Convoy Unprepared for Last, Fatal Run (Halliburton)

[Rose Siding]

snip>
.........Of 43 men on the convoy, 25 were killed or injured.

It remains the deadliest incident involving American contractors in the war in Iraq.

Interviews with surviving drivers and families of the dead, and a U.S. Army report obtained by the Los Angeles Times, show that the U.S. military and Halliburton missed numerous warnings in sending the men on the ill-fated mission.
From the moment it left the gate, the convoy may have been doomed by a series of errors that escalated into disaster.

The documents and interviews show:

• Military bungling and poor communications sent the men onto an active battlefield on a road that was supposed to be closed. A U.S. soldier who approved the route changed his mind minutes later and sent an e-mail advising that the road was closed. He accidentally sent the e-mail to himself, and it never reached the convoy.

• Halliburton agreed to drive the route despite warnings from its own personnel. Another Halliburton convoy traveling the route was hit earlier the same day, losing several vehicles. The leader of that convoy told colleagues that he had e-mailed his superiors about the danger.

.....MORE.....

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-convoy26mar26,0,5900936.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[freeplessinseattle]

1. Their families must be livid at this "friendly error" or

whatever charming name they give fucking up.

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. In ten years, that will make a powerful movie.

Of course, it will be ten years before the public will be allowed the truth of the SNAFU, like Black Hawk Down.

[madrchsod]

3. they don`t count now do they

nope not listed in the official death toll. oh well just another day in terriland

[AuntiBush]

4. Halliburton. Lockhead.

When will families of military wake-up?

[Toots]

5. Of the 25 men killed I wonder how many were Halliburton employees

or were they all American soldiers dying for a private contractor that is stealing America blind.

[Rose Siding]

7. Six from Halliburton but it's 25 killed or *injured*

snip>
...Six truck drivers for Halliburton Co. were killed that day, and nine were injured. One trucker remains missing. Two U.S. soldiers escorting the convoy were killed, and one is missing.

[thebigidea]

6. a convoy enroute to an active battlefield and he's sending fucking email?

not urgent enough for a satellite/cell phone call, or what?

[cliss]

8. Now watch the lawsuits start.....

the bereaved families decide who to go after.....the US government or Halliburton. Or both?

As the families consult with their attorneys, facts will start to float to the surface like little bubbles in an aquarium.

I TRULY believe the US is outnumbered in this war. We can't seem to get anything right. I read an unbelievable fact in 2003 about an Iraqi farmer who was holding onto an old Kalashnikov (Soviet rifle). He supposedly aimed it up, pointed at a US Black Hawk helicopter, and brought it down.

I don't know if there is any truth to it, but look at the facts: the US, supposedly the world's "strongest" military, is losing to a country with NO MILITARY.

Someone posted that statement,and it chilled me to the bone. Because the ramifications are enormous. This means that the US cannot win in a "Penny-ante" war. As other nations look on, they realize we are not invincible, not unconquerable. In fact, we're lookin might weak these days. No one cany deny that we are hemorrhaging to death financially in Iraq and Afghanistan. We're already broke.

As they sit and discuss this.......

[truthisfreedom]

9. it's war.modern conveniences like email don't make it any less susceptible

to getting bungled up. the tragedy is always, at it's root, the same... gw bush's complete mad grab at power.