Posted on 03/23/2007 3:31:08 PM PDT by leadpenny
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.
More PC bullshit from the pc bullshit crowd. When are we going to start fighting wars to win instead of fighting them with both hands tied behind our backs? The reason the locals want them to leave is because they were effective. They use this BS against us time and time again. When the hell are we going to learn?
I'm with you on that one. If Bush would just get his ass out of the U.N, we would actually WIN wars for a change.
How do you know that?
Second...call it a gut feeling from a 21 year vet of the USMC...been there and done that.
1. For one the term civilian is BS since terroists are a military in civilian garb. This is why negociating with the like of Arafat who take orders and who have a vow to not surrender nor compromise as any military of the stripe would stand for is a complete sham.
2. Using democracy as a tool of winning a war invariably will put civilians in between as a rule. In that aspect, anti-militia politicians and their PC is total hypocrisy.
3. This type of "incident" is quite routine in the war on terror in fact. Believe me, it is strange to note that the units that fire back at everything moving during car bomb attacks of the sort never get car bombed after.
5. If a civilian shield and hostages works better than armor or stealth to protect the enemy, then we have lost this war. It simply cannot be allowed.
PC warfare. Unbelievable. Disgraceful. An insult to all who serve.
Call it a gut feeling from a 21 year Army vet, CentCom would not order the unit out if the only concern was that the Marine unit was too combat effective. But that's just me and I don't know any more about the situation than what I've read here.
You show me an Army general who is not afraid to cover his own ass and I'll show you a Highly trained Marine unit that is not combat effective.
Basic Training barracks chatter.
Yea, your right.... A Special Operations Command Marine unit that is part of a MEUSOC over an Army general. I'll take the side of the guys taking rounds over a REMF any day.
Related thread, FYI: "Marines face U.S. probe in Afghanistan shootings"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1805757/posts
Seriously, that's not what I'd expect to hear from a 21 year vet. Kearney went into the Ranger Hall of Fame as an LTC in 96.
Thanks, it looks like the same AP story. CNN put a different title on it.
To be honest, I don't know what to think.
What I am sure of is that something about this whole report doesn't ring true. I can't tell you what part, though, but something stinks.
I doubt they just started shooting civilians. MEUSOC's pack a nasty punch and are very well trained. There is much more to this story. My bet is the area where this happened are sympathizers. Why else would a SOC unit be deployed to that area?
* Marines face U.S. probe in Afghanistan shootings, Associated Press, March 23rd, posted by Tulsa Ramjet.
* Soldier Injured, Civilians Killed in Afghanistan Convoy Attack (Now the Official Story), American Forces Press Service, March 4th, posted by SandRat.
* Afghan media: U.S. troops deleted images [Maybe we're learning], Associated Press, March 4th, posted by RedRover.
* Ambush on U.S. Convoy Leaves 16 (Afghan civilians) Dead, Associated Press, March 4th, posted by rightwingintelligentsia.
You can bet that SecDef Gates knows everything about this incident that SOC knows.
Seriously, having been an ENLISTED Marine for 21 years, knowing how our enemies fight, knowing how SOME officers are more then willing to cover their asses rather then stick their necks out, and knowing that it should take an AWFUL lot more than collateral causalities to pull a line unit out of combat...or maybe it is just being overly sensitive to the "cover your ass" syndrome that is so prevelent in the upper layers of command these days.
They may be pulling out the Marines, but I'll bet they're not pulling out any of the lawyers!
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