This is what happens when you send troops into battle without proper training:
Two soldiers killed in Iraq in February may have died as a result of friendly fire, Army officials said Wednesday, not from enemy fire, as the press reported.
The military suspected friendly fire later in February but did not inform the dead soldiers’ families of these new doubts.
One of the soldiers died just hours after arriving in Iraq — and was one of those troops rushed to the country in the “surge” who did not receive full training.
Just as Tony Snow predicted when he said the following gem last month:
Well, but they can get desert training elsewhere, like in Iraq.
Did anyone NOT think that an untrained soldier could would be killed in Iraq due to, at least in part, a lack of proper training? Some desert training that these soldiers got. Please tell me how there is at least not criminal negligence associated with sending untrained troops into Iraq, who are then killed by friendly fire due to the lack of training?
This is just the latest outrage in what has become a daily recurrence of outrages. An 18 year old missed the “most realistic training that the Army has to offer”, his fellow soldiers were concerned that there are troops who go directly from basic training to the genocidal civil war zone (still without proper armor) and then he gets killed by friendly fire:
“The fact some of the brigade’s 4,000 soldiers missed that training raises questions about how well the Army is preparing troops for war in the face of accelerated and repeat deployments.”
Two days before that, the same newspaper reported that “some Iraq veterans in the 1st Brigade have expressed concerns about their younger counterparts missing the mission rehearsal. ‘The training was good but some guys came in after that. They’re basically going straight from basic training into Iraq,’ said Staff Sgt. Jason Massey last month, before saying goodbye to his family for a third combat tour.”
What a waste of a life. What reckless disregard for human life by this administration. What callous disregard for our troops by the Commander in Chief. And what other pattern do you see here?
The Army said it is investigating the deaths of Pvt. Matthew Zeimer, 18, of Glendive, Mont., and Spc. Alan E. McPeek, 20, of Tucson, Ariz., who were killed in Ramadi, in western Iraq on Feb. 2. The families of the soldiers at first were told they were killed by enemy fire.
—snip—
A supplemental report filed Feb. 28 suggested that the initial report might be wrong and an investigation was under way. It took another month before the families of the two soldiers were told, on March 31, that friendly fire was suspected.
Yup – just like Pat Tillman. Just like Jessica Lynch. Make up a story and then when the cover up and lie doesn’t hold, backtrack slowly.
It is long past “enough is enough” time. While Bush can whine and stomp his feet all he wants about the Democrats not supporting the troops with the passage of a $120+ billion bill, it is imperative that a story like this get out.
This is how the Bush administration supports the troops. By sending them into a combat zone without the most basic of desert training. This is what happens when republicans vote against sending troops the proper body armor. This is what happens when chickenhawks dictate the foreign policy.
This is what the Bush administration thinks about our military. This is the value that the Bush administration and those like Senators McCain and Lieberman put on American troops’ lives.
This was all too predictable. Which makes it even more egregious.