In a squad of nine, six are charged, three are dead

[Rose Siding]

On March 12, a 15-year-old Iraqi girl was raped, and she and her father, mother and sister were gunned down in their home.

.....Did the alleged rape and murder of Iraqi civilians by U.S. troops beget the torture and slaying of their own comrades?
...
Whether or not the episodes are connected, it is clear that the soldiers themselves were connected, bound by their experiences in combat. Members of the same unit, many of them were friends with one another....
The soldiers were all members of 1st Platoon, B Company, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, assigned to the 101st Airborne Division. Some family members said they believe there must be some connection between the two incidents.

"There's nine guys on a squad," said Nancy Hess, mother of Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman, 21, who is one of the five charged in the crimes. "Three of them were killed. Six of them are being charged."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/15/AR2006071500758.html

One of those charged left a message on a MySpace page for one of those ambushed at the checkpoint: ""R.I.P. We ran a muk. I will miss you, sleep well my friend."

[alcibiades_mystery]

1. Two things

If they are indeed from the same squad:

1) This was probably a Serpico-style ambush, whereby the accused members conveniently left the other three in dangerous straits.
2) The insurgents have a damn good intelligence apparatus.

[ptolle]

2. intel

Insurgents/guerrillas almost always do have good intelligence. They live there, they know the neighborhood and the neighbors.I'd have a hard time believing that anyone was given up to the insurgents.IMO The deal sounded more like a command failure to me, someone giving orders goofed badly on their strategic/tactical knowledge of the situation and just flat left those guys out there exposed.

[bloom]

3. re: The insurgents have a damn good intelligence apparatus.

I don't think it's so odd to think that people who live in a place know what's going on - know who is part of a squad - who works together. So when some in a squad do something like that - that people who lived around there would know.

There would have been rumors of the girl having suffered from harassment from these guys, etc. I expect these guys probably acted like jerks all over the place - from the sounds of things. I'm not surprised that the locals would know.

[shadowknows69]

4. I've had soldiers tell me

that the insurgents are VERY aware of who is attacking them. They make note of unit/insignia/names they hear spoken etc. revenge is a very specific thing in Iraq.

<edit to add> I had a soldier who was in afghanistan tell me last night that there is a lot of infiltration. he was speaking of the afghani theatre but I'm sure it's similar in Iraq. Our soldiers have to work in close proximity with a lot of the populace a lot of the time. He told me there was even a US nco in his unti/batallion/platoon I don't remember specifics but apparently he got caugth selling our kevlar vests and night goggles to the taliban. didn't see that one on CNN.

[ConsAreLiars]

5. In Afghanistan, and all cultures where people have not become mere cogs

in corporate machinery, interchangeable and moved around according to profit, loyalties are very closely defined by birth. Family, clan, village, tribe, language, religious affinities. It's still true for us living inside the belly of the monster, but the intensity of these loyalties and the life-death commitment they entail is something most of us can only barely imagine.

[NNN0LHI]

6. I suspected # 1) from the beginning but have seen no evidence yet

# 2) is a gimme. 25 million sets of eyes watching 135,000 soldiers 24/7. The Iraqis know whats going on.

Don

[enough]

7. k&r

[madmusic]

8. Their version of neighborhood watch

Do we condone their vigilantism? That isn't clear to me yet.