Witness: Marines fired on harmless civilians
Source: newsobserver.com, 8-1-2008
CAMP LEJEUNE - After they were attacked by a car bomb, a Marine Special Operations unit drove down an Afghan highway for several miles shooting at - and apparently killing - motorists who posed them no threat, said the first witness today in an unusual hearing into the incident.
A former counterintelligence Marine with the unit said that as the convoy was returning to its base the turret gunner in the Humvee in front of him shot at "at least five and fewer than 20" vehicles.
The Marine, former Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Travers, described seeing flashes of ugly scenes as he drove past cars careening off the road. Other cars were stopped, he said, with slumped occupants, including the frightened face of a child in the back seat of a car.
"I really felt that there were a lot of people that died that day who didn't need to," he said. "They were just driving their cars."
Travers' account was similar to that given by civilian witnesses to an Afghan human rights group after the March 4 incident. As many as 19 people were killed and up to 50 wounded, according to earlier reports.
Attorneys for some of the Marines have said that they were ambushed in a complex, planned attack, and they only shot in response to incoming small arms fire.
Their cross-examination of Travers gave a preview of the defense's plan. Mark Waple a civilian attorney for Maj. Fred J. Galvin, the company commander, asked whether Travers would disagree if 19 Marines testified or offered sworn statements that at some point along the route they heard small arms fire. Travers unhesitating replied no.
He also was forced to list the number of things that could make seeing out of the small, thick windows of the humvee difficult and readily offered that he was in the worst position in the vehicle to analyze the source of gunfire outside the vehicle.
The cross examination also highlighted Travers' standing as something of an outsider, given his role in intelligence and his discontent with his job.
He agreed that he wasn't close to members of the platoon on the patrol, and that he had told some Marines there he didn't think the United States belonged in Afghanistan.
"My sentiment started to grow more towards what are we fighting this war for?" he said.
The platoon on the patrol was part of the first company of Marine Special Operations troops ever deployed. They had been in Afghanistan for less than a month.
None of the 30 Marines on the patrol has been charged with a crime. The hearing was ordered to examine the facts and evidence. Two men, company commander Maj. Fred J. Galvin and platoon commander Capt. Vincent J. Noble, are named as the focus of the hearing.
The hearing, called a court of inquiry, is believed to be the first of its type help by the Marines in more than 50 years. Information that comes out of it could lead to legal charges, but the hearing is an administrative procedure to sort out the facts and evidence.
The three senior officers leading the hearing will make a formal report to Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland, commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command.
CAMP LEJEUNE - After they were attacked by a car bomb, a Marine Special Operations unit drove down an Afghan highway for several miles shooting at - and apparently killing - motorists who posed them no threat, said the first witness today in an unusual hearing into the incident.
A former counterintelligence Marine with the unit said that as the convoy was returning to its base the turret gunner in the Humvee in front of him shot at "at least five and fewer than 20" vehicles.
The Marine, former Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Travers, described seeing flashes of ugly scenes as he drove past cars careening off the road. Other cars were stopped, he said, with slumped occupants, including the frightened face of a child in the back seat of a car.
"I really felt that there were a lot of people that died that day who didn't need to," he said. "They were just driving their cars."
Travers' account was similar to that given by civilian witnesses to an Afghan human rights group after the March 4 incident. As many as 19 people were killed and up to 50 wounded, according to earlier reports.
Attorneys for some of the Marines have said that they were ambushed in a complex, planned attack, and they only shot in response to incoming small arms fire.
Their cross-examination of Travers gave a preview of the defense's plan. Mark Waple a civilian attorney for Maj. Fred J. Galvin, the company commander, asked whether Travers would disagree if 19 Marines testified or offered sworn statements that at some point along the route they heard small arms fire. Travers unhesitating replied no.
He also was forced to list the number of things that could make seeing out of the small, thick windows of the humvee difficult and readily offered that he was in the worst position in the vehicle to analyze the source of gunfire outside the vehicle.
The cross examination also highlighted Travers' standing as something of an outsider, given his role in intelligence and his discontent with his job.
He agreed that he wasn't close to members of the platoon on the patrol, and that he had told some Marines there he didn't think the United States belonged in Afghanistan.
"My sentiment started to grow more towards what are we fighting this war for?" he said.
The platoon on the patrol was part of the first company of Marine Special Operations troops ever deployed. They had been in Afghanistan for less than a month.
None of the 30 Marines on the patrol has been charged with a crime. The hearing was ordered to examine the facts and evidence. Two men, company commander Maj. Fred J. Galvin and platoon commander Capt. Vincent J. Noble, are named as the focus of the hearing.
The hearing, called a court of inquiry, is believed to be the first of its type help by the Marines in more than 50 years. Information that comes out of it could lead to legal charges, but the hearing is an administrative procedure to sort out the facts and evidence.
The three senior officers leading the hearing will make a formal report to Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland, commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command.
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