Posted on 08/12/2012 8:20:40 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
Pendleton captain killed by Afghan police
SAN DIEGO - A captain based at Pendleton was one of three Marines killed Friday in Helmand province by an Afghan police officer with whom he had just shared a meal, it was reported Saturday.
Matt Manoukian, 29, of Los Altos Hills, was killed after being invited by an Afghan police commander to a meeting in Sangin district, long a Taliban stronghold, to discuss security issues, The U-T San Diego reported.
Before the meeting, Manoukian and the other two Marines killed shared a meal with their killer.
The attack was the third of its kind in a week.
The shooter, identified as member of the Afghan National Police, got away, the newspaper reported. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told The U-T the attacker joined the insurgency after his attack Friday.
"Now, he is with us," Ahmadi said.
In July, Manounkian told The U-T he trusted Afghan forces as his partners in a joint mission of "security, governance and development. It's a full-spectrum operation."
In 25 attacks this year, 31 U.S. coalition service members have died at the hands of Afghan forces or insurgents disguised in Afghan uniforms, according to NATO.
There were 11 such attacks and 20 deaths last year, according to an Associated Press count.
Each of the previous two years saw five such attacks.
Manoukian, the son of two judges, joined the Marine Corps about seven years ago.
He was on his fourth deployment, his second to Afghanistan.
"He loved the Marines," his father, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Socrates "Peter" Manoukian said.
"He loved America. He loved people who were different than him. He was the ultimate tough guy, and if he was on your side, you were going to have a good day."
At 6 feet 3 inches, he was offered a chance to walk on to the football team at UCLA, his father said, but decided to attend the University of Arizona, where he earned a bachelor's degree in political science in 2005.
Peter Manoukian, whose family is of Armenian heritage, said his son talked about becoming a Marine since he was 10.
He said his son, who spoke Arabic, bonded with the Afghani people and helped open a school and set up a police station in Anbar province, among other things.
``We were always worried because we knew he would always run to trouble. He wanted to help. He was a heat-seeking missile," his father said.
The deployment was to be Manoukian's last, his father said, adding that his son had been accepted at a law school.
He is survived by his mother, Associate Justice Patricia Bamattre-Manoukian, a member of the California Court of Appeal's Sixth Appellate District since 1989; and brothers Michael, 27, and Martin, 22.
His family and local Marines were making funeral arrangements Friday.
But there is nothing there for our guys to die for. Nothing. Every death is meaningless.
To me it’s nothing. Karsi (sp) wants to turn the country over to the Taliban (again) - all our men and women who’ve died there was for nothing. I’ve never been an anti-war person until now. I hate everything there is about Afghanistan. Iraq was bad enough. Where’s the protesting against Obama’s war? It’s okay now for the left since he’s president. Where’s the Pink whatever’s? Where’s the protesting that went on under Bush? Obama is responsible for whatever deaths happen there to our troops.
Stop trying to dishonor the brave Americans who have fallen.
Our fightingmen and women are defending our way of life from a barbaric and murderous 7th century distortion of worship.
Our best and most honorable have tried. Afcrapistan isn’t worth any more of their blood. Too many of the animals who live there don’t want a functional nation. So give them what they want: a glorious death for allah/Azaezel.
We aren’t fighting a war. Our brave warriors aren’t allowed to. Look at the current ROEs.
I say let’s get out or fight a war. Total war with all weapons at our disposal. And let’s start caring for our troops’ safety more than the enemies’.
Poorly stated: I meant lets get our warriors out or let then fight a true war...
Poppies.......poppies....... Smack is a global power, like oil.
Don't believe me? Ask the Sinolas.
Our Generals are traitors. This is BS to force our men to interact with the enemy as though they are friends. They must always wait for that instant attack, byt never offend them.
Thanks McChristol, Petraeus, and now USAF Norton Schwartz wants to give them attack aircraft. F-ing traitors, take care of your people.
“Stop trying to dishonor the brave Americans who have fallen.”
