Daily Kos :: Criminal negligence in Mosul kills 20 soldiers

No one could imagine a tent mess hall was puting troops at risk ?

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Rocket attack on U.S. base kills more than 20
Strike could be deadliest on U.S. forces since invasion

U.S. troops help a wounded comrade after an attack on a dining facility at a base near Mosul, Iraq.

MOSUL, Iraq (CNN) -- A midday rocket attack on a U.S. military base in northern Iraq killed more than 20 people and wounded another 57, U.S. military and civilian officials said Tuesday.

The exact death toll remained unclear late Tuesday.

In Washington, the Pentagon said 22 people, including 19 U.S. troops, were killed in the attack. Details on the other three dead were not immediately known.

Meanwhile, military contractor Halliburton Co. reported seven deaths -- four employees with its subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root -- and three subcontractors.

It's unclear whether the three other deaths cited by military officials include any of the Halliburton workers.

Pentagon officials blamed the blast at Camp Marez in Mosul on a rocket attack. One rocket hit the dining hall. Another landed on the ground of the base but did not cause any casualties.

Two other rockets landed outside the base, which the U.S. Army shares with the Iraqi national guard, Pentagon officials said. The attack occurred while soldiers were sitting down to lunch in the mess tent.

CNN.com - Rocket attack on U.S. base kills more than 20 - Dec 22, 2004

Criminal negligence in Mosul
by kos
Wed Dec 22nd, 2004 at 12:07:06 CDT

Soldiers at the Mosul base knew it was only a matter of time.
CNN personnel who have visited the base said the dining area is a tent-like facility with no hardened protection -- and that soldiers had specifically raised concerns that they could be targeted by insurgents at meal time.

One had told CNN it was only a matter of time before there was an attack on the mess hall.

"There is a level of vulnerability when you go in there, and you don't feel like there's a hard roof over your head," said Lt. Col. Paul Hastings, an officer at Camp Marez.
A new mess hall was being built. But why wasn't it finished?
A sturdier structure designed to replace the mess is being built at the base, but the work has been plagued by delays. Hastings said workers from KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton, were supposed to have completed it by Christmas.

...Without those delays, the mess hall would've been finished, and the troops would've been protected from these sorts of attacks.

Daily Kos :: Criminal negligence in Mosul