More of these civilians ?
Posted on 03/23/2007 3:31:08 PM PDT by leadpenny
WASHINGTON - Marines accused of shooting and killing civilians after a suicide bombing in Afghanistan are under U.S. investigation, and their entire unit has been ordered to leave the country, officials said Friday.
Army Maj. Gen. Francis H. Kearney III, head of Special Operations Command Central, ordered the unit of about 120 Marines out of Afghanistan and initiated an investigation into the March 4 incident, said Lt. Col. Lou Leto, spokesman at Kearney's command headquarters in Tampa, Fla.
It is highly unusual for any combat unit, either special operations or conventional, to have its mission cut short.
A spokesman for the Marine unit, Maj. Cliff Gilmore, said it is in the process of leaving Afghanistan, but he declined to provide details on the timing and new location, citing a need for security.
In the March 4 incident in Nangahar province, an explosives-rigged minivan crashed into a convoy of Marines that U.S. officials said also came under fire from gunmen. As many as 10 Afghans were killed and 34 wounded as the convoy made an escape. Injured Afghans said the Americans fired on civilian cars and pedestrians as they sped away.
U.S. military officials said militant gunmen shot at Marines and may have caused some of the civilian casualties.
President Hamid Karzai condemned the incident, which was one among several involving U.S. forces in which civilians were killed and injured.
Leto, the spokesman at Special Operations Command Central headquarters, said the Marines, after being ambushed, responded in a way that created "perceptions (that) have really damaged the relationship between the local population and this unit."
Therefore, he said, "the general felt it was best to move them out of that area."
Gilmore said the Marine company would complete its overseas deployment with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is the larger unit it sailed with from Camp Lejeune, N.C., in January, but it will no longer operate in Afghanistan.
Of the four Marine Special Operations Command companies that have been established since the command was created in February 2006, the one ordered out of Afghanistan was the first to deploy abroad, Gilmore said. By September 2008 there are to be nine companies operating as part of two special operations battalions, he said.
For years the Marines resisted creating special operations units, arguing that would run counter to their philosophy of viewing all Marines as elite fighters and not singling out elements as special. But former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld pressed them to establish a separate command — the Marine Special Operations Command — to train and equip forces for the multi-service Special Operations Command.
There are about 25,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, mostly conventional combat forces and support units.
CM...I am sorry your guys got extended...personally, for your sake.
However, I am so proud of them..and I know how necessary this war is, that I am grateful for their help.
Prayers for them both..and for you, my friend.
LOVE that cartoon!!!
More of these civilians ?
Thanks.
me too.
8-)
It's worse now than it ever was.
MORE SOLDIERS DESERTING THAN PREVIOUSLY REPORTED... DEVELOPING...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1805315/posts
I did a very simple research of the author's most recent articles and this is what I found:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/z/paul_von_zielbauer/index.html?inline=nyt-per
As you will see, each and every article was negative. There was not one positive article. I find it difficult to believe that the Great and Mighty New York Times cannot find one positive action/event/battle in our struggle against Terrorists who use women and children as human shields and or decoys. But it seems you have no trouble believing MSM and regurgitating each and every morsel written.
For U.S. Troops At War, Liquor Is Spur to Crime By PAUL VON ZIELBAUER; ANDREW LEHREN CONTRIBUTED REPORTING. Strictly forbidden by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan, alcohol is a factor in a growing number of crimes by troops. March 13, 2007 World News
THE REACH OF WAR; G.I. Gets 18-Year Prison Term For Killing 2 Captive Iraqis By PAUL VON ZIELBAUER Pfc. Corey R. Clagett pleaded guilty to killing two unarmed Iraqis during an assault northwest of Baghdad last May. January 26, 2007 World News
THE STRUGGLE FOR IRAQ; Army Says Improper Orders By Colonel Led to 4 Deaths By PAUL VON ZIELBAUER Army investigators say that Col. Michael D. Steele, a decorated combat veteran and brigade commander in Iraq, issued improper orders to his soldiers that contributed to the deaths of four unarmed Iraqi men during a raid in May, according to military documents. No charges have been filed against Colonel Steele in the Army's continuing investigation. But two Defense Department officials said last week that Colonel Steele was formally reprimanded in the summer by Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the fo... January 21, 2007 World News
THE STRUGGLE FOR IRAQ; U.S. Inquiry Backs Charges Of Killing by Marines in Iraq By PAUL VON ZIELBAUER; DAVID S. CLOUD CONTRIBUTED REPORTING. An American government report on the killing of 24 Iraqis, including several women and children, by marines in the village of Haditha in 2005 provides new details of how the shootings unfolded and supports allegations by prosecutors that a few marines illegally killed civilians, government officials said yesterday. The report, by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, contains thousands of pages of interviews with marines, Iraqi Army soldiers who had accompanied them and Iraqi villagers who h... January 7, 2007 World News
Soldier Reaches Plea Deal In the Killing of 3 Iraqis By PAUL VON ZIELBAUER A soldier from the 101st Airborne Division is scheduled to plead guilty next Tuesday to a reduced charge for mercy killing in connection with the death of three unarmed Iraqi men shot by American infantrymen last spring, according to lawyers for other defendants in the case. The terms of the plea arrangement will allow the soldier, Specialist Juston R. Graber, originally charged with capital murder, to be convicted of aggravated assault and to receive a nine-month prison sentence in exchange for... January 4, 2007 U.S. News
Soldier to Plead Guilty in Iraq Rape and Killings By PAUL VON ZIELBAUER One of four Army infantrymen charged with raping a 14-year-old girl in Iraq and then killing her and her family will plead guilty Wednesday, his lawyers said. November 15, 2006 U.S. News
THE STRUGGLE FOR IRAQ; 7 U.S. Troops Die in Iraq; U.S. Intelligence Chief Visits By SABRINA TAVERNISE; REPORTING WAS CONTRIBUTED BY PAUL VON ZIELBAUER IN WASHINGTON, JOHN O'NEIL IN NEW YORK, and KHALID AL-ANSARY and QAIS MIZHER IN BAGHDAD. John D. Negroponte met with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, the second high-level visit by a U.S. official in a week. November 4, 2006 World News
THE STRUGGLE FOR IRAQ; Father of Missing U.S. Soldier Says Son Just Made a Mistake in Quest to Find His Calling By PAUL VON ZIELBAUER; TOBY LYLES CONTRIBUTED RESEARCH FROM NEW YORK. Ahmed Kousay al-Taie’ s parents described him as a man who, searching for a cause and career, found both in Iraq. November 3, 2006 World News
Iraqi Journalists Add Laws to Their List Of War's Dangers By PAUL VON ZIELBAUER; SAHAR NAGEEB and AN IRAQI EMPLOYEE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES CONTRIBUTED REPORTING. Roughly a dozen Iraqi journalists have been charged under a new set of laws criminalizing speech against the government. September 29, 2006 World News
know = no
Bummer! :(
You're really over-thinking things, and I can't help you with your perception. After all, that's your reality.
Please see murron's Post #59.
You know our thoughts and prayers go with him, murron.
damn straight.
Another one of these civilians ?
Bless him and his and hang tough! Semper Fi
I missed your post earlier and I hope everything turns out okay for your son and the unit
Prayers for your son and his fellow Marines, they are some of America's finest.
Thank heavens they didn't use this methoed of fighting WWII, or the US would be speaking German & Japanese...
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