Green Berets Face Hearing on Killing of Suspect in Afghan Village

New York Times ^ | Published: September 18, 2007 | PAUL von ZIELBAUER

[bigheadfred]

FORT BRAGG, N.C., Sept. 17 — From his position about 100 yards away, Master Sgt. Troy Anderson had a clear shot at the Afghan man standing outside a residential compound in a village near the Pakistan border last October. When Capt. Dave Staffel, the Special Forces officer in charge, gave the order to shoot, Sergeant Anderson fired a bullet into the man’s head, killing him.

In June, Captain Staffel and Sergeant Anderson were charged with premeditated murder. On Tuesday, in a rare public examination of the rules that govern the actions of Special Operations troops in Afghanistan, a military hearing will convene at Fort Bragg to weigh the evidence against the two men, both Green Berets.

The case revolves around differing interpretations of the kind of force that the Special Forces team that hunted and killed the man, Nawab Buntangyar, were allowed to use once they found him, apparently unarmed.

[freema]

That’s a very good point. Yet it seems the Sargeant had the leeway to not bring these charges, by his own notarized statement.

[Marine_Uncle]

"How can men who have been cleared keep being charged? JAGs continue to step over the line."
Surely no one could argue with your point.

[jazusamo]

That’s a good point too, Ma. I wondered about the Sergeant’s statement also and don’t know if it means someone else would have if he hadn’t or if no charges would have been filed. It’s not clear the way it was written.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

slim pickings in finding background on Kearney

http://www.isrjournal.com/story.php?F=1754965

http://www.aogusma.org/soc/italy/

http://inquirer.philly.com/packages/somalia/ask/ask9.asp
(scroll down about 40% to the post from “COL FRANK KEARNEY”.....this page is about blackhawk down, the author taking questions.....)root page is here:
http://inquirer.philly.com/packages/somalia/

http://magickingdomdispatch.blogspot.com/2004_06_27_archive.html
scroll 40% to the paragraph that begins with:
To First Sergeant P’s left is A Company commander Francis “Frank” Kearney. Kearney “broke down” during the raid on Point Calivigny,snip

(now that I know his true first name is Francis, maybe will be easier to track)

[El Gato]

"In an interview, Mr. Waple said that General Kearney proceeded with murder charges against the two soldiers even after an investigation by the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command concluded in April that the shooting had been “justifiable homicide.”

In a war where the other side does not wear uniforms, has no strictly military bases, stuff like this is going to happen. CID shouldn't be involved, and they sure as heck shouldn't be ruling "justifiable homicide", which a criminal ruling, but rather something more like "in the line of duty".

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

bingo

http://www.google.com/custom?domains=magickingdomdispatch.blogspot.com&q=kearney&sa=Search&sitesearch=magickingdomdispatch.blogspot.com&client=pub-0398241691851515&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&cof=GALT%3A%23008000%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23336699%3BVLC%3A663399%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3A336699%3BALC%3A0000FF%3BLC%3A0000FF%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A0000FF%3BGIMP%3A0000FF%3BFORID%3A1%3B&hl=en

[ishabibble]

Bill O’Reilly has had several segments about this case on his show. I think that if he continues to spotlight it, the charges will be dismissed. It’s sad that it takes media coverage to get such a terrible mistake rectified, but apparently, the big cheeses in the Pentagon can’t take care of business in-house. I wish to heaven that these idiot paperpushers would stop embarrassing our troops on the international stage. There’s a war on, ya know!

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

“Navy lawyer balks at testifying at hearing”
http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=272750

snip

Mark L. Waple, who also is a lawyer for Staffel, said he has an e-mail from Lt. Gen. Francis H. Kearney III indicating that the general directed that charges be initiated because Fort Bragg would not do it. Kearney was commander of special operations for Central Command. He is deputy commander of U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla.

People without government security clearances were frequently asked to leave the room during testimony that deal with tactics, methods of gathering information and “rules of engagement” that govern when soldiers can use force.

