View Full Version : USSF Mistakenly Kill 6 Afghan Police (FALSE HEADLINE)
In today's news. I'll wait to hear the rest of the story.
Richard's $.02 :munchin
US Special Forces Mistakenly Kill 6 Afghan Police
Jason Straziuso, AP
9 Dec 2008
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081210/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan
U.S. Special Forces killed six Afghan police and wounded 13 early Wednesday in a case of mistaken identity by both sides after the police fired on the Americans during an operation against an insurgent commander, officials said.
A U.S. military statement said police fired on the American forces after the troops battled and killed an armed militant in the city of Qalat, the capital of the southern province of Zabul. The Americans returned fire on the police but only later learned their identities. One Afghan civilian was also killed in the exchange.
"Coalition forces deeply regret the incident of mistaken fire," said Col. Jerry O'Hara, a U.S. military spokesman. "Initial reports indicate this was a tragic case of mistaken identity on both parts."
Gulab Shah Alikhail, the province's deputy governor, said U.S. Special Forces carried out an operation in a small village near a police checkpoint on the outskirts of Qalat. The police, thinking it was a Taliban attack, opened fire, he said. Then a helicopter fired on the security post and destroyed it, he said.
The attack collapsed the police station's roof and damaged a civilian home nearby, said Gilani Khan, the deputy provincial police chief.
"Unfortunately, the Special Forces didn't inform the police that they were going to the village," Alikhail said.
U.S. officials quietly admit that they are hesitant to share detailed plans of raids against militant commanders for fear that government officials connected to the Taliban could tip off the militants of the impending operation.
The U.S. said the target of Wednesday's raid was a militant commander "known to coordinate attacks against coalition forces along Highway One," Afghanistan's main highway that circles the country. The statement did not say if that commander had been killed in the operation.
Friendly fire between U.S. or NATO forces and Afghan troops or police happens several times a year. President Hamid Karzai has deplored the deaths of Afghan civilians during U.S. or NATO operations but has said that some friendly fire deaths are inevitable during war.
Officials from the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Interior and U.S. forces traveled from Kabul to Qalat on Wednesday to investigate the deaths.
I don't like the headline - Should read Afghan police killed after firing on US SF by mistake - something like that.
And again - I don't think any GBs were flying the aircraft.
Sad case though.
Question. I have not been in the military, so I do not know what it is like being shot at or being in combat. But, I do not understand how our men are being shot at. Are the vehicles we drive in not obvious enough to who we are? I just do not see how the Afghan police or miiltary can mistaken a HMMWV or MRAP for a Taliban or Al-Qaeda transport, unless of course we are using other means such as Toyota trucks.
It may not be something I understand until I experience it myself.
The Reaper
12-10-2008, 08:58
I don't like the headline - Should read Afghan police killed after firing on US SF by mistake - something like that.
And again - I don't think any GBs were flying the aircraft.
Sad case though.
Exactly.
The headline is an attempt to spin the report. They killed exactly who they were trying to kill, which was the people trying to kill them. If they had failed to do so, the Times would have reported that the incompetent SF soldiers were cowards and failed to engage the criminals shooting at them.
And given the Taliban's use of police and military uniforms to deceive, I think that returning fire for fire received is an appropriate response.
Bet the survivors don't pull that BS again.
TR
Unfortunately :rolleyes: the Special Forces didn't inform the police that they were going to the village," Alikhail said.
U.S. officials quietly admit that they are hesitant to share detailed plans of raids against militant commanders for fear that government officials connected to the Taliban could tip off the militants of the impending operation.
Stay safe.
Team Sergeant
12-10-2008, 09:10
Exactly.
The headline is an attempt to spin the report.
TR
I don't think it's an attempt, it is clearly misdirection, fraudulent reporting , misinformation etc by jason straziuso, and the associated press, journalistic cowards.
What's that website that reports on idiot "reporters" such as these? I cannot remember but this article needs to be brought to their attention.
