Probe: Iraqi troops killed 2 U.S. soldiers

Nadia McCaffrey, 60, of Tracy, Calif., decorates a cross with flowers to honor her son, National Guard Sgt. Patrick R. McCaffrey, who was killed in Iraq last year, at the Arlington West Iraq War Memorial at Santa Monica Beach, July 4, 2005,

By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 9 minutes ago

TRACY, Calif. - The Iraqi government has arrested one of two Iraqi troops accused of killing two U.S. soldiers while the Americans were training them, a senior military official said Wednesday.

The June 2004 deaths of Army Spc. Patrick R. McCaffrey Sr., 34, of Tracy, and 2nd Lt. Andre D. Tyson, 33, of Riverside, were originally attributed to an ambush during a patrol near Balad, Iraq, but the Army this week said a military investigation found the two had been shot to death by Iraqi civil defense officers.

It was unclear how long the Iraqi suspect has been in jail, said the military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not yet been made public. The second trainee is believed to be dead, the official said.

A Pentagon spokesman knew of no other similar incident and calling it "extremely rare." Army spokesman Paul Boyce said Tuesday that the Army had conducted an extensive investigation into the deaths, but declined to provide additional details.

The families of McCaffrey and Tyson, both California National Guardsmen, were being briefed on the report Tuesday and Wednesday by Brig. Gen. Oscar Hilman, the soldiers' commander at the time, and three other officers.

Soldiers who witnessed the attack have told Nadia McCaffrey two Iraqi patrolmen opened fire on her son's unit. The witnesses also said a third gunman simultaneously drove up to the American unit in a van, climbed onto the vehicle and fired at the Americans, she said.

Nadia McCaffrey has become a vocal critic of the war in Iraq, and said her son had reservations about it too, though he served and was promoted posthumously to sergeant.

Iraqi forces who had trained with the Americans had fired at them twice before the incident that killed Patrick McCaffrey, and he had reported it to his superiors, Nadia McCaffrey said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday.

"There is no doubt to me that this (ambushes by attached Iraqi units) is still happening to soldiers today, but our chain of command is awfully reckless; they don't seem to give a damn about what's happening to soldiers," she said.

Boyce said the U.S. military remained confident in its operations with Iraqis.

Patrick McCaffrey joined the National Guard the day after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, his mother said.

McCaffrey and Tyson were members of the California National Guard. Both were assigned to the Army National Guard's 579th Engineer Battalion based in Petaluma.

Tyson's family could not be located, and a message left with his former unit was not immediately returned.
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Associated Press Writers Erica Werner and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.

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