Colonel: Marines accused in killings left AO

[unhappycamper]

Colonel: Marines accused in killings left AO
By Trista Talton - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jan 24, 2008 6:06:55 EST

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — An Army colonel who publicly condemned the actions of Marines accused of killing more than a dozen Afghan civilians last March said he wasn’t aware the Marines were out on a mission that morning.

“We weren’t sure who it was,” Col. John Nicholson testified Wednesday via video teleconference. “My initial reaction was, ‘What are they doing out there?’ ”

Nicholson, who was a brigade commander with the 10th Mountain Division at the time, said in a court of inquiry that Fox Company, Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, often strayed out of their area of operations, unbeknownst to him. He told the court he briefed the company’s commander that the standard protocol was for Special Forces commanders to inform him of their plans to conduct missions within his battle space.

The court is looking into the incident, where a Fox Company platoon convoy was attacked by a suicide vehicle bomb in Nangarhar Province. Marines in that convoy are accused of firing at and killing 19 Afghan civilians and wounding others after the blast. Several Marines in the convoy have testified they thought they were taking small arms fire.

The first time Nicholson found out Maj. Fred Galvin, the company’s commander at the time, traveled beyond the company’s area of operations, “frankly, it caught me by surprise,” he said from an office in the Pentagon.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/01/marine_inquiry_update_080123/

[DrDan]

1. it sure is hard to "support the troops" when things like this are happening

too many completely out-of-control . . .