Black Hearts: One Platoon's Descent into Madness in Iraq's Triangle of Death
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Several times throughout: Laskoski, interview with defense attorneys.
Second Squad leader: Payne, interview.
Fenlason’s briefing from Stall: Fenlason, testimony at Article 32 Hearing.
“I knew what I needed: Fenlason, interview.
“He helped stand up: Umbrell, interview.
Charlie First Sergeant: Dennis Largent, interview.
“I’m just a sergeant: John Diem, interview.
Gallagher knew that: Gallagher, testimony at U.S. v. Spielman.
16: February 1
When one of the: Shawn Umbrell, interview.
Kunk saw that: Tom Kunk, testimony at Article 32 Hearing; Timothy J. Daugherty, “AR 15–6 Investigation: 16 June AIF Attack on Jerf Al Sakr Bridge.”
Keep working with him: Todd Ebel, interview.
“I think you: John Goodwin, interview.
During Vietnam: 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs Department, Ivy Update, online video about Freedom Rest. Undated.
“Thanks very much: Goodwin and Kunk, interviews.
On the evening: Goodwin, interview.
At 8:45 a.m: Daniel Carrick, Tony Yribe, and Eric Lauzier, interviews.
Sergeant First Class Blaisdell: Tim Norton and Phil Blaisdell, interviews.
In a decision: Dennison Segui, interview.
Norton arrived: Norton and Roman Diaz, interviews.
“Jesus Christ: Norton, interview.
As Babineau was: Chris Arnold, interview.
The rest of Blaisdell’s men: Blaisdell, interview.
Whelchel, Specialist Kirk: Jay Strobino, Joe Whelchel, and Arnold, interviews.
Outside the farmhouse: Norton, interview.
The two insurgents outside: Strobino and Whelchel, interviews.
Blaisdell responded: Norton, interview.
This was far: “AR 15–6 Investigation #06–091: Death of a SM (KIA),” February 15, 2006.
The 1st Platoon: Strobino and Norton, interviews.
Back at Freedom Rest: Goodwin, interview.
There was a lull: Norton, Blaisdell, Arnold, Whelchel, and Diaz, interviews; Wes Moerbe, “AR 15–6 Investigation #06–92: Death of SM (DOW) Findings and Recommendations,” February 14, 2006.
Goodwin was still: Goodwin, interview.
Owens was dead: Norton and Blaisdell, interviews; Wes Moerbe, “AR 15–6 Investigation,” February 14, 2006.
Back at LZ: Goodwin, interview.
Third Platoon left: Norton and Umbrell, interviews.
17: Fenlason Arrives
On February 4: John Goodwin, interview.
First Platoon’s 3rd Squad: James Barker, interview.
Everybody had known: Jason Abbott, “AR 15–6 Investigation #06–097: Loss of Sensitive Items (FOB Yusufiyah Fire),” February 18, 2006.
The loss was devastating: Tim Norton and Goodwin, interviews.
Most of 2nd Platoon: Goodwin, interview.
Battalion Operations Officer: Rob Salome, interview.
A box of socks: Phil Blaisdell, interview.
One soldier says: Chris Barnes, testimony at U.S. v. Green.
Until housing tents: Salome, interview.
After the immediate: Jeff Fenlason, interview with defense attorneys.
Fenlason told Blaisdell: Blaisdell, interview.
“So, who the fuck: Collin Sharpness, interview.
Fenlason knew: Fenlason, interview.
Payne tried: Chris Payne, interview.
“I heard you like: Eric Lauzier, interview.
Fenlason came to see: Fenlason, interview.
Lauzier thought Fenlason: Lauzier, interview.
“I would say: Lauzier, testimony at Article 32 Hearing.
Lauzier was not: Fenlason, interview with defense attorneys.
Throughout the rest: Payne, interview.
Staff Sergeant Chaz Allen: Chaz Allen, interview.
During one of: Fenlason, interview with defense lawyers; Barnes and Paul Vermillion, interviews.
Norton and Fenlason had: Norton, testimony at Article 32 Hearing; interview.
“Sergeant Fenlason didn’t: Daniel Carrick, interview.
Fenlason conceded: Fenlason, interview.
In the early morning: Evan Kohlmann, Global Terror Alert, April 7, 2006; Andrew Tilghman, “The Myth of AQI,” Washington Monthly, October 2007.
More Iraqi civilians: Louise Roug, “Targeted Killings Surge in Baghdad,” Los Angeles Times, May 7, 2006.
According to Captain Leo: Leo Barron, interview; Stars and Stripes, February 27, 2006.
