Mom questions Army 'betrayal' (friendly fire, not enemy fire)

[Barrett808]

Mom questions Army 'betrayal'
By CHRISTOPHER HEREDIA
San Francisco Chronicle
12-SEP-05

A distraught mother is demanding answers as to why Army officials told her a year ago that her son was killed by enemy fire in Iraq when in truth he died when a machine gun on his own tank misfired.

The Army delivered the updated news about Lt. Kenneth Ballard to Karen Meredith at her home near San Francisco Sept. 9.

"I sincerely apologize to you for the unfortunate series of events that resulted in your not being informed of the investigations regarding the death of your son," Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey wrote in his letter to Meredith, who is still grieving the May 2004 death of her only child.

The Army secretary wrote that the initial casualty report submitted by Ballard's unit erroneously stated that Ballard was killed during a firefight with insurgents. The Army's subsequent investigation determined the cause was the "accidental discharge" of the machine gun on Ballard's tank.

Ballard, 26, was buried Oct. 22 at Arlington National Cemetery.

Meredith, who has been an outspoken critic of the war and President Bush -- joining Cindy Sheehan in her protest last month outside the president's vacation residence in Crawford, Texas -- said she believes incompetence was to blame for the Army misinformation.

"This is stunning, an absolute betrayal," Meredith said, choking back tears. "I'm reliving everything bad about Kenneth's death. It's heartbreaking _ I hadn't realized how much I'd healed. This brought it all back to day one."

(more)

http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=FRIENDLYFIRE-09-12-05

[Moderator]

1. Duplicate topic

From Saturday-

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1770004