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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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March 24th,
2007 - U.S. Military Opens Inquiry Into Whether Marines Killed 10 Afghans |
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U.S. Military Opens Inquiry
Into Whether Marines Killed 10 Afghans After Attack on Convoy By David S. Cloud New York Times March 24, 2007 Washington, March 23 - The United
States military has opened a formal investigation into whether marines in
eastern Afghanistan killed noncombatants after a suicide bomber detonated his
explosive-laden car near their convoy on March 4, Marine officials said
Friday. As many as 10 Afghans were
reported killed and dozens wounded after the bombing, in Nangarhar Province. Army Maj. Gen. Francis H.
Kearney III, the commander of Special Operations troops in the Middle East
and Central Asia, opened the investigation and ordered the marines involved
to remain in Afghanistan until it is complete, a spokesman, Lt. Col. Lou J.
Leto, said. Marine officials would not say how many marines were under
investigation or had been ordered to stay in Afghanistan. The rest of the unit, a
120-marine Special Operations company on its first deployment, has been
ordered out of Afghanistan, Colonel Leto said, because the episode had
impaired its ability to operate. The company is part of the Second Marine
Special Operations Battalion based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. “The relationship you have
with the local people while conducting counterinsurgency operations is very
important,” Colonel Leto said, “and because the perceptions damaged that, it
probably degraded the unit’s ability to fulfill those kinds of missions. So
the general felt it was best to move them out of that area.” American military officials
said shortly after the bombing that civilians had been caught in cross-fire
between the marines and insurgents who opened fire after the attack. But hundreds of Afghans
protested afterward, saying the marines had fired on bystanders and civilian
vehicles. The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, condemned the deaths. “We take any allegation of
civilian killings seriously,” said Colonel Leto, noting that both decisions -
to open an investigation and to redeploy out of Afghanistan - came quickly
after the ambush. An investigating officer
will make recommendations to General Kearney about whether disciplinary
action should be taken against marines involved. The withdrawal of the
company is a setback for the Marine Special Operations Command, which was
formed last year and is not due to reach full operational status until
September 2008. Of the four Marine Special Operations
companies now established, the one ordered out of Afghanistan was the first
to deploy overseas, according to Maj. Cliff Gilmore, a spokesman for the
unit. For decades the Marine Corps
shunned special operation forces, in part because the corps considers its
entire force elite troops. The decision to form a
separate command was made in part because the Pentagon had put greater
resources into special operations in recent years, arguing that they are
vital for fighting terrorists and conducting irregular warfare. Major Gilmore said the
company would rejoin the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is deployed in
the Middle East. It will not be sent back to Afghanistan on this deployment,
he said. In 2005, 24 people were
killed by marines in Haditha, Iraq, after an American convoy was hit by a
roadside bomb. Marine prosecutors have
charged four enlisted marines with murder in connection with the killings.
Four Marine officers, who were not present during the attack, were charged
with dereliction of duty and other crimes for failing to properly report
details of the episode. Trials of the marines
involved, who have said they are not guilty, have not begun. External link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/24/washington/24marine.html |