What exactly the FUCK is going on in Iraq

[FORD]

Military probing whether unit in Iraq refused dangerous mission

By Rebecca Yonker, Associated Press, 10/16/2004 17:13

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) The grandfather of an Army Reserve soldier whose platoon refused to deliver supplies in Iraq said his grandson told him Saturday that he and other soldiers had been detained by military authorities but were later released.

Meanwhile, military officials said commanders reassigned five members of the unit.

Some in the platoon had told relatives they refused to deliver tainted helicopter fuel in poorly maintained vehicles by traveling a dangerous supply route without an armed escort.

The Army is investigating up to 19 members of the platoon, which is part of the 343rd Quartermaster Company based in Rock Hill, S.C. The unit delivers food, water and fuel on trucks in combat zones. A criminal inquiry was expected.

Harold Casey said his grandson, Justin Rogers, 22, called him Saturday to tell him that he and other soldiers were put under armed guard after refusing to deliver the supplies.

''The fuel was contaminated for the helicopters,'' Casey said his grandson told him. ''It would have caused them to crash. ... They saved lives.''

Maj. Richard W. Spiegel, spokesman for the 13th Corps Support Command & Logistic Support Area Anaconda in Balad, Iraq, denied that the soldiers were detained. He said the soldiers were simply told to remain in the unit's area until an investigating officer contacted them.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said he filed a congressional inquiry on Friday and was told by a military liaison that the soldiers were detained but not arrested. The unit has at least two members from Mississippi.

Casey said his grandson told him that some of the soldiers already had been reduced in rank.

He said Rogers' rank had been reduced from sergeant to specialist and that he and another soldier, Sgt. Larry McCook, were being transferred to the Alabama-based 2101 Transportation Company.

McCook's wife, Patricia McCook, said her husband called Friday and said the soldiers had been released after being detained. She said McCook told her the five members were reassigned because ''they said these five really instigated the entire process.''

A coalition spokesman in Baghdad said ''a small number of the soldiers involved chose to express their concerns in an inappropriate manner, causing a temporary breakdown in discipline.''

Military officials said the commanding general of the 13th Corps Support Command, Brig. Gen. James E. Chambers, had appointed his deputy, Col. Darrell Roll, to investigate and a team under Roll's command was questioning soldiers about the incident.

On Wednesday, 19 members of the platoon did not show up for a scheduled 7 a.m. meeting in Tallil, in southeastern Iraq, to prepare for the fuel convoy's departure a few hours later, a military statement said.

The mission was carried out by other soldiers from the 343rd, which has at least 120 soldiers, the military said.

A commanding general has since ordered the 343rd to undergo a ''safety-maintenance stand down,'' during which it will conduct no further missions as the unit's vehicles are inspected, the military said.

The platoon has troops from Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina, Mississippi and South Carolina.

[FORD]

Army helicopters crash in Baghdad, killing two U.S. soldiers as violence flares at start of Ramadan

By Tini Tran, Associated Press, 10/16/2004 18:06

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) Two Army helicopters crashed late Saturday in Baghdad, killing two American soldiers and wounding two others, the U.S. command said. Explosions hit five churches in the capital as violence flared while Iraqi Muslims began marking the holy month of Ramadan.

Also Saturday, the U.S. command said four more American troops and an Iraqi interpreter were killed the day before by car bombs in the west and north of the country.

U.S. jets struck again in the rebel stronghold of Fallujah, blasting what the American command said was a checkpoint operated by the feared Tawhid and Jihad terror movement of Jordanian-born extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Three people were killed, according to the Fallujah hospital.

The military action came despite an offer by community leaders in Fallujah to resume peace talks with the government if U.S. forces stop their attacks on the city and free their chief negotiator.

Fallujah hospital officials also said U.S. artillery shells fell on a house in Halabsa village, 10 miles southwest of the city, on Saturday killing a 3-year-old girl and injuring four family members.

Mortar shells exploded Saturday near Ibn al-Betar hospital, killing one employee and wounding three others, and in the parking lot of the Mansour Hotel, which houses the Chinese embassy and is home to foreign diplomats and journalists. No one was killed in the hotel attack.

The Army helicopters went down about 8:30 p.m. in southwestern Baghdad, the 1st Cavalry Division said. The division said the cause of the crashes had not been determined.

The U.S. military has lost at least 27 helicopters in Iraq since May 2003, many of them to hostile fire, according to figures compiled by the Brookings Institution.

Homemade bombs exploded in quick succession before dawn at the five churches in four separate Baghdad neighborhoods, causing no casualties but further alarming the Christian minority community already on edge over the perceived rise of Islamic militancy following last year's ouster of Saddam Hussein.

In August, coordinated attacks hit four churches in Baghdad and one in Mosul, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens more in the first significant strike against Iraq's estimated 800,000 Christians since the U.S. invasion began last year.

''It is a criminal act to make Iraq unstable and to create religious difficulties,'' the Rev. Zaya Yousef of St. George's Church said of the latest attacks. ''But this will not happen because we all live together like brothers in this country through sadness and happiness.''

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which were condemned by the Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni clerical group believed to have ties to some insurgents.

