Posted on 06/03/2009 6:41:44 PM PDT by americanophile
Reporting from Washington -- Military investigators have concluded that some airstrikes that killed civilians during a battle in western Afghanistan last month were mistakes, but are still trying to determine whether the service members who called in the strikes could have known they were no longer in imminent danger when the bombs were dropped.
The investigation questioned the last two airstrikes conducted during the 8 1/2 -hour battle, according to a military official familiar with the probe. The 2,000-pound bombs used in those strikes were dropped by an Air Force B-1 bomber at night, when it was more difficult to determine whether civilians were present.
The investigation, conducted by Brig. Gen. Raymond A. Thomas III, concluded that by the end of the fight the ground forces were no longer under immediate threat of being overrun, and probably should have disengaged rather than calling in the bomber.
Another defense official confirmed the outlines of the findings and said the report also concluded that dropping a 2,000-pound bomb was overkill.
U.S. officials have already apologized for the civilian deaths, but they continue to be a source of anger and frustration in Afghanistan. The U.S. believes 26 civilians were mistakenly killed. The Afghanistan government puts the total at 140.
The report, which has not been finalized, found that the U.S. Marines who called in the airstrikes initially urged the Afghan army unit they were with not to attack the Taliban in the village of Garani on May 4.
"Our guys said this was not the place to engage," said a military official familiar with the report's findings.
But when the Afghans rejected the advice and prepared to attack, the Marines decided to assist them to preserve "unit cohesion," the official said.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Barack Obama, war criminal.
Yep. Especially since he’s detaining people via rendition, illegally in Bagram too.
Let's not forget his "nuanced" position on torture..."We're never going to torture, unless I think it's really necessary."
Silence from CodePink. Silence from anti-war Hollywood. Silence from anti-American NYT's.
Exactly how are they supposed to determine whether imminent danger has passed during a battle at night? Do we need to assign a couple of liberal lawyers or Code Pink volunteers to travel with every military unit and survey the battlefield every twenty minutes to see if it's safe? I'm for it, but I'm not sure how many of these anti-American activists who expect our soldiers to be psychic would volunteer to help our troops figure out the answers that they are implying should somehow have been guessed. Liberals are idiots - this is not something that should be investigated.
They first thing we do is question those who put their lives on the line for our nation. It’s disgusting.
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