US special forces 'tried to cover-up' botched Khataba raid in Afghanistan

[kpete]

Source: TIMES UK

April 5, 2010
US special forces 'tried to cover-up' botched Khataba raid in Afghanistan



US special forces soldiers dug bullets out of their victims’ bodies in the bloody aftermath of a botched night raid, then washed the wounds with alcohol before lying to their superiors about what happened, Afghan investigators have told The Times.

Two pregnant women, a teenage girl, a police officer and his brother were shot on February 12 when US and Afghan special forces stormed their home in Khataba village, outside Gardez in eastern Afghanistan. The precise composition of the force has never been made public.

The claims were made as Nato admitted responsibility for all the deaths for the first time last night. It had initially claimed that the women had been dead for several hours when the assault force discovered their bodies.

“Despite earlier reports we have determined that the women were accidentally killed as a result of the joint force firing at the men,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Todd Breasseale, a Nato spokesman. The coalition continued to deny that there had been a cover-up and said that its legal investigation, which is ongoing, had found no evidence of inappropriate conduct.

Read more: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7087637.ece

[Crowman1979]

1. I'm sure the Green Berets use to do this quite often in central america during the 80's.

Under the guise of military advisers.

[IndianaGreen]

11. It was done by thugs we trained at SOA in Fort Benning

We always have someone else do the dirty work for us. The CIA in particular has a rather bloody record of human rights abuses.

[Flaneur]

2. These "US special forces" seem to be particularly bloodthirsty.

And digging bullets out of the bodies of people they killed? Nice.

[Hulk]

3. You would think is was a "blackwater unit", eh?

Sad. See what happens when we kill for a living? We sometimes kill 17 people driving to work in a crowded intersection....or kill 25 family members....or we have a Mai Lai elsewhere. This is just par for the course.

GET OUR ASSES OUT OF THERE NOW!!

[yava]

5. transparency brings credit, coverup turns citizens into adversaries

and prolongs the war, discredits the US and allies.
It is not only for the victims, but in the national interest of the United States to bring these criminals to justice.
The Armed Forces should be ahead of everyone in this and not behind the media.
Its sad. There is no leadership.

[IndianaGreen]

10. They may well be contractors, rather than US special forces

This is not the sort of MO that our troops follow, but it is very much in line with what American mercenaries have done in the past.

[Robb]

4. I'm wondering about this part:

Haji Sharabuddin, the head of the family who were attacked, told The Times last month that troops removed bullets from his relatives’ bodies, but his claims were impossible to verify. The hallway where four of the five victims were killed had been repainted and at least two bullet holes had been plastered over.

Markey's got two pieces to the story he can't verify: the bullet-digging and the pregnancies. For both he's relying on a single source.

Not saying he's not got it right, but that's a rough stand to take from a reporting perspective. Ghastly enough tale without either unverifiable detail -- why do it?

Edited to add another question: why did the family paint and patch over evidence so quickly? I understand wanting to get on with life, but it's their house and their family who were killed.

[sulphurdunn]

6. Something is very wrong here.

Any SWAT team from any American police department could have taken that compound and probably killed no one since there were initially no hostiles present, and they are not nearly as well trained as the Special Forces. This sort of atrocity is an acceptable part of the Pentagon's "low intensity warfare" doctrine, regardless of the post slaughter PR remorse. Our counter insurgency warfare strategies have never worked anywhere. It's time to scrap them and bring the army home. We could kill a hundred times as many Afghans (the Soviets did) and it would not change the outcome.

[mehdi kiril]

7. How many people will go to jail for this?

My bet: zero.

[Hissyspit]

8. Welcome to DU.

That's my bet, too.

[IndianaGreen]

9. Zero, but if anyone does go, it won't be the brass that ordered the raid

and that covered up the crimes.

[debunkthelies]

12. No Excuse ( a rant)

There is no excuse for the collateral killing of civilians, since 2001 the War on Terror has been the excuse for these 'accidents' it's bullshit. The military recruits and trains our young people to kill anything and everything that moves, men, women, children, dogs, cats, livestock, it doesn't matter our young are trained to destroy everything in the country they are deployed to, they are brainwashed into believing this is for 'our' freedom at home, when in actuality it is for the Politicians, the Bankers, the Corporations, the soulless monsters who control the world through the monetary system.

All honor and decency has been sacrificed in the pursuit of money and possessions, the evil that has taken possession of the world is a fifty star General named the United States of America, who believes it is it's God given right to murder, rape, and pillage the rest of the world.

It is so sad to watch as the once shinning light in the world turns into a blood crazed monster out to destroy the world, for a few jaded old men with deep pockets.

But, this too shall pass, just not soon enough to save millions of the innocent.

[sabra]

13. U.S. admits three women killed in raid (Afghanistan)

Source: MSNBC

From NBC's Jim Miklaszewski
Senior military and Pentagon officials acknowledge that U.S. special operations forces inadvertently killed three women during a commando operation in Afghanistan in February, but deny allegations that the American forces tried to cover it up.

On Feb. 12, shortly after midnight in Gardez, U.S. Special Operations forces, along with Afghan forces were on a nighttime raid to capture a known Taliban operator responsible for a major impovised explosive device, or IED, operation. When they came upon the compound, a man armed with an AK-47 emerged and was shot dead by U.S. snipers. A short time later, a second man, also armed with an AK-47, appeared in a doorway, and he too was shot dead by at least two snipers firing five to six shots. Military officials say it is now evident the three women were in the room behind the man shot in the doorway.

By the time the larger unit of Special Forces arrived at the compound, family members had apparently moved the bodies of the two men into a seperate room along with the bodies of the three women. The military's forensic investigators have photos of all five bodies together, some already prepared for burial. By then, family members had also apparently attempted to wash down the walls in the room where the male victim was shot in the doorway.

The intial ISAF (US/NATO) incorrectly stated that while U.S. forces shot the two men, it appeared the three women were killed before the raid.

...

U.S. officials say the soldiers did dig two slugs out of a wall, in an attempt to identify the sources of the bullet holes, but deny they attempted to retrieve any bullets from the bodies.

ISAF and the U.S. military have opened a third investigation in an effort to reconcile the differences in the two reports.

Read more: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2010/04/05/2258210.aspx

[Name removed]

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[ixion]

16. not killed: "liberated"... Freedom Marches On

:sarcasm:

[Soylent Brice]

18. K&R

so sad.