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May 23rd,
2008 - Marines ‘Acted Appropriately’ in Deadly Afghanistan Ambush News article by Agence France
Presse News article by the Associated
Press |
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Marines ‘Acted
Appropriately’ in Deadly Afghanistan Ambush By Agence France Presse May 23, 2008 Miami - US Marines
"acted appropriately" during a firefight in Afghanistan last year
which left up to 10 civilians dead and triggered angry protests, the military
said in a statement Friday. A statement from the US
Marine Corps Central Command in Florida said after reviewing evidence from a
court of inquiry, the marines had followed established procedures after
coming under attack in eastern Afghanistan on March 4, 2007. Lieutenant General Samuel
Helland said a Marines convoy had acted in "accordance with the rules of
engagement" during the incident, which was later condemned by Afghan
President Hamid Karzai. Helland said troops in a
five-vehicle convoy had responded to a "complex attack", after
being rocked by a car bomb and small arms fire. A Marine spokesman said the
court of inquiry's findings of facts, recommendations and opinions would not
be released. As the convening authority,
Helland can ignore the court's findings. So it was unknown what the basis was
for the general's decision. An investigation into the
incident and a separate skirmish in Afghanistan on March 9 which left two
Afghan civilians injured took place over three and a half weeks earlier this
year. The Marines said two
colonels and a lieutenant colonel had examined more than 12,000 pages of
documents and heard testimony from more than 45 witnesses. The statement said three
Marines - Major Fred Galvin, Captain Robert Olsen and Captain Vincent Noble -
would face "appropriate administrative action" as a result of
manning and training issues brought to light during the inquiry. The US Marine Corps has
faced scrutiny for a string of cases involving civilian deaths during
deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. The most high-profile case
has seen several Marines charged following the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians
in the town of Haditha in November 2005. Copyright © 2008 AFP. All
rights reserved. External link: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hBZR8phlWz4BTj4Sbu8mutFdfrog No charges for
2 Marines accused in Afghan deaths By Estes Thompson Associated Press May 23, 2008 Raleigh, N.C. - A Marine
Corps general has decided not to bring criminal changes against two officers
whose unit was accused of killing as many as 19 Afghan civilians in 2007. The Marines said Friday that
Lt. General Samuel Helland, the commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces,
Central Command, made the decision not to bring charges after reviewing the
findings of a special tribunal that heard more than three weeks of testimony
in January at Camp Lejuene. The tribunal investigated
allegations that as many as 19 Afghan civilians died when a unit of Marines
special operations troops opened fire after a car bomb targeted their convoy
in March 2007 in Nangahar Province. The Marines said Helland
determined the Marines in the convoy "acted appropriately and in
accordance with the rules of engagement and tactics, techniques and
procedures in place at the time in response to a complex attack." It was the first time in
more than 50 years the Marines empaneled a Court of Inquiry. The panel,
comprised of two Marine Corps colonels and a lieutenant colonel, only
considered the actions of the company's commander, 38-year-old Maj. Fred C.
Galvin of the Kansas City area, and a platoon leader, Capt. Vincent J. Noble,
29, of Philadelphia. "Obviously, I am
delighted about the findings," said civilian attorney Knox Nunnally, who
represented Noble before the Court of Inquiry. "From a legal standpoint,
it was overwhelming that this was going to be the result." The Marines, however, said
"administrative, manning and training issues" related to the
incident were uncovered by the court's investigation. Those unspecified
issues have been forwarded to the commander of the Marine Corps's special
operations command for action. The Corps also said Galvin,
Noble and a third officer - Capt. Robert Olsen - will face administrative
actions. It was not immedately clear what those actions might be. Citing witness accounts,
Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission concluded the Marines fired
indiscriminately at vehicles and pedestrians in six different locations on a
10-mile stretch of road. Nearly a dozen Marines told the court they heard
gunfire after the bombing and called the unit's fire a disciplined response
to a well-planned ambush. Galvin and several other
Marines were sent back to Camp Lejeune after the shooting. The rest of the
unit was ordered to leave Afghanistan and returned to the ships of the 26th
Marine Expeditionary Unit in the Persian Gulf. An Army investigation later
concluded that 50 people were injured and 19 were killed. The brigade
commander in charge of regular forces in the province publicly apologized for
the shootings, saying he was ashamed of what had happened. But a week later, Marine
Corps commandant Gen. James T. Conway said the Army officer shouldn't have
apologized because an investigation into what occurred was still ongoing.
