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Parents of soldier who was killed in Iraq were informed by members of his son's company that insurgents
were offering Iraqi soldiers about $100 for each American they could
kill. "Iraqi troops are turning on their American counterparts," Bob
said. "That puts a knock in the spin that the White House is trying to
put on this story — how the Iraqis are being well trained and are
getting ready to take over."
original
Friendly Fire Ambush
By MARJORIE
COHN
Sergeant
Patrick R. McCaffrey, Sr. and First Lieutenant Andre D. Tyson died
on this day two years ago in Balad, Iraq. Back then, military officials
reported that enemy insurgents ambushed them. The Army subsequently
conducted an investigation and learned the men were targeted and
killed by Iraqi troops they were training.
Although the Army completed its investigation on September 30, 2005,
it failed to clarify the initial notification to the families for
nine months. It took a May 22 letter from Senator Barbara Boxer's
office to force the Army to finally come clean.
A month before he died, Patrick told his father that Iraqi forces
they were training had attacked his unit. When he filed a complaint
with his chain of command, Patrick "was told to keep his mouth
shut," his mother said.
After Patrick died, his parents conducted their own investigations.
The Army denied requests to see autopsy reports. The McCaffreys
persisted. They talked to soldiers in their son’s unit and
managed to learn what really happened.
Bob McCaffrey was informed by members of his son's company that
insurgents were offering Iraqi soldiers about $100 for each American
they could kill. "Iraqi troops are turning on their American
counterparts," Bob said. "That puts a knock in the spin
that the White House is trying to put on this story — how
the Iraqis are being well trained and are getting ready to take
over."
Nadia McCaffrey learned that after her son was shot, a US truck
arrived. It picked up Lt. Tyson, who was dead, but did not take
her son who was still alive. The truck returned later and took him
to the base, where he bled to death.
Yesterday, Brig. Gen. Oscar Hilman and three other officers visited
Patrick's mother to deliver the official report. "It was overwhelming,"
Nadia told me. I had to live through the whole thing again."
The officers "tried to patronize me as a good Mom," she
added. "I said I won't stand for that. I want the truth!"
When Nadia talked to Army officers yesterday she asked them, "How
could you possibly let this happen"? They sat silent.
An Army official cited the "complexity" of the case as
an excuse for the delay in telling the families how their sons really
died, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"They never tell the family the truth," said Ophelia Tyson,
grandmother of Andre Tyson. "You know how politics is."
"I really want this story to come out; I want people to know
what happened to my son," Nadia said. "There is no doubt
to me that this 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."
The father of two children, Patrick joined the National Guard the
day after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. He was the first combat death
in the 58 year history of California's 579 Engineer Battalion, based
in Petaluma, Ca. Patrick was listed as "Casualty number 848."
That was 1652 deaths ago.
"He was killed by the Iraqis that he was training," Nadia
said. "People in this country need to know that."
"It's god-awful," said Bob, himself an Army veteran. "It
underlies the lie of this whole situation in Iraq. It's all to me
a pack of lies."
Boxer noted, "You have to ask yourself, 'What are we doing
there with a blank check and a blind eye, when our soldiers are
risking their lives for the Iraqi people and the Iraqis are turning
around and killing our soldiers?' We need an exit strategy."
Marjorie Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson
School of Law and president-elect of the National Lawyers Guild.
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