TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Unit Acted By 'Rules' In Shooting Of Afghans

ADVERTISEMENT

By THOM SHANKER

The New York Times

Published: May 24, 2008

Updated: 05/24/2008 12:23 am

WASHINGTON - The Marine Corps will not bring criminal charges against two officers in command of a unit involved in the shooting deaths of as many as 19 civilians in northeastern Afghanistan last year after a car bomb struck the Marines' convoy, military commanders said Friday.

In the episode, several Marines opened fire with automatic weapons after a suicide car bomb exploded and wounded one Marine.
Human rights groups said that up to 19 unarmed civilians were killed and 50 people were wounded along a six-mile stretch of road near Jalalabad, as the convoy fired automatic weapons along the route back to its base.

Marine Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland determined that members of the 30-man convoy "acted appropriately and in accordance with the rules of engagement and tactics, techniques and procedures in place at the time in response to a complex attack," according to a statement released Friday.

The unit, the first Marine special-operations company deployed in combat, had been in Afghanistan just three weeks at the time of the incident on March 4, 2007.

After the shooting near Jalalabad, an Afghan human rights commission, quoting local civilians and officials, said the Marines killed at least 12 civilians and wounded 35.

When a U.S. Army colonel told Afghans that he was "deeply ashamed" and said the killing and wounding of "innocent Afghans at the hands of Americans is a stain on our honor," it triggered an international uproar.

Col. John W. Nicholson, the U.S. Army commander in the area, also made cash payments to survivors of 17 shooting victims and to 25 Afghan civilians who the Afghan governor said had been wounded.

In January, a Marine special court of inquiry looked into the incident, hearing from more than 50 witnesses during 17 days at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Among the witnesses were Afghans who testified by closed-circuit video from Afghanistan.

According to testimony before the fact-finding panel, the Marines opened fire after their convoy was struck by a car bomb that slightly injured one Marine.

Afghan civilians and local politicians accused the Marines of firing indiscriminately along several miles of highway. Marines testified that they responded to what they thought was gunfire linked to the car bomb.

Attorneys for two officers at the inquiry - Maj. Fred C. Galvin, the company commander, and Capt. Vincent J. Noble, the convoy commander - contended the Marines responded properly to a "complex attack," or coordinated ambush.

In many instances, the inquiry heard vague and contradictory accounts. An Afghan elder who said Marines shot up his car, killing his father and nephew, testified that the car was hit by "thousands and thousands" of bullets.

Several Marines said that they couldn't see much from inside their cramped Humvees, yet insisted gunmen fired at the convoy and that Humvee gunners obeyed the rules of engagement.

The Marines with the best view of events, four men who fired their weapons, did not testify because they were not granted immunity.

Testimony indicated that a number of civilians had been killed, but a firm death toll was not established.

Helland's statement Friday referred only to "the deaths of Afghan civilians."

The general also said administrative actions related to another incident will be initiated against three officers in the unit.

In the course of the inquiry, the Marine Corps did uncover "administrative, manning and training issues," and senior officers will take action to prevent the repeating of those errors, the statement said

Helland's decision seems certain to generate another round of complaints from human rights activists, who say senior officers tend to rule in favor of actions that defend the lives of troops even if civilians are wounded or killed.

John Sifton, director of One World Research, an organization that investigates human rights cases, said that some of the shootings under review might have been a justified response to the attack, but that the scale and duration of the shootings raised significant questions.

"When you look at the amount of shooting - the whole route back to barracks, over multiple miles of road - you have to ask yourself whether it was justified," Sifton said. "Too many bullets left too many guns over too long a period of time over a lengthy stretch of road to exonerate every aspect of it."

Shortly after the shootings, Company F was ordered to leave Afghanistan by Lt. Gen. Frank Kearney of the Army, who then was serving as commander of Special Operations forces in the Middle East.

Information from the Los Angeles Times was used in this report.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT