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Two American soldiers killed in Iraq in 2004 were shot by Iraqi civil defense officers patrolling with them, military investigators have found.
The deaths of Specialist Patrick McCaffrey Sr. and First Lieutenant Andre Tyson were originally attributed to an ambush during a patrol near Balad, Iraq, on June 22, 2004.
But the Army's Criminal Investigation Command found that one or more of the Iraqis attached to the American soldiers on patrol fired at them, a military official said Tuesday.
A Pentagon spokesman said he knew of no other similar incident, calling it "extremely rare."
The U.S. Army has conducted an extensive investigation into the deaths of the two Californians but declined to provide details out of respect for relatives of the soldiers, a spokesman, Paul Boyce, said Tuesday evening.
It was unclear whether the investigators had established a motive or arrested any suspects.
The families of McCaffrey and Tyson were to be briefed on the report's conclusions by Brigadier General Oscar Hilman, the soldiers' commander at the time, and three other officers.
"When they come I have my list of questions ready, and I want these answers and I don't want lies," McCaffrey's mother, Nadia McCaffrey, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
Soldiers who witnessed the attack have told her that two Iraqi patrolmen opened fire on her son's unit, she said. The witnesses also said that a third gunman had simultaneously driven up to the American unit in a van, climbed onto the vehicle and fired at the Americans, she said.
"Nothing is clear. Nothing is clear," she said. Her son was shot eight times by bullets of various calibers, some of which penetrated his body armor, she said. She believes he bled to death.
Nadia McCaffrey has become a vocal critic of the war in Iraq, and she said her son had had reservations about it, too, though he had served well and had been promoted posthumously to sergeant.
Iraqi forces who had trained with the Americans had fired at them twice before the incident in which McCaffrey was killed, and he had reported it to his superiors, she said.
Boyce said the U.S. military remained confident in its operations with Iraqis. "We continue to have confidence in our operations with Iraqi soldiers and have witnessed the evolution of a stronger fighting army for the Iraqi people," he said.
Tyson's family could not be located, and a message left with his former unit was not immediately returned. McCaffrey, 34, and Tyson, 33, were members of the California National Guard.
The Associated Press
Published: June 21, 2006
The deaths of Specialist Patrick McCaffrey Sr. and First Lieutenant Andre Tyson were originally attributed to an ambush during a patrol near Balad, Iraq, on June 22, 2004.
But the Army's Criminal Investigation Command found that one or more of the Iraqis attached to the American soldiers on patrol fired at them, a military official said Tuesday.
A Pentagon spokesman said he knew of no other similar incident, calling it "extremely rare."
The U.S. Army has conducted an extensive investigation into the deaths of the two Californians but declined to provide details out of respect for relatives of the soldiers, a spokesman, Paul Boyce, said Tuesday evening.
It was unclear whether the investigators had established a motive or arrested any suspects.
The families of McCaffrey and Tyson were to be briefed on the report's conclusions by Brigadier General Oscar Hilman, the soldiers' commander at the time, and three other officers.
"When they come I have my list of questions ready, and I want these answers and I don't want lies," McCaffrey's mother, Nadia McCaffrey, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
Soldiers who witnessed the attack have told her that two Iraqi patrolmen opened fire on her son's unit, she said. The witnesses also said that a third gunman had simultaneously driven up to the American unit in a van, climbed onto the vehicle and fired at the Americans, she said.
"Nothing is clear. Nothing is clear," she said. Her son was shot eight times by bullets of various calibers, some of which penetrated his body armor, she said. She believes he bled to death.
Nadia McCaffrey has become a vocal critic of the war in Iraq, and she said her son had had reservations about it, too, though he had served well and had been promoted posthumously to sergeant.
Iraqi forces who had trained with the Americans had fired at them twice before the incident in which McCaffrey was killed, and he had reported it to his superiors, she said.
Boyce said the U.S. military remained confident in its operations with Iraqis. "We continue to have confidence in our operations with Iraqi soldiers and have witnessed the evolution of a stronger fighting army for the Iraqi people," he said.
Tyson's family could not be located, and a message left with his former unit was not immediately returned. McCaffrey, 34, and Tyson, 33, were members of the California National Guard.
The Associated Press
Published: June 21, 2006