enhanced_deficit
01-16-2016, 09:22 PM
Exclusive: U.S. Military Readies Punishments for Botched Afghan Airstrike (http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/01/15/exclusive-u-s-military-readies-punishments-for-botched-afghan-airstrike/)
By Paul McLeary
January 15, 2016 - 4:20 pm
The Pentagon is preparing to punish specific members of the U.S. special operations forces and others involved in a bungled airstrike on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, that left 42 civilians dead. But the move, which has not previously been reported, could also spark new questions about the military’s ability to police itself.
Gen. John Campbell, who commands U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has forwarded an exhaustive 3,000-page investigation into the incident to the U.S. Central Command along with his recommendations for disciplinary action against the troops involved in the airstrike. Officials there and at the U.S. Special Operations Command are now weighing who to punish — and how.
Staffers at the Tampa, Fla.-based Central Command, which oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, will likely need “about two to three weeks” to redact the Kunduz report for potential public release, said one defense official who is not authorized to speak for attribution. The official said that no decisions have been made about when and if it might be made public.
One congressional staffer told Foreign Policy that the U.S. Army Green Beret team on the ground on the night of the attack has come under particular scrutiny from investigators for their role in calling in the strike by an AC-130 gunship, which lasted about 30 minutes.
In addition to the 42 killed, including 14 of the aid group’s staffers, several dozen others were wounded (https://unama.unmissions.org/release-kunduz-protection-civilians-report). The organization — also known as MSF, after its French name, Médecins Sans Frontières– has called the attack a “war crime.”
http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/01/15/exclusive-u-s-military-readies-punishments-for-botched-afghan-airstrike/
Some speed bumps on the road to freeedom spreading.
By Paul McLeary
January 15, 2016 - 4:20 pm
The Pentagon is preparing to punish specific members of the U.S. special operations forces and others involved in a bungled airstrike on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, that left 42 civilians dead. But the move, which has not previously been reported, could also spark new questions about the military’s ability to police itself.
Gen. John Campbell, who commands U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has forwarded an exhaustive 3,000-page investigation into the incident to the U.S. Central Command along with his recommendations for disciplinary action against the troops involved in the airstrike. Officials there and at the U.S. Special Operations Command are now weighing who to punish — and how.
Staffers at the Tampa, Fla.-based Central Command, which oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, will likely need “about two to three weeks” to redact the Kunduz report for potential public release, said one defense official who is not authorized to speak for attribution. The official said that no decisions have been made about when and if it might be made public.
One congressional staffer told Foreign Policy that the U.S. Army Green Beret team on the ground on the night of the attack has come under particular scrutiny from investigators for their role in calling in the strike by an AC-130 gunship, which lasted about 30 minutes.
In addition to the 42 killed, including 14 of the aid group’s staffers, several dozen others were wounded (https://unama.unmissions.org/release-kunduz-protection-civilians-report). The organization — also known as MSF, after its French name, Médecins Sans Frontières– has called the attack a “war crime.”
http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/01/15/exclusive-u-s-military-readies-punishments-for-botched-afghan-airstrike/
Some speed bumps on the road to freeedom spreading.