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Green Berets Face Hearing on Killing of Suspect in Afghan Village
The New York Times ^ | 17 September 2007 | PAUL von ZIELBAUER

Posted on 09/21/2007 11:30:49 AM PDT by brent1a

FORT BRAGG, N.C., Sept. 17 — From his position about 100 yards away, Master Sgt. Troy Anderson had a clear shot at the Afghan man standing outside a residential compound in a village near the Pakistan border last October. When Capt. Dave Staffel, the Special Forces officer in charge, gave the order to shoot, Sergeant Anderson fired a bullet into the man’s head, killing him.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; berets; davestaffel; military; terrorism; troyanderson
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To: r9etb

To your point 2. There is EVERYTHING wrong with a hearing like this. They soldiers were operating within the ROE in effect in the field. They had PID on a known terrorist that gives them a green light to ventilate. This so called general is killing moral, even the lawyers, after investigation signed off on the shot a righteous.


21 posted on 09/21/2007 12:00:13 PM PDT by CTK YKC
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To: brent1a
I at least recognize our demise

Give me a break. What's recognizable is the fact that you are a defeatist nancy.

22 posted on 09/21/2007 12:00:43 PM PDT by wideawake (Why is it that so many self-proclaimed "Constitutionalists" know so little about the Constitution?)
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To: geezerwheezer
Isn’t this the same REMF that had a group of Marines tossed out of the AOA because of a firefight about 6 months ago???
23 posted on 09/21/2007 12:01:02 PM PDT by rightwingextremist1776
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To: brent1a
Capt. Dave Staffel and Master Sgt. Troy Anderson are accused of premeditated murder in the shooting of Nawab Buntangyar on Oct. 13, 2006, at the village of Ster Kalay near the Pakistan border. They were on a mission as part of Operational Detachment Alpha 374 of the 3rd Battalion of the 3rd Special Forces Group.

It is my understanding that the Sharpshooter was under orders to take the target out. Did anyone else hear that? What do the Geneva rules have to do with people who do not have a clue as to what those rules are?

What on earth is happening at the Pentagon? Congressional and Senatorial rules of engagement?…..a body crippled by Political Correctness………we’re gonna run out of good Marines if this doesn’t stop. These men are fighting a WAR for the lord’s sake….get off their backs.

24 posted on 09/21/2007 12:01:19 PM PDT by yoe ( NO THIRD TERM FOR THE CLINTON'S!!!)
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To: brent1a; theDentist
I seem to remember hearing something about the Great Republic of Rome falling.

Translation: brentla admits he knows nothing of either US history or Roman history.

25 posted on 09/21/2007 12:02:48 PM PDT by wideawake (Why is it that so many self-proclaimed "Constitutionalists" know so little about the Constitution?)
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To: r9etb
No, I’m going to give them a friggin medal for killing a creep.

In addition, they were cleared by two military investigations. This general needs to be retired, ASAP.

26 posted on 09/21/2007 12:02:49 PM PDT by stop_fascism
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To: r9etb
Imagine if actions like this were never investigated.

Wouldn't it be nice if our men and women didn't have to worry about being investigated for actually doing their jobs?

No, wait....maybe we should just assign a NYU/Columbia lawyer to every single military member just so we can fight the war just like the Comrade Liberals think it should be fought.

27 posted on 09/21/2007 12:05:10 PM PDT by brent1a (You're a great American! NO, YOU'RE A GREAT AMERICAN! No, you're a great American!!!!)
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To: CTK YKC
Let's first get something straight: this particular bad guy needed to be taken down, and I'm glad he was. Now to your comment.

There is EVERYTHING wrong with a hearing like this.

No, there's not.

If the facts are as presented, it should be a very SHORT hearing, which is the outcome I would prefer.

But now let's look at the circumstances of his death. The bad guy was, in essence, assassinated. I don't have a particular problem with that for specific and well-defined cases, but I also wouldn't want to see assassination become a general tactic: too much opportunity for our actions to go awry, and too much danger that it would turn the Afghans against us.

Accountability is a good thing in that case: it would help to limit assassinations to the "specific and well-defined" category.

28 posted on 09/21/2007 12:07:05 PM PDT by r9etb
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To: brent1a; wideawake
Let's say you are a sniper and see a target and request permission to fire. The REMF OK it. Do you pull the trigger knowing you could be charged with murder or do you not fire and face the brig for diobeying an order? Decisions, decisions.

If you are going to send the kids into war, then send them. I must be living in bizzaro world.

29 posted on 09/21/2007 12:09:52 PM PDT by MattinNJ (I'm pulling for Fred Thompson and Duncan Hunter-...but I'd vote for Rudy against Hillary)
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To: r9etb

So we need a hearing for everyone a trooper kills who we don’t actually have footage showing them trying to kill the soldier?

Give me (and them!) a break.


30 posted on 09/21/2007 12:14:39 PM PDT by Little Ray (Rudy Guiliani: If his wives can't trust him, why should we?)
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To: r9etb
If the facts are as presented, it should be a very SHORT hearing, which is the outcome I would prefer.

