thedrifter
01-15-08, 06:44 AM
Posted on Mon, Jan. 14, 2008
Navy: No evidence of attack on Marines
By ESTES THOMPSON
A brief investigation of a suicide car bombing site in Afghanistan uncovered no physical evidence to support claims that a Marine unit was hit by small arms fire after the attack, an investigator testified Monday.
But Navy criminal investigators didn't arrive at the scene until two months after last year's deadly attack and had only an hour to look at the site, Marine Chief Warrant Officer Robert O'Dwyer said during testimony at a hearing investigating the actions of two Marines.
There wasn't enough manpower to provide security to allow for more investigation, said O'Dwyer, of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
"From a law enforcement standpoint, that's ludicrous," he said.
His testimony opened the second week of a Court of Inquiry, a rarely used administrative fact-finding proceeding investigating the actions of Fox company commander Maj. Fred C. Galvin, 38, of the Kansas City area, and Capt. Vincent J. Noble, 29, of Philadelphia, a platoon leader.
Citing witness accounts, Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission concluded last year that the Marines fired indiscriminately at pedestrians and people in cars, buses and taxis in six locations along a 10-mile stretch of road. As many as 19 civilians were estimated to have been killed.
But the officers' lawyers have said the unit of about 30 Marines was ambushed just after a suicide bomber detonated an explosive-packed minivan near the second Humvee in their six-vehicle convoy.
Nearly a dozen Marines have told the court that they heard small arms fire after the explosion and that the convoy's gunners didn't fire until they were fired on.
A Marine riding in the convoy testified last week that the convoy was shot in two locations and that Marines fired back over a span of about 1 1/2 miles long. Navy investigators said the firing occurred over about 6 miles, O'Dwyer said.
O'Dwyer said witnesses interviewed by NCIS agents said "all the firing came from the gun trucks," but he added that the death toll was unclear. One investigation determined two civilians died and 23 were wounded, while an Army probe concluded as many as 19 died and 50 were wounded.
None of the Afghan police and civilians, as well as members of an Army military police unit that arrived at the scene less than an hour after the bombing, confirmed the Marine unit's story that there was a coordinated ambush after the bombing, O'Dwyer said.
The unit was on its first deployment after the 2006 creation of the Marine Special Operations Command. After the shooting, eight Marines were sent back to Camp Lejeune, and the rest of the company was taken out of Afghanistan.
http://www.marsoc.usmc.mil/
Ellie
Navy: No evidence of attack on Marines
By ESTES THOMPSON
A brief investigation of a suicide car bombing site in Afghanistan uncovered no physical evidence to support claims that a Marine unit was hit by small arms fire after the attack, an investigator testified Monday.
But Navy criminal investigators didn't arrive at the scene until two months after last year's deadly attack and had only an hour to look at the site, Marine Chief Warrant Officer Robert O'Dwyer said during testimony at a hearing investigating the actions of two Marines.
There wasn't enough manpower to provide security to allow for more investigation, said O'Dwyer, of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
"From a law enforcement standpoint, that's ludicrous," he said.
His testimony opened the second week of a Court of Inquiry, a rarely used administrative fact-finding proceeding investigating the actions of Fox company commander Maj. Fred C. Galvin, 38, of the Kansas City area, and Capt. Vincent J. Noble, 29, of Philadelphia, a platoon leader.
Citing witness accounts, Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission concluded last year that the Marines fired indiscriminately at pedestrians and people in cars, buses and taxis in six locations along a 10-mile stretch of road. As many as 19 civilians were estimated to have been killed.
But the officers' lawyers have said the unit of about 30 Marines was ambushed just after a suicide bomber detonated an explosive-packed minivan near the second Humvee in their six-vehicle convoy.
Nearly a dozen Marines have told the court that they heard small arms fire after the explosion and that the convoy's gunners didn't fire until they were fired on.
A Marine riding in the convoy testified last week that the convoy was shot in two locations and that Marines fired back over a span of about 1 1/2 miles long. Navy investigators said the firing occurred over about 6 miles, O'Dwyer said.
O'Dwyer said witnesses interviewed by NCIS agents said "all the firing came from the gun trucks," but he added that the death toll was unclear. One investigation determined two civilians died and 23 were wounded, while an Army probe concluded as many as 19 died and 50 were wounded.
None of the Afghan police and civilians, as well as members of an Army military police unit that arrived at the scene less than an hour after the bombing, confirmed the Marine unit's story that there was a coordinated ambush after the bombing, O'Dwyer said.
The unit was on its first deployment after the 2006 creation of the Marine Special Operations Command. After the shooting, eight Marines were sent back to Camp Lejeune, and the rest of the company was taken out of Afghanistan.
http://www.marsoc.usmc.mil/
Ellie