LAST TIME SAME AREA !!!
Probe Into Murders of 3 GIs in Iraq Faults Commanding Officers
http://www.foxnews.com/index.html
WASHINGTON — Three U.S. soldiers slaughtered in a grisly kidnapping-murder plot south of Baghdad last June were not properly protected during a mission that was not well planned or executed, a military investigation has concluded.
Two military officers have been relieved of their commands as a result of the litany of mistakes, but neither faced criminal charges, a military official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
A report on the investigation said the platoon leader and company commander — whose names were not released — failed to provide proper supervision to the unit or enforce military standards.
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STUCK ON STOOOPID !!!
Three 101st Airborne Division soldiers were killed in the June 16, 2006, attack. Spc. David J. Babineau, of Springfield, Mass., was found dead at the scene, and two others — Pfc. Kristian Menchaca of Houston and Pfc. Thomas Tucker of Madras, Ore. — were abducted. Their mutilated bodies were found three days later, tied together and booby-trapped with bombs.
Details of the attack and what led up to it came as thousands of U.S. and Iraqi forces were scouring the same area near Youssifiyah, in what is called the Triangle of Death, for three soldiers believed to have been abducted Saturday by an Al Qaeda-related group.
According to the investigation of last June’s attack, Tucker, Menchaca and Babineau were ordered to guard a mobile bridge over a canal in order to prevent insurgents from planting mines. Other members of their platoon, who were at two locations up to three-quarters of a mile (about a kilometer) away, heard small arms fire at 7:49 p.m. When they arrived at the checkpoint about 25 minutes later, Babineau was dead and the others were gone.
Daugherty said the soldiers had been told to stand guard for up to 36 hours with just one Humvee, and there were no barriers on the road to slow access to them or provide early warning.
To expect them to operate an observation post for 24 to 36 hours was unrealistic, he said. “From the time a vehicle was seen, it would have been in front or beside the (Humvee) in a matter of seconds,” he wrote.
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