''Islam doesn't support the ongoing terrorism,'' Sheik Abdul Sattar Abdul-Jabbar of the association said.

Three U.S. troops two soldiers and one Marine were killed Friday when a car bomb exploded near Qaim, an insurgent hotspot along the Syrian border, the U.S. command said. An Iraqi interpreter was also killed.

A fourth soldier, assigned to Task Force Olympia, died of injuries suffered Friday during a car bombing in the northern city of Mosul, 225 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. command said Saturday.

U.S. commanders have warned of a possible increase in rebel attacks during Ramadan, when insurgent activity surged last year. Ramadan, the month of fasting and prayer, is marked by greater religious fervor, and some extremists believe they win a special place in paradise if they die fighting non-Muslims during the holy month.

In hopes of preventing rebel attacks, U.S. troops have stepped up military operations in Sunni areas north and west of the capital. The operations included two days of air and ground attacks Thursday and Friday against the main rebel bastion Fallujah.

Fallujah talks broke down Thursday because of what the clerics said was the government's ''impossible condition'' handing over al-Zarqawi and other members of his movement, responsible for numerous car-bombings and the beheading of American and other foreign hostages. The clerics said al-Zarqawi was not in the city, a claim that U.S. and Iraqi authorities dispute.

Fallujah clerics said Saturday they were ready to resume peace talks with the government if the Americans suspended attacks and released the city's chief negotiator, Sheik Khaled al-Jumeili, who was arrested Friday.

The government had no response to the clerics' offer, and military operations continued. The U.S. command said in a statement that al-Zarqawi's followers were ''operating this illegal checkpoint'' to ''disrupt traffic, intimidate and harass local citizens, and interrogate and detain local civilians.''

''The checkpoint consisted of complex barriers and was considered key to the al-Zarqawi network's ability to control movement into and out of the city,'' the military said.

U.S. Marines also tightened their security cordon around Fallujah, establishing checkpoints to keep suspected terrorists from fleeing the area, about 40 miles west of Baghdad.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military extended the deadline from Friday to Sunday for Shiite militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to turn in their weapons for cash in the Baghdad district of Sadr City.

Once the handover is complete, the U.S. military will verify that no major weapons caches remain and Iraqi forces will assume responsibility for security in Sadr City. The Americans hope the deal will enable them to focus on the more dangerous Sunni Muslim insurgency.

[lucky wilbury]

dupe thread

[FORD]

Anybody see the connection between the two stories???

Looks like the CONTAMINATED FUEL got delivered anyway, and 2 needless deaths was the result. Of course every death in Iraq has been needless, but it's the ones like these that could be so easily prevented. As far as I'm concerned those troops who refused to deliver the bad fuel should be commended, and who ever ordered the delivery to go through should be court martialed.

[FORD]

Originally posted by lucky wilbury
dupe thread

Not really.... this thread is about what came after the alleged "mutiny" more than the act itself.

[lucky wilbury]

they changed their story. first it was they don't have the armour then its over fuel. now the heli crashes could be anything from hitting power lines to kicking up too much sand or clipping each other with their rotors. power lines are extremely hard to see during the day and almost impossible at night

[FORD]

Here's how one veteran reacted to the story over at DU

Mortos
7. Warning: Bad Language Ahead



I am so sick of this fucking administration fucking our troops while they smugly accuse anyone against their bullshit of being unpatriotic. I want to see some of these motherfuckers in prison. These lying cocksuckers are destroying the military I once served proudly in. I still have friends serving and they are being totally screwed by these dirty cowardly chickenhawk pieces of shit.

My brother in law is a helicopter pilot in the navy and if he dies because some asshole not only allows, but demands that contaminated fuel be delivered after he has been warned that it will make them crash, I will feel the need for some serious retribution.

Fuck I am pissed.

Couldn't have said it any better myself

[Big Train]

A. Dupe Thread for sure

B. We don't know what exactly is going on and this second and third hand hearsay, plus the revolving testimony of the defendants are all there are to go on right now.

Either way, they didn't help their fellow solider...to the brig, period.

[jcook11]

One story might have been made up by CBS

[ODShowtime]

While it's not fact yet, you have made an impressive connection Ford. Good God I hope you're wrong.

[Jesus Christ]

If Caesar does not care for his army, how then does he expect to keep his empire?

[FORD]

I honestly hope I'm wrong too, but it's one HELL of a coincidence. (uh, sorry Lord )

And CBS had nothing to do with the story....at least not yet. But this is the type of thing that screams for a good old fashioned 60 Minutes investigation, so that might change.

[Longdongsilver]

Hey ford, if you don't like our great president then simply don't vote for him. Your like the jehova witness trying to force your opinion on others. Fact of the matter is Bush is going to win in one of the biggest margins in history. He is the better man and the only choice. Jon kerry is boring and weird much like yourself.

[FORD]

Wow, an alias using AOL telling me what to do..... Now my day is truly complete

Junior cannot win an honest election, it is not mathematically possible. And the American people will not stand for another 4 years of this shit, especially from an unelected pResident. If they try to steal the election again, things are going to get really ugly really fast.

[diamondD]

Yep, I bet you have to close at least a dozen celebration threads Nov 3.