A Fragging in Iraq

U.S. Soldier Accused in Iraq "Fragging" Incident

C. L. Cook - In the late days of America's war in Vietnam, the most disgruntled grunts expressed their disillusionment by tossing hand-grenades into their officer's barracks. Today, Iraq proved another parallel to the 10,000 Day War in South East Asia; a soldier has been charged with "fragging" two of his officers.

www.pej.org



http://www.imosh.com/BUCKLES/images/
BUK113%20HAND%20GRENADE.jpg

U.S. Soldier Accused in
Iraq "Fragging" Incident
C. L. Cook
June 17, 2005


Initially reported as a mortar strike, on June 7th Captain Phillip Esposito, Commander of Head Quarters for the 42nd Infantry Division, and Lieutenant Louis Allen were fatally wounded while in a room of one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces in Tikrit. Now, Staff Sergeant Alberto Martinez has been arrested for murder.

In the lead up to the Iraq invasion, another U.S. soldier, Army Sergeant Hasan Akbar, a Muslim, attacked fellow troops in Kuwait, killing two and wounding 14 others, but this is the first reported case of fratricide recorded in the two-plus year occupation of Iraq.

In the context of growing suspicion among soldiers about the motives for going into Iraq, as underscored by the burgeoning Downing Street Memo scandal, and heavy U.S. casualties this month in Iraq, an incident like this seems inevitable.

So far, few details have been released as to Martinez's motives for the alleged attack, but the biggest question must be: Is the situation for American troops degraded to the level seen in the late days of the war against Vietnam? And if so, are further fragging instances likely?

Military blogging and e:mails from Iraq detail the doubts and distrust of both their mission in Iraq and the calibre of the leadership there. This has become a thorn to the Bush administration and the military, who today issued restrictions on out-bound blogs.

The Martinez arrest comes while U.S. forces are engaged in a massive offensive in the west of Iraq. The so-called, Operation Spear is guaranteed to create more casualties. So far, the American military confirms over 1700 of their own killed, and many thousand more wounded.

And many more, apparently to come.



Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, a weekly public affairs program, broad/webcast from the University of Victoria, Canada. You can check out the GR Blog here.