May our Ukiah Hero RIP and may God give comfort to his family and love ones.
All gave some! Some gave All!
Posted on 06/21/2006 10:03:01 AM PDT by TexKat
YUSUFIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - Two slain U.S. soldiers who went missing south of Baghdad were ambushed by as many as 30 insurgents who closed in on them in vehicles and opened fire, according to people who said on Wednesday they were witnesses.
It was not possible to independently verify their accounts. The U.S. military has yet to explain how the soldiers may have been isolated in what Iraqis call "The Triangle of Death" for its frequent insurgent attacks.
But two Iraqis who said they were witnesses gave similar accounts of the moments when Privates First Class Thomas Lowell Tucker, 25, and Kristian Menchaca, 23, went missing in the al Qaeda stronghold of Yusufiya, south of Baghdad, on Friday.
They said the two soldiers and a driver fell back a few hundred metres behind two other military vehicles when they came under attack at dusk.
"There was one vehicle in the back of the convoy. It was very dusty. Suddenly these gunmen in Land Cruisers and Toyotas and other cars started firing at the soldiers," recalled farmer Omar Abdullah, 49, who said he was some 200 metres (yards) away.
"A lot of dust was kicked up by the cars so the soldiers in the other cars probably could not see. The gunmen killed the driver. Eventually the other two soldiers were totally outnumbered and they were taken away."
He said about 30 gunmen, some wearing ski masks and baggy black pants and others in white and red checkered headdresses, mounted the ambush.
Chief U.S. military spokesman Major General William Caldwell said there was reason to believe two bodies found in the Yusufiya area on Monday night were those of Tucker and Menchaca.
Muhammad Abu Hillal, a soft drinks vendor who also said he was in the area, said a woman was killed in an exchange of fire between the insurgents and the soldiers.
"There were many gunmen. One vehicle was isolated and there was lots of shooting. There was dust everywhere," he said.
The Mujahideen Shura Council has said it abducted the two soldiers but it has offered no proof and Caldwell dismissed the claim.
Residents say the group was highly active in the rural area, terrorising families and forcing them to flee.
One can only hope. They need to hunt down and kill each and every one of those bastards in the worst possible way. It's time to go mid-evil on these animals!
bttt
We are not barbarians, we are not terrorist. When the US marches into a country we are seen as liberators not conquers because we do not tolerate crap like the murder of innocents and terrorist tactics.
I do not know if these men are quilty and I pray they are not and are found such in a military court, but I will not excuse murder by our troops because the enemy does the same.
And I say this as a Marine who served in war and peace over 20 years and just recently retired.
"Under Geneva to be considered a lawful combatant- either civilian militia or military, you must wear a uniform OR identifiable insignia, or be carrying arms openly to set yourself apart from unarmed civilians."
No. It's not "or." They have to fulfill all of those requirements and more:
Geneva Conventions
(2) Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory, even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, fulfil the following conditions:[ (a) that of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates; (b) that of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance; (c) that of carrying arms openly; (d) that of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.
http://www.globalissuesgroup.com/geneva/convention3.html#4
If they don't then, if captured, they simply aren't guaranteed the protections agreed upon under that Convention. Status as a lawful or unlawful combatant does not seem to be defined in that Convention.
I was addressing the question as to what was required with regard to wearing a uniform.
But the "insurgents" don't fit under that requirement, nor any of the other categories.
Were the ambushers wearing a uniform?
Generally speaking, some call those who abide by Geneva to be legitimate or lawful, whereas those who do not are outside the convention, are illegitimate or in other words, outlaws. Lawful combatants and unlawful combatants. Use whatever terms you like to identify the innies verses outies- what you cannot do is treat the GC as if it protects all combatants equally. It doesn't. To do so would defeat its entire purpose- which is to minimize damage to civilians. That's what all those POW passages are about- not about protecting soldiers but rather, protecting civilians from being taken as hostages, used as shields, cremated in ovens, etc- by making it worthwhile for a soldier to risk being killed in the open battlefield rather than shield himself by hiding behind some noncombatant or in some hospital in town. A soldier doesn't want to risk his POW status if captured and be treated as an outlaw, so he will behave in more desirable and disciplined ways. If we treat terrorists to POW status, on the other hand, then our enemies would have every reason to behave like terrorists instead of like soldiers.
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May our Ukiah Hero RIP and may God give comfort to his family and love ones.
All gave some! Some gave All!
June 23, 2006, 2:42PM
HOUSTON SOLDIER
Three slain troops were left behind to guard bridge, military says
Inquiry to focus on why they were alone, a possible protocol violation
Associated Press
TIKRIT, IRAQ - Two missing soldiers whose mutilated bodies were found after a massive search had been left alone at a checkpoint near Baghdad while other vehicles in their patrol inspected traffic, a military spokesman said Thursday.
Soon after Pfc. Kristian Menchaca of Houston and another private vanished and another soldier was killed last Friday, one Iraqi told reporters that insurgents had managed to separate a three-Humvee convoy by opening fire and forcing two of the vehicles to give chase.
Other Iraqis told reporters that the vehicle carrying Menchaca and his two companions had fallen behind the convoy and was attacked by insurgents.
Those reports now appear to be wrong, said Lt. Col. Michelle Martin-Hing, a U.S. spokeswoman in Tikrit.
Menchaca and the two other soldiers had been left with one Humvee to guard a hydraulic bridge at a Euphrates River canal about 12 miles south of Baghdad. When the Humvee was attacked by insurgents, others in the unit could not see the vehicle and were checking on their colleagues by radio, Martin-Hing said.
She said a focus of the investigation will be to determine why the three-man team had been left at the canal. Army protocols are designed to prevent such attacks.
"The investigation is going to look at whether proper procedures were followed," Martin-Hing said.
The bodies of Menchaca, 23, and Pfc. Thomas Tucker, 25, of Oregon were found late Monday in Yusufiya, a few miles from the attack scene, during a search by about 8,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops.
The bodies were sent to Dover Air Base in Delaware for DNA testing. The body of the third soldier, Spc. David Babineau, 25, was found Friday at the scene of the attack.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3994673.html
Ukiah soldier killed in Iraq
Associated Press
UKIAH, Calif. - Army Sgt. Jason J. Buzzard's family in California and Texas huddled around their computers every morning for the last seven months to talk by Webcam from Iraq.
But there was one thing his mother, Marilyn Buzzard of Ukiah never discussed with him.
"We never talked about Iraq," she said Friday. "He would talk to his dad about it. Those talks meant everything to me."
Jason Buzzard, 31, was killed Wednesday in Baghdad when an improvised explosive device exploded near his cargo truck, the Department of Defense said Friday.
He had five months left in his tour of duty, and after eight years in the Army, he was debating whether to leave the service, Marilyn Buzzard said.
He had wanted to join the military as a teenager, but his dad, Jerry, persuaded him to wait. He leaves behind a wife, Michele, and two children, Michala, 12, and Tristin, 9.
"He was a very strong family man," his mother said. "He was loving, caring. He was strong. He was our hero."
Jason Buzzard was raised in Ukiah and was attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division, which is based at Fort Hood, Texas.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/14888917.htm
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