Operation Desert Storm

Investigation of a U.S. Army Fratricide Incident Gao ID: OSI-95-10 April 7, 1995

During the Persian Gulf War, one soldier was killed and another wounded when U.S. troops mistook them for the enemy. GAO found serious flaws in an Army investigation of the incident, which cleared Army officers of responsibility. Investigators never sought to resolve inconsistent claims concerning warning shots and purported return fire. A Judge Advocate who reviewed the Army's investigation believed that one of the investigating officer's "objectivity was skewed" and that he had a predetermined conclusion concerning the case. Although the Judge Advocate recommended reprimands for officers involved in the case, the reprimands were ultimately either withdrawn or not entered into the personnel files. Three servicemen involved in the "friendly fire" were later granted awards for valor based on misrepresentations from military officers. On the basis of GAO's findings, the Army decided to rescind these awards.

GAO found: (1) that factors contributing to the fratricide incident included incomplete and confusing operation plans and orders, disintegrated coordination along the corps boundary, and commanders that did not maintain control of their units; (2) that the Army did not conduct a complete and thorough investigation of the incident and one investigating officer had a predetermined conclusion concerning the case; (3) that the Army recommended that three officers be reprimanded and the executive officer of engineers be admonished, but two reprimands were not made part of the officers' personnel files and the third reprimand was withdrawn; and (4) no evidence of intentional document destruction, witness intimidation, or witness retaliation, although questions regarding the completeness and accuracy of the investigations remain, and three Army personnel received heroism awards based on misleading statements and inaccurate information.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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