On February 7: Eric Conrad and Tom Kunk, interviews; Andrew Tilghman, Stars and Stripes, February 25, 2006.
That first mayor: Kunk, interview.
Prior to the Samarra: Barron, interview.
On February 28: Lauzier and Barker, interviews.
But Lauzier couldn’t bear: Lauzier, interview.
“Lauzier was very: Roman Diaz, interview.
Halfway into his: Lauzier, testimony at Article 32 Hearing.
Increasingly alienated: Lauzier, interview.
“He would have done: Barker, interview.
When asked what: Cortez, testimony at U.S. v. Cortez.
“They were a bunch: Carrick, interview.
“Yes, he had control: John Diem, interview.
Cortez was particularly: Lauzier, interview.
18: Back to the TCPs
“About thirty days into it: John Goodwin, interview.
“First Platoon had become: John Diem, interview.
Private First Class Justin Cross: Justin Cross, interview.
“You can’t think: Tony Yribe, interview.
“I don’t know: Justin Watt, interview.
Cross described: Cross, interview.
Charlie Company’s First: Dennis Largent, interview.
Specialist James Barker: James Barker, interview.
“You can see: Fred Wintrich, interview.
“A lot of people: Diem, interview.
Sergeants would egg: Steven Green, interview.
Brigade commander Colonel: Todd Ebel, interview.
“We would turn: James Downs, interview.
“I probably didn’t help: Jared Bordwell, interview.
At the beginning: Jeff Fenlason, interview with defense attorneys.
Fenlason would not have: Fenlason, interview; interview with defense attorneys.
To mitigate this danger: Eric Lauzier, Yribe, Watt, and Cross, interviews.
With Lauzier on leave: Fenlason interview, and interview with defense attorneys; Phil Blaisdell, interview.
Said one squad leader: Matt Marcelino, interview.
Indeed, Cortez was not: Paul Cortez, testimony at U.S. v. Spielman.
Fenlason maintained that: Fenlason, interview with defense lawyers.
“I kept asking: Cortez, testimony at U.S. v. Cortez.
In Achilles in Vietnam: Jonathan Shay, Achilles in Vietnam, pp. 5, 19.
Even though TCP2: Fenlason, testimony at Article 32 Hearing; interview; interview with defense lawyers.
“Fenlason was reliable: Barker, interview.
“This could be: Andrew Tilghman, “Air Assault Spearheads Push to Hurt Insurgency South of Baghdad,” Stars and Stripes, March 4, 2006.
Parts of Bravo’s: Goodwin, Jeremy Gebhardt, and Les Fuller, interviews.
Just after 4:00 p.m.: “AR 15–6 Investigation #06–124: Serious Injury to U.S. Service Member,” December 22, 2006.
He needed to stretch: Goodwin, Gebhardt, and Fuller, interviews; “AR 15–6 Investigation #06–124.”
“That shooting became: Bordwell, interview.
The first lieutenant: “AR 15–6 Investigation #06–124.” 250 “If you were there: Fuller, interview.
On the morning: Timothy J. Daugherty, “AR 15–6 Investigation,” June 29, 2006.
19: The Mayor of Mullah Fayyad
During this TCP rotation: Jeff Fenlason, interview with defense lawyers; interview.
Goodwin was encour
aged: John Goodwin, interview.
Fenlason got this: Phil Blaisdell and Jeremy Gebhardt, interviews.
Charlie Company’s First Sergeant: Dennis Largent, interview.
Those not stationed: Paul Cortez, testimony at U.S. v. Cortez.
Fenlason said he couldn’t: Fenlason, interview with defense attorneys.
Private First Class Justin Cross: Justin Cross, interview.
With the TCP mission: Cortez, testimony at U.S. v. Spielman; Eric Lauzier, Tony Yribe, and Fenlason, interviews.
Despite this regular: Fenlason, interview with defense lawyers.
One major initiative: Fenlason, interview.
Goodwin was getting: Goodwin, interview.
Unfortunately, the men: Cross, interview.
Drinking and drug use: Steven Green, interview.
Some soldiers had: Cross, interview.
These rogue patrols: Sharpness, interview.
On March 9: Cortez, testimony at U.S. v. Spielman.
Fenlason’s approval: Fenlason, interview.
Around two or three: Yribe, interview; testimony at U.S. v. Spielman.
The guys down at: James Barker, testimony at U.S. v. Spielman.
Tonight they were: Yribe and Nicholas Lake, testimony at U.S. v. Spielman; Yribe, interview.
