that they like Roman names. I would cut a deal with Russia to create a mess in America by smuggling arms to the new Italians to terrorize neighboring states. The Mossad would run covert operations to to stir up trouble and make it look like Canada did it. Once the Canadian/American war was going, Canada would support the Italians and it would all run on it's own! - Reply to this comment
- Al Qeada, Syria, and Iran are over there stirring up religious and ethnic hatred, and we fight amongst our selves and point fingers because, truthfully, we would rather not take action and cure the cause.
America has become the home not of the free, but of the wealthy and privliged. Not of the Brave, but of the selfish.
America that our forefathers created is gone, it no longer exists. It was destroyed by courts who became legislators, and politicians who fought over power, and manipulated the Constitution that once protected the masses to be a tool to enslave them. Politicians who have no idea what they should be doing because of thier solicitations of and by wealthy business interests, and not for the People. - Reply to this comment
- RandalDS, your a tired liberal whos life has ammounted to nothing and you blame everyone else for your own demise. All of your postings reflect your hatred for those who have succeeded in life and achievements you will never see.
Suggestion: Throw your medals over the WH fence and run for congress along with your friend bluestardad. - Reply to this comment
- I am so dissapointed with John McCain. He has been given a lot of slack because he is a genuine war hero but his lack of good judgment has really upset me. Mike Ware of CNN has lived on and off in Iraq for over five years. His response to McCain's assertion that parts of Bagdad were safe to westerners was disbelief. He states that if any westerner, particularly American, were to go outside the Green Zone without adequate security, he would not survive. If McCain honestly believed what he said, he would have foregone the heavy security he had while in Iraq and disgarded the armour vest.
- Reply to this comment
- End the American Occupation of Iraq
American casualties always matter, regardless of your point of view on Iraq. But the public debate about the cost vs. benefit of Iraq has strayed from a fundamental truth that GOP Bush boosters are more than happy to ignore-- America has no justification whatsoever for invading or occupying Iraq.
The original invasion on a pack of Bush lies continues bereft of even a figleak of a moral basis. A whimsical Bush "Sorry 'bout that!" just won't cut it. Nor will a Gonzales-style, "Mistakes were made." With no basis for invading and no justificaton for staying, the only honorable thing for America to do is withdraw.
But remaining week after week in Iraq without a shred of a rationale for the American presence makes the casualty rate all the more difficult to bear. This does not mention the horrendous cost of the war from day to day-- so far totaling $413.3 billion.
(see " End the American Occupation of Iraq-- 2") - Reply to this comment
- End the American Occupation of Iraq-- 2
Few realize Bush, himself, planned on troop withdrawal after the 2003 invasion. Bush correctly recognized the world community expected a full American military withdrawal. After removing Saddam and declaring the theater clear of WMDs-- according to Bush's own argument justifying the war-- there was no plausible defense for staying.
But oil interests figured otherwise. After some fateful decisions by Paul Bremer and others launched the American occupation, it was clear powers-that-be had argued for invasion on one basis, but occupation of Iraq on quite another.
Today, the US builds some ten new military superbases in Iraq, and their purpose is to guarantee continued occupation of Iraq. The occupation, itself, has nnothing to do with Iraqis "standing up" but with American designs on Iraq as a huge oil asset for the future and a military force-projection launchpad for the region. - Reply to this comment
- The next statistic the Repubics come up with will be:
Under Clinton there were 123,000 farts, under Bush, 102,000 so their conclusion will be that the military under Clinton has produced more methane and therefore are responsible for the hole in the atmosphere. Or the classic, "if he would have kept his bird inside his pants". hahaha they get funnier by the day, and while karl rove enjoys rap music and dancing, our guys die everyday under different reasons, and the relatives get lied to. - Reply to this comment
