Breaking News: 2 US Soldiers Murdered by Iraqi Troops

[Jerome Baker]

SAN FRANCISCO - Two California soldiers shot to death in
Iraq were murdered by Iraqi civil-defense officers patrolling with them, military investigators have found.

The deaths of Army Spc. Patrick R. McCaffrey Sr. and 1st Lt. Andre D. Tyson were originally attributed to an ambush during a patrol near Balad, Iraq, on June 22, 2004.

But the Army's Criminal Investigation Command found that one or more of the Iraqis attached to the American soldiers on patrol fired at them, a military official said Tuesday.

A
Pentagon spokesman knew of no other similar incident, calling it "extremely rare."

The Army has conducted an extensive investigation into the deaths but declined to provide details out of respect for relatives of the soldiers, spokesman Paul Boyce said Tuesday evening.

It was unclear whether the investigators had established a motive or arrested any suspects.

The families of McCaffrey and Tyson were to be briefed on the report's conclusions Tuesday and Wednesday by Brig. Gen. Oscar Hilman, the soldiers' commander at the time, and three other officers.

"When they come I have my list of questions ready, and I want these answers and I don't want lies," McCaffrey's mother, Nadia McCaffrey, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Soldiers who witnessed the attack have told her that two Iraqi patrolmen opened fire on her son's unit. The witnesses also said a third gunman simultaneously drove up to the American unit in a van, climbed onto the vehicle and fired at the Americans, she said.

"Nothing is clear. Nothing is clear," she said. Her son was shot eight times by bullets of various calibers, some of which penetrated his body armor, she said. She believes he bled to death.

Nadia McCaffrey has become a vocal critic of the war in Iraq, and said her son had reservations about it, too, though he served well and was promoted posthumously to sergeant.

"I really want this story to come out; I want people to know what happened to my son," she said. "There is no doubt to me that this (ambushes by attached Iraqi units) is still happening to soldiers today, but our chain of command is awfully reckless; they don't seem to give a damn about what's happening to soldiers."

Iraqi forces who had trained with the Americans had fired at them twice before the incident that killed Patrick McCaffrey, and he had reported it to his superiors, she said.

Boyce said the U.S. military remained confident in its operations with Iraqis.

"We continue to have confidence in our operations with Iraqi soldiers and have witnessed the evolution of a stronger fighting army for the Iraqi people," he said.

"The Army is committed to investigating each battlefield death and providing accurate information to families."

Patrick McCaffrey joined the National Guard the day after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, his mother said.

Tyson's family could not be located, and a message left with his former unit was not immediately returned.

McCaffrey, 34, and Tyson, 33, were members of the California National Guard. Both were assigned to the Army National Guard's 579th Engineer Battalion, based in Petaluma.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., pressed the Pentagon for answers about the case when Nadia McCaffrey was unsatisfied by explanations from the military.

"Mrs. McCaffrey is set to receive a briefing from Pentagon officials (Wednesday) afternoon in California, during which we hope they will provide her with a full report of the facts surrounding Sgt. McCaffrey's death," said Natalie Ravitz, a Boxer spokeswoman.

http://news.yahoo.com/i/718;_ylt=Aqx...lsBHNlYwN0bg--

Hmm... A little not-so-passive aggression towards the 'invaders' from the locals... Not cool...

[HomeCheese]

Oh my, this is sad.

[Nietzsche13]

"Iraqi forces who had trained with the Americans had fired at them twice before the incident that killed Patrick McCaffrey, and he had reported it to his superiors"

That part fucking pisses me off.

[B. Goetz 6]

It's not really breaking news if it happened 2 years ago.

There have been other indications that the Iraqi Police and army have been infiltrated by insurgents, like forming execution squads or killing each other.

[Robert D]

Originally Posted by B. Goetz 6

It's not really breaking news if it happened 2 years ago.

There have been other indications that the Iraqi Police and army have been infiltrated by insurgents, like forming execution squads or killing each other.

Insurgents are people's from another country surging into Iraq to fight the war.

These are Iraqi's who dont like Americans.....They are not all grateful that you "liberated" them.

[Mr.Totality]

didnt see this coming (sense the sarcasm)

[B. Goetz 6]

Originally Posted by Superstyler

Insurgents are people's from another country surging into Iraq to fight the war.

These are Iraqi's who dont like Americans.....They are not all grateful that you "liberated" them.

None of the dictionary definitions of 'insurgent' indicate that they are necessarily foreign fighters.

I'm Canadian, so I'm not responsible for the Iraq war. Didn't you Brits help "liberate" them?

[stevus]

Originally Posted by Nietzsche13

"Iraqi forces who had trained with the Americans had fired at them twice before the incident that killed Patrick McCaffrey, and he had reported it to his superiors"

That part fucking pisses me off.

Yet another F-ing military cover-up uncovered. How many cover-ups did the military get away with? How many more military cover-ups can we expect?

This incident is evidence that as soon as the Americans leave Iraq, whether it's 2006 or 3006, the Iraqi police are gonna betray the americans, launch a military coup, and start killing everything. Things will be much worse than when Saddam was in charge. So why wait until 3006, let's cut our losses and run... yes, cut and run.

[Jor-EL]

Originally Posted by stevus

Yet another F-ing military cover-up uncovered. How many cover-ups did the military get away with? How many more military cover-ups can we expect?

This incident is evidence that as soon as the Americans leave Iraq, whether it's 2006 or 3006, the Iraqi police are gonna betray the americans, launch a military coup, and start killing everything. Things will be much worse than when Saddam was in charge. So why wait until 3006, let's cut our losses and run... yes, cut and run.

So if it's inevitable, what the fuck is the point of sticking around?

[stevus]

Originally Posted by Jor-EL

So if it's inevitable, what the fuck is the point of sticking around?

exactly.