European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 18, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                May stars and stripes Mideast edition Page 3 report finds Mission mistakes led to deaths by Lolita Baldor the associated press Washington three soldiers slaughtered in a grisly kidnapping murder plot South of Baghdad last june had been left alone for up to 36 hours in a poorly planned a military investigation two offic ers have been relieved of their neither of the officers faced criminal charges As a result of the Litany of mistakes that left the sol Diers a military official familiar with the investigation said a report on the investigation said the platoon Leader and com Pany commander whose names were not released failed to provide proper supervision to the unit or enforce military Stan a seven Page summary of the investigation provided to the a also said it appears insurgents May have rehearsed the attack two Days and that iraqi Security forces near the soldiers outpost probably saw and heard the attack and chose to not be come an Active participant in the attack on either this was an event caused by numerous acts of and a Lack of standards at the Pla Toon said the investigating Timothy Daugher in the three 101st airborne division soldiers were killed in the june David of was found dead at the and two others Kristian men Chaca of Houston and Tho Mas Tucker of were their mutilated bodies were found three Days tied together and Boob trapped with according to the investigation of last junes men Chaca and Babineau were or dered to guard a Mobile Bridge Over a canal in order to prevent insurgents from planting other members of their who were at two locations up to three quarters of a mile heard Small arms fire at when they arrived at the Check Point about 25 minutes Babineau was dead and the others were Daugherty said the soldiers were told to stand guard for up to 36 hours with just one and there were no barriers on the Road to slow Access to them or pro vide Early the victims Babineau Menchaca Tucker to expect them to operate an observation Post for 24 to 36 hours was he from the time a vehicle was it would have been in front or beside the humvee in a mat Ter of he Daugherty concluded that the platoon did not get the supervision or direction it and he said the unit was Hurt by the loss of 10 including sever Al who were killed in action As Well As by the need to shuffle the platoons leadership three James who was serving As the commander of forces in Baghdad last ordered the and later handed out the punish his decision to remove the two officers a lieutenant and a Captain from their commands was a harsher penalty than the one recommended by who suggested they get letters of release of the investigations results has been delayed for the probe was completed and the punishments delivered by last families of the three soldiers were Given unclassified briefings on the investigation later in the according to a military part of the delay was due to Legal reviews and the movement of the units involved out of what went wrong the investigation into the kid napping and murder plot that left three soldiers dead last june concluded there were a series of mis Steps by their including the Mission was inadequately supervised and exe the observation Post was staffed by Only three soldiers with one the soldiers had inadequate training and the platoons Readi Ness was degraded by combat their vehicle was left unprotected for 36 no immediate fire support was the Quick reaction Force was 15 minutes or More no noncommissioned officer was at the the soldiers remained at their Post too Long to be the unit failed to adequately assess the risks at that observation iraqi army forces were not prepared to offer support at the from the associated press military attackers stole Gas dog tag during ambush deaths Iraq As of at least members of the Mili tary have died since the begin Ning of the Iraq War in March according to an associated press the figure includes seven military at least died As a result of hostile according to the military the a count is four higher than the defense departments last updated wednesday at the British military has re ported 148 deaths 33 18 20 bulgar 13 11 seven Al five Slova four three two each and one death the latest deaths reported by the military no new deaths the latest identifications re ported by the military v Marine Lance Jeffrey killed monday during combat in Anbar province assigned to combat logistics regiment 2nd Marine logistics ii Marine expeditionary Camp army Zachary Gul Ohio died May 1 in Baghdad in a noncom Bat related incident assigned to the 984th military police Compa 759th military police Battal 89th military police Bri fort Afghanistan and other areas As of at least 323 members of the military have died in Paki Stan and Uzbekistan As a result of the invasion of Afghani Stan in late according to the defense the department last updated its Fig ures May of the military reports 201 were killed by hostile a outside the afghan the defense department re ports 61 More members of the military died in support of operation enduring of two were the result of hostile the military lists these other locations As Guantanamo Bay naval Cuba Djibouti Eri trea Jordan Kenya Kyrgyzstan Philippines Seychelles Sudan Tajikistan tur key and there were also four Cia officer deaths and one military civilian the latest deaths reported by the military a service member was killed tuesday during an attack near the latest identifications re ported by the military no identifications the associated press by Thomas Wagner the associated press Baghdad attackers who ambushed a military Convoy apparently stole the dog tags of one of the four american soldiers the military said thursday As it pressed its massive search for three troops feared Cap tured by Al Aida last the military remains cautiously optimistic that the soldiers can be found a officer said Randy spokes Man for the missing soldiers said the troops and iraqis searching for the three missing soldiers have found a number of persons who Are extremely potentially providing us Good he said some of the detainees May have been directly involved in the attack in a Rural area near the town of 12 Miles South of some leads Point to the fact that these men Are still there Are also reports to the con but we have an obligation to follow on every intelligence Martin said without Labora Michael the com Mander of the second brigade of the 10th Mountain said some of the physical evidence associated with the missing sol Diers had been in other Iraq mortal rounds hit a air Force base North of destroying one helicopter and damaging nine oth police and an explosion rocked the Green zone in the third attack in three Days on the Maya blackened Asphalt and debris still Lay thursday at the site off an attack that left four soldiers and an iraqi translator and three other soldiers missing near heavily fortified area in Central Baghdad where the embassy is located and Iraq govern ment and parliament no casualties were immediately reported in either of those at Webster a spokes Man for the second brigade of the 10th Mountain division said saturdays assault apparently used rocket propelled grenades and Small arms fire to severely damage the two humvee in the stationary the dog tags of one of the four american soldiers who died were missing and apparently had been taken by the he that could explain Why the Mili tary has Only been Able to identify three of the four dead the military has said some of the bodies were attacks by suspected insurgents continued in other parts of mortar rounds hit the Taji air Force base on the outskirts of Northern Baghdad about 2 destroying one Heli copter and damaging nine police in Baghdad Green one explosion occurred about and forces were trying to determine whether it was a mortar or a rocket said embassy spokesman Lou in Northern about 200 iraqis marched Down a Street in the mostly shiite neighbourhood of demanding that sol Diers conducting a Security crack Down in the capital Stop creating Forward operating bases in neighbourhoods and searching