Posted on 03/28/2003 11:04:35 PM PST by SlickWillard
March 29, 2003, 12:21AM
WITH V CORPS HEADQUARTERS NEAR THE KUWAIT BORDER -- The bodies of four American soldiers were found by Marines on Friday in a shallow grave in the battle-worn town of Nasiriyah, near the Euphrates River.
U.S. Military officials said they believe the four were executed by Iraqi paramilitary forces after being seized in an ambush on Sunday.
Military officials declined to speculate as to whether the four were among those who were shown alive by the Arab television network last weekend. The military had heard reports that the soldiers were executed after they were shown on the Arab network, but there was no confirmation.
On Friday, a Marine unit found the four bodies in a freshly dug grave near a house in the northeast corner of the town of al-Jazeera. An Army official said the four bodies were clothed in U.S. military uniforms.
Today, the military were flying in a forensic team, military investigators and a member of the V Corps Staff Judge Advocate's office to the site. Officers said that the military was tentatively treating the deaths as a war crime.
The soldiers seized in the ambush have been listed as missing in action. The 507th Maintenance Co. is attached to the 3rd Infantry Division.
Officers of V Corps said the names of the dead would be released after their families were notified.
The ambush occurred in Nasiriyah, in southeastern Iraq.
According to Army officers, soldiers of the 507th Maintenance Unit were traveling on Highway 1, a main north-south artery, in darkness in a convoy of six vehicles. The unit was en route to supply an antiaircraft battery.
The convoy made a wrong turn, mistakenly leaving Highway 1. Officials said they believed that as the Americans realized their mistake, they turned around and quickly encountered two Iraqi T-55 tanks and an advancing Iraqi military unit. The soldiers came under rocket and small-arms fire.
In the fight that followed, the first of the two cars, a Humvee, the standard Army vehicle and a tool truck, were separated from the other four. An Army captain in the Humvee -- the senior officer -- drove the vehicle carrying wounded soldiers through the gunfire. According to one account, the officer drove nearly four miles before being forced to stop because his tires had been crippled by gunshots.
The officer sought to change the tires of the Humvee, when an American Marine unit on patrol saw him and the soldiers in his vehicle, officers said. The Marines called in a helicopter, which evacuated the officer and his wounded soldiers. Some were seriously wounded, one of them shot in the jaw.
The Marines resumed their patrol in search of the Fedayeen, the paramilitary force. Within minutes, they came upon two American vehicles, damaged by bullets. Two other vehicles were burning. No Americans were in sight.
Hours later, grim photos of American soldiers were shown on the Arab network al-Jazeera. Some appeared to have been executed, with bullet wounds to the head. The uniforms of others were stained with blood.
Within 24 hours, the Army was hearing reports that some of the soldiers had been executed.
To the POW's... we will not rest. God be with you until your brothers get there to bring you home.
Group photos: Iraqi women soldiers |
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3rd ID have reportedly been told by their commanders that just because a guy is waving a white flag, that doesn't necessarily mean that they have to stop shooting. Thanks to the Fedayeen, "no quarter" may become the Americans' rule.
LAURA CRUZ
Gannett News Service
March 27, 2003
The ambush in Iraq of 507th Maintenance Company members from Fort Bliss and the capture and possible execution of some of the U.S. soldiers could be one of the darkest moments in military history involving women in combat.With one female soldier captured and two missing, the events that unfolded in the desert sands of southern Iraq on Sunday are sure to reignite the emotional debate over women in the military and in combat.As families of the women involved in the ambush near An Nasiriyah await word of what happened, several relatives said they did not have a problem with women sent in harm's way.West Virginian Ernie Cumbridge, a cousin of Jessica Lynch, who is one of the missing women, said, "Man or woman, it don't matter what sex you are. You can get killed either way."