20: The Janabis
The subject of one Article 32 Hearing and five trials (U.S. v. Barker, U.S. v. Cortez, U.S. v. Spielman, U.S. v. Howard, and U.S. v. Green), March 12 is more thoroughly documented than any other event of the deployment. All of those court transcripts have contributed to my attempt to present that day as a seamless whole, but there are numerous discrepancies. James Barker, Paul Cortez, and Jesse Spielman have all, at several junctures, contradicted each other, their own previous court testimony, and the multiple sworn statements they filled out when they confessed. And, over the course of the trials, some differences about what happened that day hardened into irreconcilable alternate versions. More notable, however, are the recollections of Steven Green (who has never testified, even in his own trial, but whom I have interviewed for about six hours), which diverge substantially at several key junctures from the prevailing narrative that emerged over the other trials. I have selected and presented the chain of events that I find most credible, but I have flagged the most prominent alternate versions in the notes below.
On March 12: Green, interview.
Barker had already: Barker, testimony at U.S. v. Green.
Witnesses were a problem: Green, interview.
Invoking the privileges: Barker, testimony at U.S. v. Cortez.
Barker was pushing: Green, interview.
At around noon: U.S. v. Barker; U.S. v. Cortez; U.S. v. Spielman; Green, interview. Barker’s trial, which came first, introduced the card game as the time and place where the plan was initially hatched, and Barker fingered Green as both the plot’s mastermind and the group’s motivator. Cortez, at his trial, followed suit. Spielman, both at his trial and after, contended that nothing about the crime was discussed over cards and that he knew nothing of the plan even after it had already begun. Over the course of the trials, which were spread out over eighteen months, Barker took increasing responsibility for being one of the attacks’ principal architects.
During most of the game: Bryan Howard, testimony at U.S. v. Green.
Cortez later rated: Cortez, testimony at U.S. v. Spielman.
Barker said he: Barker, testimony at U.S. v. Barker.
During one of: Green, interview.
Spielman, who had not: Green, interview; Cortez, testimony at U.S. v. Spielman.
Cortez returned and: Barker, testimony at U.S. v. Cortez.
He and Barker: Green, interview. Cortez has never spoken about any discussions before the card game, and he has claimed that he was merely a follower throughout the entire event. He has also testified that he knew a rape was going to happen but not murder, and he has denied declaring that he intended to rape the girl first.
Cortez briefed Howard: Howard, testimony at U.S. v. Spielman.
Forty-five-year-old: Abu Muhammad, Ameer al-Janabi, Muhammad al-Janabi, and Ahmed Al-Janabi, interview; testimony at U.S. v. Green.
The house was only: Green, interview; U.S. v. Barker; U.S. v. Cortez; U.S. v. Spielman.
“What the fuck: Cortez, interview with doctor, quoted during testimony at U.S. v. Cortez.
In the bedroom: Green, interview. During U.S. v. Green, Spielman testified that he only knocked on the door to check if Green was okay and then went back into the living room.
As Green was: Green, interview; U.S. v. Barker; U.S. v. Cortez; U.S. v. Spielman.
The four men: Green, interview; Howard, testimony at U.S. v. Spielman and U.S. v. Green.
Once their adrenaline: Green, interview; Howard, testimony at U.S. v. Spielman.
Green asked Scheller: Green, interview.
Several hours later: Tony Yribe, testimony at U.S. v. Spielman and U.S. v. Green, interview; Green, interview.
21: Twenty-one Days
Goodwin had low: John Goodwin and Jeff Fenlason, interviews.
The events of the: Ibid.
Yribe, like most: Tony Yribe, Fenlason, and Chaz Allen, interviews.
“Dude, you had: Justin Watt, interview.
At the end: Fenlason, Yribe, and Allen, interviews.
Goodwin’s decision: Fenlason, interview.
His culture shock: Daniel Carrick, interview.
During the three-week: John Diem, interview.
“It was fairly: James Downs, interview.
There were two dogs: Fenlason, interview.
Green, meanwhile: Steven Green, interview.
On March 20: Green medical papers.
In his initial interview: Bob Davis, interview; Green medical papers.
Over the next few: Davis, interview.
Bowler told Kunk: Green medical papers.
In fiscal 2005: Julie Rawe and Aparisim Ghosh, “A Soldier’s Shame,” Time, July 17, 2006.
Even though Green: Green medical papers.
Green disputed: Green, interview.
“I thought it was: Goodwin, testimony at Article 32 Hearing.
Justin Cross had just: Justin Cross, interview.
Fenlason was pissed: Fenlason, interview.
