Eight American Soldiers and Two Journalists Killed in Iraq

The Hudson River on the West Point campus.

Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer

Our Reporting class went out to West Point in Highland Falls, New York to work with their students on a computer simulation of what happens during combat missions. This is the story I wrote about the experience. It is written as though the events in the simulation were real and we were actually in Iraq.

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER

AL MANSOUR, BAGHDAD— Eight United States soldiers were killed on Tuesday when they were patrolling Al Mansour, an administrative district in Baghdad.

Military officials said the soldiers were searching for a maroon pickup truck with a white top when Iraqis shot them. Two Pavement Pieces journalists, Brooke Niemeyer and Zanub Saeed, who were accompanying the soldiers on the mission, were also killed. 

The only surviving journalist from a convoy truck was Pavement Pieces reporter Liz Wagner. Wagner used the radio to attempt communication with the headquarters to report what happened and establish her location. The soldiers at headquarters were able to help guide her to a US helicopter, which took her to a safe location.

Convoy Commander Mike Fanelli was one of the soldiers on call to survey the Al Mansour district for the maroon pickup truck that was hijacked by insurgents. The truck had been declared a high value target ten minutes before the mission began. 

Fanelli was in command of three patrol trucks, including the one he was driving. Because of a breakdown in communication, he entered unsafe territories and was killed by Iraquis. 

Earlier in the day, he talked about the importance of communication between the soldiers. 

"If communication between us breaks down, so does our strength," Fanelli said. 

Failed radio batteries made it difficult for the soldiers to communicate with one another on the mission. Minutes after the first casualties were reported, military officials tried to get better radios out to the soldiers, but were unsuccessful in reaching all of them. 

Even with faulty communication equipment, the soldiers were able to locate and detain the maroon pickup truck. Despite this, Lieutenant Colonel Garret Guidry said that the mission didn't operate effectively because of the poor communication between the soldiers and with the headquarters. 

"There was too much cross talk happening," Guidry said. "We didn't get a good picture of what was going on."

Military officials said that the soldiers should have been able to focus on their mission instead of dealing with communication problems.

"The information coming into headquarters was too few and far between," Guidry said. 

"We couldn't pass along proper information to protect the soldiers and it cost us."