It was and the Berets were cleared......now numnuts General Frank H. Kearney pulls the soldiers out of the field, and tries to convict them for murder. As one poster already stated, if this idiot was my commander, I'd just go home.....

31 posted on 09/21/2007 12:14:51 PM PDT by ScreamingFist (Annihilation - The result of underestimating your enemies. NRA)
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To: yoe
It is my understanding that the Sharpshooter was under orders to take the target out. Did anyone else hear that?

What apparently happened.

(1) The unit was informed that a specific person was a legitimate target who could be shot on sight.

(2) The unit found out where this target was hiding.

(3) They tracked him down to his hideout and verbally confronted him, asking him to identify himself. He came outside and complied with their directions and answered their questions.

(4) Once he identified himself verbally, the warrior who verbally confronted him made a prearranged hand signal to a concealed sniper.

(5) The sniper then killed the target.

The question here is whether or not the unit violated the laws of war by killing a target that they could have captured.

There are many possible reasons why they may have needed to kill him - it may not have been safe to transport him, there may have been nearby terrorists waiting for the target's signal, etc.

I'm sure it was completely justified. But the circumstances aren't as simple as you suggest.

What do the Geneva rules have to do with people who do not have a clue as to what those rules are?

The fact that the US honors the Convention is one of the moral identifiers separating us from the lawless savages we are fighting.

32 posted on 09/21/2007 12:15:53 PM PDT by wideawake (Why is it that so many self-proclaimed "Constitutionalists" know so little about the Constitution?)
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To: brent1a

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again.

We cannot win this war until our Soldier, Sailors, Airmen and Marines occupy and conquer Washington DC.


33 posted on 09/21/2007 12:16:39 PM PDT by Leatherneck_MT (A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.)
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To: kathsua

Whatever happened to shoot, shovel and shut up?


34 posted on 09/21/2007 12:18:38 PM PDT by JimRed ("Hey, hey, Teddy K., how many girls did you drown today?" TERM LIMITS, NOW!)
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To: MattinNJ
Let's say you are a sniper and see a target and request permission to fire. The REMF OK it.

That description doesn't really capture the details of the case.

35 posted on 09/21/2007 12:20:02 PM PDT by wideawake (Why is it that so many self-proclaimed "Constitutionalists" know so little about the Constitution?)
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To: Little Ray

I didn’t say that.


36 posted on 09/21/2007 12:20:30 PM PDT by r9etb
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To: JimRed
Also scheduled to testify is Sgt. First Class Scott R. Haarer, a paralegal on General Kearney’s staff last October who, as part of the military justice procedure, signed the forms that charged Captain Staffel and Sergeant Anderson with murder.

In a notarized statement, Sergeant Haarer told defense lawyers last week that he would not have accused the soldiers of any crime if he had known that the Criminal Investigation Command had determined that the shooting was justified.

37 posted on 09/21/2007 12:22:39 PM PDT by ScreamingFist (Annihilation - The result of underestimating your enemies. NRA)
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To: wideawake
you are a defeatist nancy.

Well, I wish I had a good reply to that. As a defeatist nancy who is a former Marine Infantryman and now a Police Officer I guess I have no basis to know what I am talking about.

Let me know when the great and powerful government that protects us is going (for instance) to go ahead and disband the 20+ known private muslim "retreats" that are in the USA. Oh wait, we can't do anything to infringe on their legal rights........Now let me know when YOU are going to do something about those camps and then let me know how you're going to do it and get away with it. Oh wait, you're not going to do anything about them because if you did you would be put in prison for protecting you family.

I personally think that a great big RESET button needs to be hit and the USA and start over from right after WWII. When you can figure out a way to hit that reset button without there being a civil war here in the US let me know.....I wanted to avoid sounding like some crazy kook but it's the truth. If you can't recognize that we're in a downward spiral then I'm obviously talking to a wall.

38 posted on 09/21/2007 12:23:38 PM PDT by brent1a (You're a great American! NO, YOU'RE A GREAT AMERICAN! No, you're a great American!!!!)
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To: wideawake
Translation: brentla admits he knows nothing of either US history or Roman history.

Go ahead and give me a history lesson then. Because the only way we can stop this downward spiral is if the good and righteous citizens of the US have a physical revolution/civil war.

But, of course, that's just crazy talk.

39 posted on 09/21/2007 12:27:39 PM PDT by brent1a (You're a great American! NO, YOU'RE A GREAT AMERICAN! No, you're a great American!!!!)
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To: ScreamingFist
In a notarized statement, Sergeant Haarer told defense lawyers last week that he would not have accused the soldiers of any crime if he had known that the Criminal Investigation Command had determined that the shooting was justified.

Whatever the actual merits of the case, that part is just plain strange. Does a Sgt. First Class paralegal have the wherewithal or authority to decide on charges, or to make accusations?

And since he says he did make the accusation, what was it about the facts he had at the time, that made him decide to make the accusation?

The fact that he later changed his mind is interesting, but it dodges the question above. Is there more ambiguity to the facts than are being presented by the soldiers' lawyers?

40 posted on 09/21/2007 12:28:40 PM PDT by r9etb
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