our seconds in Afghanistan: Was it combat, or a crime?

LA Times ^ | 10 June 2012 | Kim Murphy

[Sarajevo]

A seasoned Army sergeant makes a split-second decision to stop a possible bombing. Now he's stunned to be charged with negligent homicide.

Sgt. 1st Class Walter Taylor's life collapsed in four interminable seconds in a dusty field in central Afghanistan.

His convoy was reeling from a roadside bomb, his fellow soldiers were engaged in combat with insurgents — and a mysterious black car had just screeched to a stop in the middle of the firefight. Some nine minutes later, a black door opens.

Second 1: A figure dressed in dark, bulky clothing emerges.

Second 2: The figure begins walking toward the trunk.

Second 3: Taylor, with five wounded comrades behind him, sees a thin trigger wire seeming to snake directly toward the black car. Could there be a second bomb in the trunk?

Second 4: Taylor squeezes the trigger on his M-4 carbine. The figure crumples to the dirt.

[Sarajevo]

I hope I'm not breaking any copyrioght rules here, but the next two paragraphs state,"

The figure was not an insurgent, but Dr. Aqilah Hikmat, a 49-year-old mother of four who headed the obstetrics department at the nearby Ghazni provincial hospital. Also dead inside the car were Hikmat's 18-year-old son and her 16-year-old niece. Hikmat's husband, in the front seat, was wounded.

Army prosecutors say Hikmat's killing in July 2011 was not just a casualty of combat, but a crime. Charged with negligent homicide and dereliction of duty, Taylor will face a hearing June 19 before a U.S. military judge in Germany to determine whether the case goes to a full court-martial, with the possibility of three years in prison.

IMO- this is nothing more than second guessing a leader in combat who could not afford the time to be nice. Our legal system is being used against us, and it is effective. Our enemy is within.

[fatima]

Amen-Prayers.

[gunsequalfreedom]

Thanks for posting what happened. I can’t believe our soldiers are subjected to this kind of second guessing in the life and death situations they face. We need to get out of all these police actions our politicians have our military engaged in around the world.

We need to get our military out of all the places it should not be in the world, prioritize where it is needed and leave the rest of the world to solve their localized problems.