Army Kept Truth of GI's Death From Family

[rpannier]

This was posted on the rather conservative military.com.

Army Kept Truth of GI's Death From Family

WASHINGTON - The Army said Saturday it knew for more than a year after 1st Lt. Kenneth Ballard's death in Iraq in May 2004 that he was not killed in action, as it initially reported. The family was not told the truth until Friday.

Ballard's mother, Karen Meredith, of Mountain View, Calif., said in a telephone interview that she is angry and will press for a full explanation. She is a public critic of the war and has attended anti-war protests in Crawford, Texas, outside President Bush's ranch, with grieving mother and peace activist Cindy Sheehan.

Meredith said she blames the Army's error on official incompetence, not an intent to cover up the truth.

THe whole article is found at

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,76880,00.html?ESRC=army-a.nl

[tabasco]

1. The Pentagon has pretty much lost all credibility under Bush.

This military person and all the ones I have talked to recently are pretty pissed off right now.

I am disgusted at the amount of damage Bu$h has done so quickly.

[Alcibiades]

2. The gun that fires itself!

"The Army disclosed on Saturday that Ballard, 26, actually died of wounds from the accidental discharge of a M240 machine gun on his tank after his platoon had returned from battling insurgents in Najaf."

"The tank accidentally backed into a tree and a branch hit the mounted, unmanned machine gun, causing it to fire, Curtin said. Ballard was struck at close range and died of his wounds, he added."

Now that's a freak accident. Could it be that they still are not telling the truth, that the M-240, a fairly new weapon, is somehow flawed in such a way that it is prone to fire on its own?

Seems unlikely, but then it also seems unlikely that anybody would leave the safety off on such a weapon.