22: “We Had Turned a Corner”
The hunt for Zarqawi: Mark Bowden, “The Ploy,” Atlantic Monthly, May 2007.
As the war ground on: Sean Naylor, “Closing In on Zarqawi,” Air Force Times, May 8, 2006.
Zarqawi, Al Qaeda:Jim Miklaszewski, “Video Posted of Downed Helicopter,” NBC Nightly News. Undated, accessed online, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/12172474#12172474.
It was the first: Stars and Stripes, Mideast edition, “Apache May Have Been Shot Down in Iraq,” April 3, 2006; Evan Kohlmann, “Biography of an Al-Qaida Operative ‘Martyred’ in Iraq: Abu Rabieh al-Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia),” Global Terror Alert Web site; John Goodwin, interview.
“They started putting: Leo Barron, interview.
Numerous units from: Goodwin, Rob Salome, Jeremy Gebhardt, and Les Fuller, interviews.
On April 13: Rick Skidis, interview.
As one first sergeant: Dennis Largent, interview.
“Kunk was starting: Shawn Umbrell, Largent, and Bill Dougherty, interviews.
Largent was in: Largent, interview.
“Now, is that: Dougherty, interview.
Kunk vehemently denied: Tom Kunk, interview.
HHC commander: Umbrell, interview.
Largent was desperate: Largent, interview.
About Largent’s departure: Kunk, interview.
For Goodwin: Goodwin, interview.
Around the same time: MNF-I press release, April 16, 2006; Naylor, “Closing In on Zarqawi.” 291 Nine days after that: MNF-I press release, April 25, 2006.
With uncanny timing: Dexter Filkins, “Qaeda Video Vows Iraq Defeat for ‘Crusader’ U.S.,” New York Times, April 26, 2006; Karen DeYoung, “Zarqawi Taunts U.S. in Vide
o: Leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq Vows to Thwart New Baghdad Government,” Washington Post, April 26, 2006.
In mid-April: Umbrell, interview.
Fenlason, for his part: Jeff Fenlason, interview.
That changed: Daniel Carrick, Fenlason, and Collin Sharpness, interviews.
In mid-May: MNF-I press release, May 15, 2006; Dexter Filkins, “25 Insurgents Killed in Battle South of Baghdad, U.S. Says,” New York Times, May 16, 2006.
Several units from: Gebhardt, interview.
A military spokesperson: Nelson Hernandez and Hassan Shammari, “Scores Are Killed in Heavy Fighting South of Baghdad,” Washington Post, May 16, 2006; MNF-I press release, May 15, 2006.
This is not: Phil Blaisdell and Christopher Thielenhaus, interviews.
Fenlason and Norton: Fenlason and Tim Norton, interviews.
In mid-May: Eric Lauzier and Norton, interviews.
After three years: Bill Powell and Scott MacLeod, “Zarqawi’s Last Dinner Party,” Time, June 11, 2006; Ellen Knickmeyer, “Zarqawi’s Hideout Was Secret Till Last Minute,” Washington Post, June 11, 2006.
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay: BBC.co.uk, “Zarqawi Death Has ‘Little Impact,” July 4, 2006.
By June: Gebhardt, Paul Fisher, and Fuller, interviews.
Iraqi prime minister: Anthony Cordesman, “CSIS Iraqi Force Development: Summer 2006 Update,” August 23, 2006.
Yet throughout the summer: Linda Robinson, Tell Me How This Ends (New York: PublicAffairs, 2008), p. 22.
On June 14, 2006: Thomas E. Ricks, The Gamble (New York: Penguin Press, 2006), p. 50.
After a day or two: Cordesman, “Summer 2006 Update.”
Despite the spike: Bob Woodward, The War Within (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008), p. 59.
With the violence still: Stewart W. Bowen, Jr., Hard Lessons (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, February 9, 2009), p. 278.
23: The Alamo
On June 16: Jeff Fenlason, interview.
With attrition: Tim Norton, interview.
Menchaca hadn’t even: Phil Deem, interview.
The threesome had been: Chaz Allen, interview.
Soldiers stationed: Eric Lauzier and Deem, interviews.
At TCP4: Allen and Lauzier, interviews; Timothy J. Daugherty, “AR 15–6 Investigation: 16 June AIF Attack,” June 29, 2006.
Just over halfway: Daugherty, “AR 15–6 Investigation;” Norton, Lauzier, Collin Sharpness, and Allen, interviews.
Cortez and his men: Daugherty, “AR 15–6 Investigation;” Allen, interview.