Nunnally has said he believes three to five people died and less than 19 were
injured. "This is a concurrence
that all the Marines on the patrol did the right thing," said Galvin's
civilian lawyer, Mark Waple. Copyright © 2008 The
Associated Press. External link: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j4q2WpV2h-J5t6gpz7p9KcaND0bQD90RH0R80 Marine Corps
unit cleared in Afghan shootout A special operations unit had allegedly fired wildly and killed as
many as 19 Afghan civilians. But a Marine special court of inquiry says
members of the 30-man convoy ‘acted appropriately.’ By David Zucchino Los Angeles Times Staff Writer May 23, 2008 Durham, N.C. - A U.S. Marine
Corps general has found that a special operations unit acted properly during
a controversial shootout in eastern Afghanistan in March 2007 in which
Marines opened fire along a busy highway after their convoy was hit by a car
bomb. The number of civilians
killed during the incident has been in dispute, with Afghans citing up to 19
civilian deaths and convoy members claiming they were shooting at armed
insurgents. Marine Lt. Gen. Samuel
Helland determined that members of the 30-man convoy "acted
appropriately and in accordance with the rules of engagement and tactics,
techniques and procedures in place at the time in response to a complex
attack," according to a statement released today. The unit -- the first Marine
special operations company deployed in combat - had been in Afghanistan just
three weeks at the time of the March 4, 2007 incident. Following the shooting near
Jalalabad, an Afghan human rights commission - quoting local civilians and officials
-- said the Marines killed at least 12 civilians and wounded 35. When a U.S.
Army colonel told local Afghans that he was "deeply ashamed" and
said the killing and wounding of "innocent Afghans at the hands of
Americans is a stain on our honor," it triggered an international
uproar. Col. John W. Nicholson, the
U.S. Army commander in the area, also made cash payments to survivors of 17
shooting victims and to 25 Afghan civilians who the local Afghan governor
said had been wounded. In January of this year, a
Marine special court of inquiry looked into the incident, hearing from more
than 50 witnesses over 17 days at Camp Lejeune, N.C. Among the witnesses were
Afghans who testified by closed circuit video from Afghanistan. According to testimony before
the fact-finding panel, the Marines opened fire after their convoy was struck
by a car bomb that slightly injured one Marine. Afghan civilians and local
politicians accused the Marines of firing indiscriminately along several
miles of highway. Marines testified that they responded to what they believed
was enemy gunfire linked to the car bomb. Lawyers for two officers who
appeared at the inquiry - Maj. Fred C. Galvin, the company commander, and
Capt. Vincent J. Noble, the convoy commander - contended that the Marines
responded properly to a "complex attack," or coordinated ambush. In many instances, the
inquiry heard vague and contradictory accounts. An Afghan elder who said
Marines shot up his car, killing his father and nephew, testified that the car
was hit by "thousands and thousands" of bullets. Several Marines
said that they couldn't see much from inside their cramped Humvees, yet
insisted gunmen fired at the convoy and that Humvee gunners obeyed the rules
of engagement. The Marines with the best
view of events - four men who fired their weapons - did not testify because
they were not granted immunity from prosecution. Testimony indicated that a
number of civilians had been killed, but a firm death toll was not
established. Helland's statement today
referred only to "the deaths of Afghan civilians." The general also
said administrative actions related to another incident will be initiated
against three officers in the unit. Galvin will face a board of
inquiry, an administrative proceeding that will examine his actions in a
separate incident on March 9, 2007, in eastern Afghanistan in which two
Afghan civilians were injured and two Marine vehicles were damaged. Court of inquiry testimony
about the March 9 incident was classified and closed to the press and public. Noble faces possible
nonjudicial punishment for his actions during the March 9 incident. The
company's executive officer, Capt. Robert Olsen, will face a board of inquiry
for allegedly mishandling classified information, according to a Marine Corps
spokesman. "Administrative,
manning and training issues relative to the March 4 and March 9, 2007
incidents that were brought to light during the Court of Inquiry have been
forwarded to Commander, U.S. Marines Corps Forces Special Operations command
for action," the statement released today said. External link: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-convoy24-2008may24,0,5302838.story |