Black Hearts: One Platoon's Descent into Madness in Iraq's Triangle of Death

by Jim Frederick

  “They had their: Allen, interview.

  The insurgents on: Daugherty, “AR 15–6 Investigation.”

  Lauzier’s fire team: Lauzier, interview.

  Sharpness put Babineau: Sharpness, interview.

  “We spent the whole: James Downs, interview.

  While the rest: Tony Yribe and Justin Watt, interviews.

  “At that point: John Goodwin, interview.

  Bravo’s 3rd Platoon: Phil Blaisdell, interview.

  After a brief: Daugherty, “AR 15–6 Investigation.”

  With temperatures soaring: Jared Bordwell, interview.

  After searching well: Chris Payne, interview.

  “Kunk had moved: Fenlason, interview.

  “That was it for me: Deem, interview.

  24: Dilemma and Discovery

  As that was happening: Justin Watt, interview.

  That night, Watt: Watt and Tony Yribe, interviews.

  Judging from a video: Michael Ware, videotape CNN acquired from insurgents.

  According to a briefing: William Caldwell, Larry King Live, CNN, June 20, 2006.

  the Mujahideen Shura: Dexter Filkins, “U.S. Says 2 Bodies Retrieved in Iraq Were Brutalized,” New York Times, June 21, 2006.

  In keeping with the pattern: Timothy J. Daugherty, “AR 15–6 Investigation: 16 June AIF Attack,” June 29, 2006; Chaz Allen, interview.

  Rather than this: Christopher Thielenhaus, interview.

  25: “Remember That Murder of That Iraqi Family?”

  A couple of days after: Jeff Fenlason, interview.

  Watt had looked: Justin Watt, interview.

  On June 23: Bob Davis, interview.

  This was not: Watt, interview.

  As they were: John Diem, interview.

  “You remember that: Fenlason, Diem, and Tim Norton, interviews.

  The rest of: Fenlason, interview.

  Fenlason called Goodwin: Fenlason and John Goodwin, interviews.

  Several soldiers: Eric Lauzier, interview.

  Goodwin arrived: Phil Blaisdell, Fenlason, and Goodwin, interviews.

  Just after midnight: Tom Kunk, sworn statement, July 5, 2006, and interview.

  When Yribe returned: Watt, testimony at U.S. v. Barker and interview.

  Howard was the second: Kunk, sworn statement, July 5, 2006.

  Barker, when questioned: Fenlason, interview with defense lawyers.

  Kunk and Edwards: Kunk, testimony at U.S. v. Green.

  Watt was flustered: Watt, interview.

  Kunk was far: Kunk, interview and testimony at U.S. v. Green.

  On June 25: Paul Fisher, interview.

  The U.S. Army paid: Abu Muhammad [pseud.], interview.

  The men came: Fenlason, interview.

  In his remarks: Yribe, eulogy, Memorial for SPC Babineau, PFC Menchaca, and PFC Tucker. DVD. FOB Mahmudiyah, Iraq, June 26, 2006.

  Fenlason had gotten: Fenlason, interview.

  A few days after: Daniel Sparks, Daniel Carrick, Chris Payne, Diem, Lauzier, and others, interviews.

  Kunk later maintained: Kunk, interview.

  After it was: Diem, interview.

  In the aftermath: Timothy J. Daugherty, “AR 15–6 Investigation: 16 June AIF Attack,” June 29, 2006.

  During his interview: Norton, sworn statement in Daugherty, “AR 15–6 Investigation.”

  Daugherty’s report: Daugherty, “AR 15–6 Investigation.” 328 “Everybody from the battalion: Jared Bordwell, interview.

  Years later: Todd Ebel, interview.

  The second investigation: John M. McCarthy, “AR 15–6 Investigation Concerning Leadership Actions,” July 10, 2006; Fenlason, interview with defense lawyers.

  Norton and Goodwin knew: Norton and Goodwin, interviews.

  26: The Fight Goes On

  After starting strongly: Elizabeth Bowler, interview.

  Upon Bowler’s first: Ibid.

  Kunk later denied that: Tom Kunk, interview.

  On June 30: Ryan Lenz, “Soldiers Investigated for Alleged Rape, Killing Family in Iraq,” Associated Press, June 30, 2006; “GIs May Have Planned Iraq Rape, Slayings,” Associated Press, July 1, 2006.

  The story infuriated: Bowler and Lenz, interviews.

  Back in the States: Steven Green, interview.

  He visited a cousin: U.S. v. Green.

  Cortez, Spielman, and Barker: James Culp and James Barker, interviews.

  In fact, the battle: Thomas E. Ricks, The Gamble (New York: Penguin Press, 2009), p. 47.

  On July 17: Larry Kaplow, “The Last Day of the Iraq War,” Newsweek, January 12, 2009.

  Kunk claimed that: Kunk, interview.

  Al Qaeda exploited: Agence France-Presse, “Al-Qaeda Posts Rape Revenge Video,” July 11, 2006; Robert Reid, “Tape Claims 3 GIs Killed over Rape-Murders,” Associated Press, July 11, 2006; SITE Intelligence Group, “The Mujahideen Shura Council in Iraq Issues a Video of the Mutilated Corpses of the Captured American Soldiers in Al-Yusufiyah,” translation and description of jihadi video, July 10, 2006.

