27 July 2005The NationScott Gold and Rone Tempest, Times Staff Writers
A company of the California Army National Guard has been put on restricted duty and its battalion plunged into disarray amid allegations that battalion members mistreated detainees in Iraq and extorted shopkeepers, according to military officials and members of the unit.Col. David Baldwin, a California state Guard spokesman, confirmed Tuesday that investigations are underway into the allegations of mistreatment of prisoners by members of Fullerton-based Alpha Company of the 1st Battalion of the 184th Infantry Regiment.
The company, made up of roughly 130 soldiers, is deployed at Forward Operating Base Falcon outside Baghdad. It has been put on restricted duty while the Army reviews its performance, Baldwin said.Baldwin also confirmed the existence of the investigation of the alleged extortion, which involves members of another company in the battalion.The battalion's commander, Lt. Col. Patrick Frey, has been suspended while the investigation is conducted, Baldwin said.Soldiers from a third company in the battalion have also been "pulled back to garrison mode," a military official said.Baldwin declined to discuss the allegations in detail or name the soldiers and officers involved. The "National Guard cannot comment on an ongoing U.S. Army investigation," he said.Capt. Daniel Markert, commander of the battalion's rear detachment at its Modesto headquarters, said that word of the investigation has begun reaching soldiers' families in California. One family, he said, had called him to report that their "son was in trouble" and to pass along a request from the soldier's attorney to begin obtaining "character statements" on his behalf."What we have been told," Markert said, "is that there is an investigation underway involving very serious violations of the Uniform Military Code."Maj. Gen. William G. Webster Jr., the U.S. commander of military forces in Baghdad, is overseeing the investigation."In the eyes of the military, these soldiers are innocent until proven guilty," Task Force Baghdad spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Boylan said in an interview from Baghdad.The Army's Criminal Investigation Division and other military officials have ordered soldiers not to discuss the investigations, and many of the troops are anxious, according to one member of the battalion who spoke on condition of anonymity.One high-ranking officer held a meeting with company leaders in recent weeks and declared that "this is us against them," — active-duty Army investigators versus part-time "citizen soldiers" from the National Guard — said the battalion member."There is a lot of fear," a second member of the battalion said. "There is a lot of uncertainty."Members of the battalion caused a stir last year when several were quoted in a Times story expressing concerns that their training was poor and inadequate. Some soldiers in the battalion blame its current woes on their allegedly poor training."This is a battalion that is just rotting," one said. "There is no trust in each other. There is no confidence in leadership."Boylan said the allegations have nothing to do with the military's efforts to prepare National Guard troops for war."It is not a matter of training," he said. "It comes down to a matter of right and wrong."Among the allegations now under investigation is that at least six soldiers from the battalion took part in a scheme to extort money from Iraqi shopkeepers, apparently in exchange for protection from insurgents.The payments allegedly exceeded $30,000, two sources said, and were made in U.S. currency, according to one member of the battalion who has been briefed on the investigation. Another soldier said the scheme allegedly was carried out during night patrols in the Baghdad area.
