Marines under investigation for firing on civilians; general orders them out of Afghanistan
By: ROBERT BURNS - Associated Press | ∞
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.
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AW4cryinoutloud wrote on Mar 23, 2007 9:40 PM:Heaven forbid that our Marines should defend themselves and upset Karzai or create "perceptions" that damage the relationship between the local poulation and the Marine unit. Geeze! Perhaps we should give these people a copy of the ROE's that say Marines have the absolute right to defend themselves when fired upon. Perhaps we should enlighten them to the known fact that the enemy kills their own indiscriminately in order to cast a negative light on "our" troops. The Brass spends so much time on "investigations" into those who fight for us; how about investigating themselves and "their" inability to plan a war and protect their own!!!!
HERE WE GO AGAIN: wrote on Mar 23, 2007 9:55 PM:Like I said months ago, you'll be seeing more and more of this. Accuse, accuse, accuse. The enemy has caught on to what gets the Marines out of their way. Soon we'll have no Marine Corps to defend us and the enemy will be here!
AW4GoofyOutLoud wrote on Mar 23, 2007 11:06 PM:Oh boy, here's another ridiculous politically correct move by the politicians and their lap dogs the top brass! Our warriors should just be able to kill anyone, anytime, for any reason. We are at WAR people. Get some!
Hearts and Minds wrote on Mar 24, 2007 7:58 AM:The crazies are back! Thar she blows!
B4Ustart wrote on Mar 24, 2007 8:07 AM:Maybe if cases like Hamandia and Haditha were prosecuted aggressively and the sentences were in excess of 25 years--other Marines would get the message and confine their killing to combat and give the civilians a respite!
John1 to B4start wrote on Mar 24, 2007 9:21 AM:Read the words of an expert whose been beyond the wire, like you, eh? Maybe B4Ustart, you ought to research the incident and make comments based on facts, vs. jumping to a conclusion with nothing but your own anti-military biases.
AW4cryinoutloud wrote on Mar 24, 2007 2:38 PM:To B4Ustart: Apparently the only information about the enemy you've absorbed over the past few years goes no farther than your own prejudice toward our Marines. You want the cases prosecuted aggressively? Where have you been since June of 2006? It's a wonder you aren't in the courtroom bowing down to the prosecution and NCIS, who have been fulfilling your wildest, disgusting dreams of persecuting our troops. "THAT" is the goal of the enemy. The military is aware of it and has been for years, yet what do they do? They buy it hook, line and sinker. It's bad enough that those who fight for us can't tell who the enmy is in a foreign land, but; to not be able to tell who the enemy is in their own country is UNFORGIVEABLE!!!
Veteran wrote on Mar 24, 2007 8:20 PM:I am all for the troops but from what little coverage I have read about this it sounds like a command that was out of control. I was army infantry but I can't see any firefight lasting for 7 miles. This item needs to be checked out and whoever was in charge did a poor job if what I read is half way correct.
Thank You wrote on Mar 25, 2007 8:23 AM:Thank you Veteran for your perspective from the "beyond the wire".
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