Probe: Friendly fire killed up to 10 Marines

[54anickel]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/8304318.htm

WASHINGTON - The worst "friendly fire" incident of the Iraq war was triggered by a Marine air controller who mistakenly cleared Air Force attack planes to shoot at U.S. positions, killing as many as 10 Marines, officials said Monday.

The incident happened March 23, 2003, on the fourth day of the war, near the city of Nasiriyah in southern Iraq amid a chaotic battle between Marines from Camp Lejeune, N.C., and Iraqi forces in which a total of 18 Marines were killed.

U.S. Central Command, which investigated the matter, said it planned to publicly release its final report after the last of the Marine families involved had been briefed on it Monday. The investigation's findings were first reported Sunday by the Los Angeles Times and the Baltimore Sun.

Officials who spoke on condition of anonymity Monday said the investigators could not determine with complete certainty how many of the 18 Marines were killed by gunfire and missiles launched by the Air Force A-10 aircraft. They said the number was as high as 10. The others were killed by enemy fire; some were hit by friendly as well as enemy fire.

more...

[SpiralHawk]

1. Did our appointed kommander-in-cheef* attend the funerals

of these soldiers?

No. He hasn't been to one yet.

Talk about AWOL.

[indepat]

2. Are those "friendly fire" deaths included in the number of killed-in-

action figures or do they "play like" those deaths are not combat-related?

[Pert_UK]

3. BBC Link

"A total of 18 marines died in the fighting.

The Pentagon's report says eight were definitely killed by enemy fire - but it is impossible to tell whether the others died from enemy or friendly fire. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3581151.stm

[Columbia]

4. Whose responsibility?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3260473.stm

...

But as 1/2's commander Lt Col Rick Grabowski said later, "we still had our mission, to seize those bridges." His tanks were now refuelling, but he was under pressure to press on.

...

With his Bravo company tied up, Grabowski ordered Charlie company to race north to the northern end of 'ambush alley'. They had to take the second bridge, over the Saddam canal. But there were no M1 tanks available to lead the way.

Out in the open, Charlie company marines found themselves under a devastating Iraqi mortar barrage. Casualties mounted quickly. But then they came under attack from their own side - an American A-10, called in to give air support, opened up with its 30mm cannon.

Several marines are thought to have died in this friendly fire, but details of the Pentagon investigation have still not been released.

<more>

_____________

Why was the air controller not aware that there were troops in the area at the time?

Why didn't 1/2 wait for the tanks to finish refueling?

Combine these two articles and questions and therein will lie the answer...

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Remember Jessica Lynch?

Originally it was reported that these soldiers were ambushed by Iraqis during their first attempt to rescue her. However, at the time there was one report that came out that indicated that the ambush might have been a friendly fire incident. Of course, the DOD folks didn't want to admit to that possibility because it didn't fit with the rest of the myth that they were creating about what really went down in Nasiriyah. Besides the ambush story gave Rummie so much ammunition about how evil the Iraqis were and that they were executing POW's and committing war crimes. Now enough people have forgotten what they said and did at the time, that they can start to let bits and pieces of the truth come out.


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/story/72054p-66800c.html

A daring American raid behind enemy lines rescued Army POW Jessica Lynch from the clutches of her Iraqi captors - giving a huge morale boost for the war effort and a glorious day of thanksgiving for her desperate family. But joy was tempered by reports that Pfc. Lynch was found wounded, along with the bodies of two other American soldiers.

<snip>


A previous rescue attempt went badly. A team of Marines who tried to rescue the missing soldiers on the day of the ambush managed to bring back several wounded men, but nine Marines were killed and eight went missing.


http://www.militarycity.com/iraq/1703367.html


Nine Marines were killed in an Iraqi ambush March 23 near the city of An Nasiriyah in southeastern Iraq. Military officials in Qatar said the Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based Marines were riding in an armored vehicle when it was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. Officials said the Marines were attacked after Iraqi forces pretended to surrender.

Other Marines repelled the attack, in which 40 Marines were wounded.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2003/030329-friendlyfire01.htm

Friendly Fire May Have Killed Lejeune Marines

Nine N.C.-based Marines killed Sunday in the battle for Nasiriyah may have been victims of friendly fire, not Iraqis pretending to surrender as originally believed.

<snip>

Officials at the U.S. Central Command in Qatar would say only that friendly fire is an unfortunate reality of war and that they're still looking into the deaths of the nine Marines based at Camp Lejeune in Eastern North Carolina.


On Sunday, Army Lt. Gen. John Abizaid said the Marines were killed during heavy fighting inside the city after a small group of Iraqi solders indicated they wanted to give themselves up. They then fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the Marines' amphibious assault vehicle, according to what witnesses told journalists with the unit.

But a military source told The Washington Post that early indications suggest the nine may have been hit by an A-10 Thunderbolt II plane providing air support, whose pilot mistook them for Iraqi fighters.