Free Republic

WHEN a military court yesterday decided to drop manslaughter charges against two Australian commandos over the deaths of six Afghan civilians, it was the first time in more than two years that the men could "have their lives back". Early on February 12, 2009, a force of Australian special forces soldiers crept up to an Afghan qala, a homestead surrounded by a mud brick wall, to capture an insurgent commander they'd been told was hiding there. It was an hour or so after midnight at Surkh Morghab, about 10km from the soldiers' base at Tarin Kowt. In icy darkness, the...

THE case against two Army Reserve soldiers charged with manslaughter in Afghanistan will not proceed to a court martial, a judge advocate has decided. This means the case has been dismissed and the charges will be referred back to the Director of Military Prosecutions (DMP), Judge Advocate Brigadier Ian Westwood said at a pre-trial hearing in Sydney today. A court martial set down for July 11 will now not proceed and the prosecution will have to decide whether to bring further charges against the pair. Judge Advocate Westwood was delivering his judgment on pre-trial issues relating to the men's case....

EVIDENCE shows two Army Reserve soldiers charged with manslaughter in Afghanistan knew civilians were present during an operation, a judge advocate has been told. The two accused Army Reserve soldiers had a duty of care to civilians during the February 2009 operation, Lieutenant Colonel Tom Berkley for the prosecution told a pre-trial hearing in Sydney today. Judge Advocate Brigadier Ian Westwood is conducting a hearing on pre-trial issues relating to the men's court martial, which has been set down for July 11 in Sydney. The charges relate to a February 12, 2009 incident, when members of the Special Operations Task...

AUSTRALIAN patrols have uncovered caches of weapons, munitions, bombs and bomb-making equipment hidden by insurgents in the Oruzgan province. The commander of the Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force said the discoveries in the Mirabad region of the province reduced the Taliban's ability to target civilians, Afghan security forces and coalition troops. "With our Afghan partners, we are continuing the high tempo of patrols," task force commander Lieutenant Colonel Shane Gabriel said in a statement. "This includes elements that are conducting operations to disrupt the IED (improvised explosive device), command and control networks of the insurgency. "The insurgents continue to use...

AUSTRALIAN special forces troops have killed a senior Taliban commander in Afghanistan in an operation expected to disrupt insurgent activity for some months. Mullah Noorullah and one other insurgent were tracked moving into a tunnel system in the Oruzgan area, where Australian forces are based. They were killed in a targeted operation, defence said. Noorullah, classed as a senior insurgent commander, was involved in the use of improvised explosive devices and rocket attacks against coalition forces. He was also understood to have been involved in the major battle with Afghan and Australian forces on April 12 in which up to...

An American soldier killed in the south of Afghanistan An American soldier was killed Thursday at the time of engagements against supposed talibans Thursday in the south of Afghanistan, announced Friday the American army. A joint patrol American and Afghan soldiers intercepted "a group of 10 to 15 elements anti-coalition Thursday to approximately 35 km in the west of Deh Rawood, in the province of Oruzgan", indicated an official statement of the headquarters of the American army to Bagram, in the north of Kabul. A plane A-10 Thunderbolt and Ah-64 helicopters intervened in support for the forces on the...

The Pentagon (CNSNews.com) - An air strike that Afghan officials said killed more than 40 civilians in Oruzgan on July 1 was based on observations by U.S. troops on the ground, not false information from rival Afghan forces, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters Monday. "We had people on the ground with eyes on targets who saw anti-aircraft [weapons] and targeted them," Rumsfeld said. "It was not some rival warlords turning the United States on their rival warlord enemies." Rumsfeld said he had reviewed 15 to 20 minutes of a four-hour videotape from the Air Force AC-130 gunship that attacked...