During the hearing, Special Forces soldiers testified that the person who was killed had been identified as a “bad guy” and “a target we tried to find.”

Lt. Col. Jim Friend, a former staff judge advocate for U.S. Army Special Forces Command at Fort Bragg, said he did not consider Nawab to be a civilian under the Geneva Conventions.

“He was a combatant,” Friend said.

Waple said after the hearing that the guidance can constitute unlawful command influence.

“From testimony we received today, it illustrates the process was fundamentally flawed,” Overholt said after the hearing.

[jazusamo]

Thanks for the links. This whole thing really stinks, IMO. It appears the general is being over zealous as to the charges, especially after CID found they acted on orders and appropriately. I will say though that we may not know all the facts.

[Yorlik803]

Kind of like “Breaker Morant”.
When politics takes hold, abandon all hope of ever seeing the truth.

[bigheadfred]

What drives me crazy is how easy it is for people to focus on individual killings. It goes back to the saying, kill one person and you’re a murderer, kill thousands and you’re a conquerer, kill millions and you’re a god... We are at war, that is the only fact I need to know. It really helps to have people in the command structure, like Kearney, running in circles trying to bite their own tails.

[pray4liberty]

This General must be a Clintonite, and somebody is leaning on him to tar and feather our troops.

What the hell does he think war is? This fellow is in the wrong century---he should be fighting for the British back in 1776!

[fishergirl]

Oh, so ol’ Nawab was unarmed AT THE TIME. I truly don’t care that the man is dead. If Special Forces went after him, it was for a good reason. I’m so sick and tired of hearing about our troops being prosecuted for doing their job! What the hell is going on in our government?!?!?!

[Girlene]

Kearney is the same guy that was involved in the investigation of the incident in Afghanistan with MSOC and had the whole company expelled from Afghanistan in March, 2007. I haven't heard where this case is, at this point. Ilario Pantano was involved for a bit trying to get fundraising efforts up and running. Frank Kearney kicked the very first Marine Special Operations group to deploy in combat out of the country. It was unbelievable. Here's one link at Marine Corps Times Army general kicks Marines out of Afghanistan and another Spec ops commander relieved

It seems something funny may be going on with this general. There is something fishy about this current case. It doesn't pass the smell test.

[bigheadfred]

Several things are a possibility: a recent operation removed his “twins”; they have swelled so big he is immersed in self aggrandizemnent; he is a puppet on a string, or he is a complete idiot, or combinations thereof. He may be overreacting to the Petreaus letter: http://www.michaelyon-online.com/media/images/vox/Values/Values
-Message.pdf
Whatever the case may be, the only decision he should be making is where to go to lunch. Alone.

[Captainpaintball]

A president is bound to have a few bad apples in his administration. We are talking about millions of people working under him. But there are patterns here, and Bush has done NOTHING to correct them...Where is our President?

In his debate with Joe Lieberman, Dick Cheney, in response to Kilnton's abuse of our military, said to our troops: "Help is on the way." Where is that help? Where is the Commander in Chief?

[bigheadfred]

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/media/images/vox/Values/Values-Message.pdf
Reposting that link

[Girlene]

Here's another link that describes the other controversy in Afghanistan that Frank Kearney was involved in with the Marines Special Op guys. It has a pretty good background of what's alleged in that case. Web site to raise support for MarSOC Marines

Your link to Gen. Patreaus' letter is interesting. It may have some impact on Kearney's actions. In this current case, the alleged incident happened in Oct. 13, 2006. Haditha and Hamdania cases may also have played a part to try to get ahead of the "stink" that media and local insurgents can bring to bear. This case with Anderson and Staffel doesn't pass the smell test of a crime by any means, IMO. Here's another link to this current case On Special Forces, Snipers and the ROE's.

How's the nephew doing?

[fso301]

.

[bigheadfred]

He’s doing great, all 11 of them. lol
Thanks for the links.