  On September 22: SITE Intelligence Group, “In Memory of the Sunnah of Our Ancestors in Mutilation Video from the Mujahideen Shura Council in Iraq Featuring Attack upon Two Captured American Soldiers in Yusufiyah,” translation and description of jihadi video, September 22, 2009.

  “We were having some: Christopher Thielenhaus, interview.

  “Let me tell you: Matt Shoaf, interview.

  On August 30: Justin Habash, interview.

  “That was the worst: Phil Deem, interview.

  “When the sector: Paul Fisher, interview.

  Kunk moved Norton: Tim Norton, interview.

  “We were just existing: Jeff Fenlason, interview.

  On FOB Mahmudiyah: Shawn Umbrell, interview.

  27: “This Was Life and Death Stuff”

  Word was, CID: Justin Watt and Eric Lauzier, interviews.

  Lauzier, for one: Lauzier, interview.

  In fact: Watt, interview.

  A few weeks earlier: “The Bronze Star Medal to SSG Eric R. Lauzier, U.S. Army: Recommendation for Award,” June 10, 2006.

  Now he was being: Lauzier, interview.

  His men found his: Justin Cross and Lauzier, interviews.

  Watt was having: Watt, interview.

  When Kunk got wind: Bob Davis, interview.

  On July 25: Watt, sworn statement, July 25, 2006.

  Barnes later acknowledged: Chris Barnes, interview.

  Bowler had arranged: Watt, interview.

  When the two: Elizabeth Bowler, interview.

  The same day: Watt, interview.

  After expecting: John Goodwin, interview.

  Colonel Ebel: Todd Ebel, interview.

  On August 14: Tim Norton, interview.

  On August 21: Bill Dougherty, Rick Watt, and Justin Watt, interviews.

  Following several weeks: Jeff Fenlason and Justin Habash, interviews.

  “This was life and death: John Diem, interview.

  Epilogue

  Even before: Anita Powell, “Tall Task for 10th Mountain in Mahmudiyah,” Stars and Stripes, Mideast edition, October 8, 2006.

  In November 2006: Associated Press, “Iraqi Insurgent Group Unveils Rocket,” November 4, 2006.

  With an extra battalion: Josh White, “Troops Take On Insurgent Haven,” Washington Post, October 24, 2006; Lauren Frayer, “Derelict Power Plant Symbol of Iraq Woes,” Associated Press, February 11, 2007.

  As the 2–10th: Thomas E. Ricks, The Gamble (New York: Penguin Press, 2009), p. 56.

  As part of: Associated Press, “A Timeline of Iraq War, Troop Levels,” April 08, 2008; U.S. Army Field Manual 3–24: Counterinsurgency (Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army Headquarters, December 2006).

  Despite the fresh approach: Ricks, The Gamble, p. 33.

  Ultimately, the brigade lost: Bing West, foreword to Dominic J. Caraccilo and Andrea L. Thompson, Achieving Victory in Iraq: Countering an Insurgency (Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 2008).

 
Before dawn on: Joel Roberts, “Terror Group Warns U.S. over Missing GIs,” CBS.com, May 14, 2007; Thomas Frank, “The Trail Is Cold, but a Platoon Searches On for Two U.S. Soldiers Captured in a May Attack Tied to Al-Qaeda,” USA Today, August 8, 2007; Damien Cave, “5 Killed and 3 Missing in Attack on American Patrol South of Baghdad,” New York Times, May 13, 2007.

  On May 23: Associated Press, “Bodies of Two Missing Soldiers Found in Iraq,” July 11, 2008.

  Within a few: Ray Odierno, Department of Defense news briefing, November 1, 2007.

  They started during: Mark Perry, “U.S. Military Breaks Ranks,” Asia Times Online, January 23, 2008.

  At the program’s peak: Ricks, The Gamble.

  “It took a while: Wesley Morgan, “Leaving Baghdad, Battalion Recalls a Long Deployment,” Long War Journal, November 17, 2008.

  With attacks down: Peter Graff, “U.S. Hands ‘Triangle of Death’ to Iraqi Troops,” Reuters, October 23, 2008.

  By January 2009: Larry Kaplow, “The Last Day of the Iraq War,” Newsweek, January 12, 2009.

  In March 2007: Reuters, “Soldier Gets 27 Months in Iraq Gang-Rape Case,” March 21, 2007.

  In fact, only one: Associated Press, “Federal Jury Acquits Ex-Marine in Iraqis’ Deaths: Verdict Is the First Time a Civilian Jury Has Weighed In on the Law of War,” August 28, 2008.

  Indeed, MEJA was: Nicholas Casey, “Civilian Court Tries Case from the Fog of War: Ex-Marine Is Accused Under Law Aimed at Contractors,” Wall Street Journal, August 19, 2008.

  Green’s defense team: Darren Wolff, interview.

  After ruling out: U.S. v. Green.

  “I have been: Cortez, testimony at U.S. v. Cortez.

  SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

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