Nevada dad seeks new probe into son’s death in Iraq

CARSON CITY — A Nevada man is pressing for a new investigation into his son’s 2006 death in Iraq, saying a report by an online magazine casts doubt on the Army’s conclusion that it resulted from enemy fire.

Roger Suarez of Carson City said the Oct. 14 article by Salon.com suggests his 21-year-old son, Pfc. Roger Suarez-Gonzalez, and a comrade were killed in Ramadi by friendly fire instead.

"Why they don’t tell me the truth?" Suarez asked. "Why they lie to me? Nobody gives me answers."

The Army did not immediately respond to an e-mail request for comment Sunday.

Nine months after his son’s Dec. 4, 2006, death, Suarez received an Army report that concluded Suarez-Gonzalez and Pfc. Albert Nelson were killed by "two enemy mortar rounds."

The father said he never understood the report and now doubts it because of the Salon.com article that suggests they died from a U.S. tank shell.

The article was based on eyewitness accounts and on video and audio recorded by a soldier’s helmet-mounted camera that captured the incident that day.

According to Salon.com, the video shows soldiers just after the blast claiming to have watched the tank fire on them. Then a sergeant tries to report over a radio that a U.S. tank killed his men.

Suarez-Gonzalez and Nelson, whose platoon was based at Fort Carson, Colo., were on a rooftop at the time.

Suarez said he thinks the Army could have handled the situation differently by being candid about the evidence from the start.

"I don’t want this to happen again," he told the Nevada Appeal. "But believe (the report) or not, what can I do?"

Suarez said he hopes another investigation will be conducted, but he doesn’t know where to turn for help.

Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-Pa., has said the new information surrounding the deaths of the two soldiers warrants a new Army investigation.

Nelson’s mother, Jean Feggins of Philadelphia, has said she never believed the official report and also wants answers from the Army.

Suarez, who became a U.S. citizen in 1995, flew to Nicaragua two years later to pick up his son from his first marriage and bring him to Carson City to join his new family.

His son attended Eagle Valley Middle School for two years and Carson High School for two years before joining the Army.