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thedrifter
01-22-08, 10:54 AM
Major perceived 'a level of untruthfulness' from unit
JENNIFER HLAD
January 22, 2008 - 12:00AM
DAILY NEWS STAFF

When the executive officer of Marine Special Operations Fox Company went to Afghanistan to meet with special operations officials there, he got the feeling his unit was seen as "a bit of a nuisance," he testified Monday in a court of inquiry aboard Camp Lejeune.

Capt. Robert Olson, the intelligence officer and second-in-command of MSOC-F, said he went to Afghanistan early to learn how things worked there and educate the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force about the new Marine unit. But he said he "didn't get a clear answer on a lot of things that I considered fairly critical."

Olson was the latest of more than 20 witnesses to testify in a court of inquiry into the actions of MSOC-F on March 4 in Afghanistan's Nangahar province. Marines have testified they were traveling in a six-vehicle convoy when they were attacked by a suicide bomber, then small-arms fire. They returned that fire, they said, then were attacked again farther down the busy highway.

But while Marines said they fired only at the people who were firing at them, Afghan witnesses and Army officials have accused the Marines of firing indiscriminately and killing numerous civilians.

Monday, Olson talked to the three-member court panel under testimonial immunity and an order to testify.

He said the company - the first Marine special operations unit to deploy - went into an area "that had very little U.S. presence and had had very little U.S. presence."

The unit was dealing with a "very complex environment" and a complex population, he said.

Olson was not on the convoy on March 4. Instead, he said, he was asleep when he got a phone call asking whether the convoy had been ambushed.

Olson took the stand after testimony from Maj. Thomas Gukeisen, who was the operations officer for the Army's 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment at the time of the incident.

Gukeisen said the soldiers of Task Force Spartan - to which he was attached - gave Olson and MSOC-F commanding officer Maj. Fred Galvin a four-day tour of part of the country when the unit arrived, to familiarize them with the area.

Gukeisen said he was impressed with the unit's training and professionalism, but he was concerned about putting such a large group in the Nangahar province.

Having that size unit operating there "could be detrimental to ongoing counterinsurgency operations," Gukeisen said he thought at the time.

Shortly after the four-day tour, Gukeisen said he got a call from officials in another area of operations. Those officials said MSOC-F was operating in that area without a submitted plan, Gukeisen said.

When Gukeisen talked to Olson, Olson said he thought another unit MSOC-F was working with had submitted the plan, Gukeisen said.

At the time, Gukeisen thought, "Are you trying to hide something from us?" he said.

"I felt there was a level of untruthfulness" and lack of information sharing, Gukeisen said.

After their testimony in open session, both men testified for hours in classified - or closed - session.

Testimony continues today in the ongoing inquiry.



Contact Jennifer Hlad at jhlad@freedomenc.com or 353-1171, ext. 8467. To comment on this story, visit www.jdnews.com.

Ellie