Dishonoring them is done by automatically justifying any fight they are in, regardless of the insane ROE, the incompetence of the flag officers, and the FACT that the goal has changed from after 911. We are killing our best and brightest for nothing. America would be better served by him going off to college, playing football, raising a family, and counteracting the human detrius at home, like OWS.
The lives of such men are not to be taken lightly, and their loss dismissed with trite patriotic statements.
This man was lost in a ridiculous situation. Having dinner with someone who should have NEVER been trusted, in hopes that if we are super nice to them, they will want to be our friends. It’s nothing but childish.
Nobody can nationbuild that place. They are barely even human. Or maybe you think we can out-brutalize the efforts of the USSR there?
We have been there three times longer than we were in WWII. We dishonor the troops when we keep sending them to do an impossible task, with rules designed not to hurt anyones feelings.
The one fact that should tell you we are wasting the troops, is that they are strictly forbidden from damaging the opium and heroin industry there. WTF??
Well put, and, yeah, I am VERY concerned.
There is so much politically correct delusion in the military, it’s unreal. It’s deadly. If Congress was not a one party corrupt thing, they would be holding hearings on leftist social lies versus realities and respect for soldiers’ lives.
At least as the left betrayed our soldiers in the cold war, loyal American-Americans in the DNC and GOP made a stink about it and the public made the leftists in power pay. This is a big screw up in military leadership!
I agree. This is the latest in a string of incidents that prove the longstanding point... those vermin might appear to welcome you at the outset, but at the end of the given day, their doctrine demands they kill you.
Those creatures are irredeemable. Their brains are too diseased with the koranic filth that`s been pumped into them since birth. They were handed a rare opportunity to become human and rebuild as a nation... unfortunately, they prefer their 7th century, tribal, dead-end, caveman culture.
We should`ve left those vile, worthless vermin under the control of the Soviets. Giving them aid vs. the USSR, while it seemed the right thing to do at the time, was the worst strategic blunder the USA had committed in a generation.
As if we need any more (than the dozens we already know) reason to make certain this despicable, cretin, POS is not removed from office, this should cause everyone's (especially those serving or who have served) blood to boil
US secretly releasing Taliban fighters, report says
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/05/07/us-secretly-releasing-taliban-fighters-report-says/
The US has been secretly releasing captured Taliban fighters from a detention center in Afghanistan in a bid to strengthen its hand in peace talks with the insurgent group, the Washington Post reported Monday.
The "strategic release" program of high-level detainees is designed to give the US a bargaining chip in some areas of Afghanistan where international forces struggle to exercise control, the report said.
Under the risky program, the hardened fighters must promise to give up violence and are threatened with further punishment, but there is nothing to stop them resuming attacks against Afghan and American troops.
"Everyone agrees they are guilty of what they have done and should remain in detention. Everyone agrees that these are bad guys. But the benefits outweigh the risks," a US official told the Post.
In a visit to Afghanistan last week, President Barack Obama confirmed that the US was pursuing peace talks with the Taliban.
"We have made it clear that they [the Taliban] can be a part of this future if they break with Al Qaeda, renounce violence, and abide by Afghan laws. Many members of the Taliban -- from foot soldiers to leaders -- have indicated an interest in reconciliation. A path to peace is now set before them," Obama said.
That's like dealing with the aliens in Independence Day. They didn't want peace, they wanted us to die.
RIP Warrior and Semper Fi. May God comfort your grieving family, friends and comrades at arms. I hope there is a special place in hell reserved for the murderers.
They’re fighting over there to try to rid Afghanistan of the Taliban which isn’t working. They’re basically doing training and they’re getting killed by those they train. Has nothing to do with defending our way of life. There’s more Islamic terrorists outside of Afghanistan that we should be worried about.
RIP marines...
It is sad though that people who have suffered for generations at the hsnds of the muslims fail to teach their children (and us for that matter). An Armenian should have known better than to trust muslims...
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