Posted on 08/12/2012 8:20:40 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
Pendleton captain killed by Afghan police
SAN DIEGO - A captain based at Pendleton was one of three Marines killed Friday in Helmand province by an Afghan police officer with whom he had just shared a meal, it was reported Saturday.
Matt Manoukian, 29, of Los Altos Hills, was killed after being invited by an Afghan police commander to a meeting in Sangin district, long a Taliban stronghold, to discuss security issues, The U-T San Diego reported.
Before the meeting, Manoukian and the other two Marines killed shared a meal with their killer.
The attack was the third of its kind in a week.
The shooter, identified as member of the Afghan National Police, got away, the newspaper reported. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told The U-T the attacker joined the insurgency after his attack Friday.
"Now, he is with us," Ahmadi said.
In July, Manounkian told The U-T he trusted Afghan forces as his partners in a joint mission of "security, governance and development. It's a full-spectrum operation."
In 25 attacks this year, 31 U.S. coalition service members have died at the hands of Afghan forces or insurgents disguised in Afghan uniforms, according to NATO.
There were 11 such attacks and 20 deaths last year, according to an Associated Press count.
Each of the previous two years saw five such attacks.
Manoukian, the son of two judges, joined the Marine Corps about seven years ago.
He was on his fourth deployment, his second to Afghanistan.
"He loved the Marines," his father, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Socrates "Peter" Manoukian said.
"He loved America. He loved people who were different than him. He was the ultimate tough guy, and if he was on your side, you were going to have a good day."
At 6 feet 3 inches, he was offered a chance to walk on to the football team at UCLA, his father said, but decided to attend the University of Arizona, where he earned a bachelor's degree in political science in 2005.
Peter Manoukian, whose family is of Armenian heritage, said his son talked about becoming a Marine since he was 10.
He said his son, who spoke Arabic, bonded with the Afghani people and helped open a school and set up a police station in Anbar province, among other things.
``We were always worried because we knew he would always run to trouble. He wanted to help. He was a heat-seeking missile," his father said.
The deployment was to be Manoukian's last, his father said, adding that his son had been accepted at a law school.
He is survived by his mother, Associate Justice Patricia Bamattre-Manoukian, a member of the California Court of Appeal's Sixth Appellate District since 1989; and brothers Michael, 27, and Martin, 22.
His family and local Marines were making funeral arrangements Friday.
RIP my brothers. You will always be remembers as being “Always Faithful”.
Never again should we allow our military to become sitting ducks. If we go to war in the future, it should be with every weapon we have just like WWII for total victory. Instead of trying to nation-build, the only thing that god-forsaken place deserves is more Daisy-cutters. I am sick and tired of seeing our best and brightest sacrificed on the alter of pc. If our politicians and generals are not going to let us win unconditionally, then they should bring our troops home.
If the Taliban act up again in the future, we should blanket their skies with B-52’s, drones, and tomahawk missiles to rain destruction on them from the air. No need to ever send our brave troops in again on the ground to risk their necks for a people that don’t deserve it.
God bless our troops for all they have endured. It is our responsibility as citizens, both veterans and non-veterans, to ensure that this sort of non-conclusive type of half-war never happens again.
This makes me sick and mad. Bring them home!
The dishonor falls on the civilians who gave them orders while tying their hands.
Just image if this had happened under Bush. It would be the lead story. It would be incontrovertible evidence of failed diplomatic and foreign policy.
Won't say anything here but there is treasonous scumbags, and THERE ARE TREASONOUS SCUMBAGS.
O' Lord help us get rid of these imposters; too many good men and women are trying to follow the dictates of a madman all the while they call us intolerant haters; prayers for those that , O Lord prayers for those that, I don't know what your plan is, but I'm being prophetic when I pray and I scream,
" HOW LONG, HOW LONG O LORD BEFORE YOU AVENGE THE BLOOD OF YOUR FOLLOWERS? PLEASE COME SPEEDILY. THESE ARE THE NEW AGE DAYS OF NOAH. I'M SO TIRED OF SEEING GOOD MEN DIE FOR DICTATORS WITHOUT A CLUE.
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