Lynch, of Palestine, W.Va., and Pfc. Lori Piestewa of Tuba City, Ariz., are missing. (Piestewa may have executed)Spc. Shoshana Johnson of El Paso, Texas, is being held by Iraqi forces.They were part of a convoy that was ambushed after making a wrong turn near An Nasiriyah.Johnson's father, Claude, said he believes women have a place in the military."I've always been an advocate of women joining the Army at any level they choose," said Johnson, a 20-year Army veteran."Women have proven their worth in the military. I don't have a problem with women even being combat soldiers."Johnson said what he does have a problem with is placing soldiers who are not trained specifically for combat in hostile situations."She (Shoshana) was not an infantryman," he said. "Right now, I don't think women should be very close to the combat because they're not trained to be infantrymen. They are not trained to engage the enemy the way soldiers are engaging the enemy right now."The U.S. military has about 200,000 women, 15 percent of the military's personnel.In the 1991 Persian Gulf War, 13 U.S. female soldiers were killed.Four of the deaths were under enemy fire, including three women who were among the 28 U.S. Army reservists killed Feb. 25, 1991, during an Iraqi Scud missile attack in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
It was also during that war that Army Spc. Melissa Rathburn-Nealy of the 233rd Transportation Company and Maj. Rhonda Cornum, an Army flight surgeon, were taken prisoner by Iraqi troops. While Rathburn-Nealy said she was treated well by her captors, Cornum said she was sexually molested.Retired Maj. Gen. Travis "Rusty" Dyer, former Fort Bliss chief of staff, said women play a vital role in the military. But he does not like to see women in dangerous situations."The women who are in the 507th Maintenance Company belong in that company and definitely have a place there, but at the same time I don't think women should be in a combat unit," Dyer said. "I would hate to see my wife or daughters in a combat unit, knowing what I know and have seen."Dyer said the reason he does not like women in combat units is that soldiers are required to carry and use heavy machinery, which the female body is not physically capable of doing."I had many females under my command, and I thought they were great soldiers, but I'm very protective of females," he said. "I didn't want to see them placed in harm's way."
I think last Tuesday there was an attack in the city of Nasiriya where 11 Marines were missing. The story you read detailed discovery of the remains of 7 Marines. (5 bodies in a burnt out vehicle. The other two the Iraqis buried)
Now they are looking for 4 more.
Found it...
LINK http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/29/1048653868288.html
By Patrick Bishop outside Basra and Reuters
March 29 2003
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Dazed and confused ... a blind Iraqi woman and a man with bullet wounds sit and wait after being evacuated by US marines from fighting in Nasiriyah. Photo: AFP/ Eric Feferberg |
Iraqi forces fired mortar bombs near about 1000 civilians waiting to cross a bridge leading out of the southern Iraqi city of Basra, a British officer said last night.
No one was believed to have died in the attack but one woman was seriously injured, said Captain Robert Sandford with the 7th Armoured Brigade.
"It would seem that there are several small groups of Iraqi militia using mortar plates on the back of small, mobile vehicles. They landed around eight or nine mortars near the group [of civilians]."
Captain Sandford said British forces could not return fire immediately because it was hard to locate the attackers.
A steady flow of people have been trying to leave the besieged city for the past two days, but it was not a massive outflow. For every two people trying to leave, one was trying to get back in.
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Tuba City native still missing in action
By Sararesa Begay
The Navajo Times
TUBA CITY, Ariz. | March 27, 2003
The war against Iraq has hit close to home.
A young Tuba City woman is one of about a dozen members of an Army maintenance unit who have been missing in action since Sunday.
The Percy and Terry Piestewa family believe that their youngest daughter, Pfc. Lori Piestewa, 22, and her comrades will be found safe and returned to their families, according to a prepared family statement issued by Vanessa Charles, the Hopi Tribe's pubic relations person.
Lori Piestewa is assigned to the 507th Maintenance Company at Fort Bliss, Texas.
She is a Tuba City High graduate, and joined the military about two years ago.
"We would like to thank all those individuals who opened their hearts and arms to our family in wishing Lori a speedy and safe return home," the Piestewa family statement said. "As of 2 p.m. (MST on March 25) Lori's current status remains at Missing in Action. We are asking that you continue your prayers for all the brave men and women of the Armed Service and that you pray for their families as well."
Lori Piestewa is a mother of two young children who are part Navajo.
The family is making 6 p.m. (MST) everyday a time for prayer and unity, according to the statement.
Waylon Piestewa, 32, the older brother of Lori, told the Navajo Times on Tuesday that his parents were "not entertaining questions" from the media.
Waylon Piestewa referred questions to Charles and the Army Depot in Beaumont, Ariz.
However, Army Depot representatives, who refused to be identified, wouldn't give information on the status of Lori Piestewa.
Reports show two members of Piestewa's unit were seen in an Iraqi state-run video broadcast on Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based Arabic language television news network.
Other members of the unit are missing and feared captured or dead after their unit became lost in southern Iraq and was attacked by enemy forces, according to the Associated Press.
About 300 friends and family met Monday night at the St. Jude's Catholic Church in Tuba City.
It was an emotional gathering, but there were words of encouragement and humor, according to Lena Fowler, a Tuba City resident.
"She's a real warrior," Fowler said during a Tuesday telephone interview. "Just like the Tuba City High School Warriors."
The 507th Maintenance Co. was deployed last month with the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, according to the Associated Press.
The 507th, mostly mechanics, keep diesel tanker trucks rolling, fix generators and keep mechanical parts in good shape.
Two American prisoners questioned on Iraqi television have said they were with the 507th.
Lori Piestewa was deployed about four weeks ago, according to the Associated Press.
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