Posted on 09/13/2006 9:09:10 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
KABUL, Afghanistan - The U.S. military said Wednesday it is looking into the unauthorized release of a photo purportedly taken by an American drone aircraft showing scores of Taliban militants at a funeral in Afghanistan.
NBC-TV claimed that U.S. Army officers wanted to attack the ceremony with missiles carried by the Predator drone, but were prevented under rules of battlefield engagement that bar attacks on cemeteries.
Lt. Tamara Lawrence, a spokeswoman with the U.S. military in Kabul, said the photograph was released to the network by someone who did not have the clearance to hand it out.
"It is an operational security issue, and the photo was released at an inappropriate level," Lawrence told The Associated Press. "Inquiries are being made into how it was released."
Lawrence declined to provide further details. It was not clear when the photo was taken nor where the gathering took place.
The grainy black and white photo shows what NBC says are some 190 Taliban militants standing in several rows near a vehicle in an open area of land. The black outline of a box — apparently the sight of the drone — is positioned over the group.
NBC quoted one Army officer who was involved with the spy mission as saying "we were so excited" that the group had been spotted and was in the sights of a U.S. drone. But the network quoted the officer, who was not identified, as saying that frustration soon set in after the officers realized they couldn't bomb the funeral under the military's rules of engagement.
Taliban militants this year have been waging their bloodiest campaign of violence since their 2001 ouster from power in the U.S.-led invasion launched after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The U.S. military has previously used Predator drones with deadly effect, firing one missile into a Pakistani tribal area near the Afghan border in January in a failed bid to kill al-Qaida deputy Ayman al-Zawahri. The strike killed at least 13 civilians.
The enemy within..
Sometimes I wonder if we've got the stomach to win this war. Given a reversal of roles, I wonder whether the al Qaeda would have walked away from the chance to ambush a group of American soldiers performing a battlefield burial.
Governor Tanweel (Taniwal) was a good mo fo. He's the guy whose funeral that was, in your post, and he too was murdered by the TB. He took the job even though a prominent warlord (who helped us overthrow the TB) wanted it badly enough to start attacking him.
I am out of the loop now, and don't know if the scumbag that whacked my man Tanweel was a TB (probably), AQ (maybe), or warlord guy (the last, not very likely, by not impossible).
The warlord (Pacha Khan Zadran) is as big a piece of donkey dung as ever dropped along an Afghan trail. Unfortunately he is very typical of Afghan "leaders."
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
And oddly enough, I don't see the MSM coming to this whistleblower's rescue....
I guess we aren't really at war after all.....
I guess we aren't really at war after all.....
_____________________________________________________
I don't think we are at war at all. Bush doesn't seem think we are either. I know Condi doesn't at all. Too bad Bush doesn't grow a spine.
ping
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.