Pullout Of Marines In Afghan Shooting Disputed

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
November 30, 2007 By Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- A Marine company involved in the shooting of civilians in Afghanistan in March responded appropriately to an ambush against them, and should not have been pulled out of the country, the commander of Marine Corps Special Forces said Thursday.
Maj. Gen. Dennis Hejlik, head of Marine Corps Special Operations Command, also told reporters that a legal tribunal investigating the incident has been postponed until mid-January at the request of one of the officers involved.
"Obviously it was not my decision to bring the company out of theater," Hejlik said. "It was the theater commander's decision. I will never second-guess the commander on the ground. I will say, I did not agree with it. To this day, I do not agree with it."
Eight members of the Marine Corps company involved in the March 4 shooting -- which left as many as 19 civilians dead and 50 injured -- were ordered back to Camp Lejune after the incident, and the rest of the company was told to leave Afghanistan and return to ships in the Persian Gulf.
Hejlik, however, stopped short of clearing the Marines of any blame in the incident, saying he could not speak to what may have happened after the initial ambush, when the unit was returning to their base.
A preliminary military investigation found that the Marines used excessive force and referred it for possible criminal inquiry. And Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission said the troops fired indiscriminately at pedestrians and people in vehicles in six different locations along road in Nangahar province after an explosives-rigged minivan crashed into their convoy.
Hejlik also said the creation of the new Marine Special Operations Command is moving along well. So far, he said, there are about 1,700 Marines in the Special Forces command, and he will reach the goal of 2,600 by late 2008.
 
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