How appalling....

quote:

Afghan officials expressed outrage Saturday at the decision by the U.S. military not to charge U.S. Marines involved in a shooting spree that left 19 civilians dead in 2007. U.S. military officials said Friday that no criminal charges will be brought against two U.S. Marines officers in a unit accused of firing indiscriminately at vehicles and civilians after their convoy was hit by a suicide bomber March 4, 2007, in eastern Nangarhar province. "I am very angry," said Kubra Aman, a senator from Nangarhar. "This is too much. They are killing people. First, they say it is a mistake, and after that they let them go without charges." Afghan witnesses and a report by Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission concluded that a unit of Marine special operations troops opened fire along a 10-mile (16 kilometer) stretch of road, killing up to 19 civilians and wounding 50 other people. However, Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland, the commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Central Command, decided not to bring charges against Maj. Fred C. Galvin, commander of the 120-person special operations company, and Capt. Vincent J. Noble, a platoon leader, the Marines said. Helland determined that the Marines in the 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," the Marines said. The ruling was made after reviewing the findings of a special tribunal that heard more than three weeks of testimony in January. "It is disappointing that no one has been held accountable for these deaths," said Aleem Siddique, a spokesman for the mission. "The United Nations has always made clear that there must be increased transparency and accountability of all parties to this conflict if we are to retain the trust and confidence of the Afghan people." Fazel Hadi Muslimyar, the head of the provincial council in Nangarhar province, called the decision not to charge the two officers "illegal." "When the incident happened, American officers came to us, and they apologized and said that 'This was a mistake by our soldiers,' " Muslimyar said. "How come that mistake was not acted upon and they were not charged?" Aman and Muslimyar both said they expect protests in Nangarhar once local people learn of the decision. Haji Lawania, who was wounded in the shooting that killed his father and cousin, called the decision a "grave injustice." "It is true that there was a suicide attack against their convoy," Lawania said. "But I disagree that there was an ambush after the suicide attack." Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Sean Gibson said Friday that the finding of the Court of Inquiry -- 12,000 pages -- will not be released to the public

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Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On OOKA-OOKA ME NACHOS ME PRESS KEYS ON COMPUTER GOOD

meds, dude. take your meds.

if youre out, >HERE<

the footage at 1:30 is unbelievable...

quote:

Originally posted by Capitalizt the footage at 1:30 is unbelievable...

what was so unbelievable about it?

that was operation Vigilant Resolve. it was meant to capture the city of Fallujah but was unsuccessful.

prior to the operation the whole city was told that it was about to be overrun by coalition forces. there was to be a curfew enforced and no one not interested in resisting should leave their homes much less congregate at night outside. that would be a sure sign of aggression.

a J-TAC with teams on the ground called in that shot. that vid deliberately makes it sound like the F-16 just happened onto a group of people and asked permission to take them out and he got an immediate confirm willy-nilly. thats not how it was at all. observers on the ground saw them first, alerted the J-TAC and the J-TAC guided the firing unit into position. once JTAC gets a visual confirm from the pilot and the pilot asks permission to fire, yes, the order will immediatle be given unless the observers on the ground or someone else calls it off.

Are you sure that video was at night? I was under the impression it was the middle of the day. That could easily have been a crowd of people looking through the rubble for survivors. I think if we are going to drop a bomb on 50 people, we should know with 100% certainty that they are the ones fighting us. If we kill that many innocents, their friends and family will be royally pissed..and the incident will likely create hundreds of new "terrorists" determined to get revenge against us.

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Originally posted by Q5echo meds, dude. take your meds. if youre out, >HERE<

hypocracy in overdrive

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Originally posted by DJ Shibby hypocracy in overdrive

r u typing?

quote:

Originally posted by Q5echo r u typing?

rawr more nothingness, well done

quote:

Originally posted by Capitalizt Are you sure that video was at night?

it looked like FLIR to me.

quote:

Originally posted by Capitalizt I think if we are going to drop a bomb on 50 people, we should know with 100% certainty that they are the ones fighting us.

there were spotters on the ground, probably well within visual confirm range calling that shot in to the JTAC.

even a platoon sized team wouldn't want to confront them if they can just call it in and have them nuetralized in a matter of minutes.