TS
zuluzerosix
12-10-2008, 10:39
Oooooohhh, I get it. You fellas are supposed to let let them know when and where you are operating beforehand.:rolleyes:
Nutz. Although I claim no knowlege of the area involved, the people involved, the SF community and SF operations, training etc....
I suspect the Afgahn police knew exactly who they were shooting at. They paid for it too.
greenberetTFS
12-10-2008, 11:36
I don't like the headline - Should read Afghan police killed after firing on US SF by mistake - something like that.
And again - I don't think any GBs were flying the aircraft.
Sad case though.
Pete's right, that should have read Afghan police killed AFTER firing on US SF......:(
GB TFS :munchin
blue02hd
12-10-2008, 15:00
Since when did the Taliban start flying helicopters in support of their attacks?
Perhaps the bird was mistaken for a news-copter?
RT AXE 10
12-10-2008, 16:04
Another surgical strike... Keep up the good work guys...
If the enemy can't see you, they can't shoot you...
If they had failed to do so, the Times would have reported that the incompetent SF soldiers were cowards and failed to engage the criminals shooting at them.TR
Peeking in here slowly Sir, but, IF that headline is ever read by me and my kin...
the party writing such trash can be guaranteed a boot up the ass from us! :mad:
This journalist is a dumbass POS, IMVHO.
Holly
Am now backing away slowly...
Warrior-Mentor
12-10-2008, 21:23
The headline should read:
"Army SF uses Darwin to improve the Afghan Gene Pool"
anythingrandom
12-10-2008, 21:44
Gentlemen,
After reading the article and thread, I was wondering why the military seems to be so picky about letting reporters travel with units. My line of thinking is that any reporter traveling with a unit would be forced to reconsider any preconceived notions about war, their country, their military, etc and report the truth. Of course, this doesn't rule out the options that their higher ups would attempt spin tactics before the news went to press. I understand that there would exist, with a reporter present, potential threats to intelligence and the cohesion and functionality of the unit. Any other reasons?
I've watched the NG special and have read and viewed all materials pertaining to Fick and the Recon marines, and countless other media presentations on OEF and OIF. - In the first two examples, I felt that having reporters there really helped dose the media with reality, at least for those of us safe in the States.
Where is our new Ernie Pyle?
Basenshukai
12-10-2008, 22:55
Gentlemen,
After reading the article and thread, I was wondering why the military seems to be so picky about letting reporters travel with units. My line of thinking is that any reporter traveling with a unit would be forced to reconsider any preconceived notions about war, their country, their military, etc and report the truth. Of course, this doesn't rule out the options that their higher ups would attempt spin tactics before the news went to press. I understand that there would exist, with a reporter present, potential threats to intelligence and the cohesion and functionality of the unit. Any other reasons?
I've watched the NG special and have read and viewed all materials pertaining to Fick and the Recon marines, and countless other media presentations on OEF and OIF. - In the first two examples, I felt that having reporters there really helped dose the media with reality, at least for those of us safe in the States.
Where is our new Ernie Pyle?
If you are on my patrol and you don't have anything that will make nice little neat holes in the enemy, you are taking up valuable space.
blue02hd
12-11-2008, 04:27
If you are on my patrol and you don't have anything that will make nice little neat holes in the enemy, you are taking up valuable space.
Not to mention the additional responsibility of safeguarding an "asset" that is not trained to protect itself. Media elements rarely come solo. Think reporter, camera man, producer, and sometimes sound man. So multiply my original statement by 2 to 4, and apply that Basenshukai' valuable space as well.
We had a crew in 2003 that came with a security guy too (not a bad guy... who did, against rules, make himself useful at one point)
To your element you add, U.S attachments, HN forces and then a media vehicle and your little op starts resembling a travelling circus.
We gave the media crew the standard, "don't get in the way," "protecting you is not a priority" speech, but we all knew that they were just a bunch of dudes that didn't bring anything to the fight except more confusion... and we'd end up protecting them anyway.
We were told that we had to take them, so all we could do was suck it up and assume that someone higher than us had a reason for it.
U.S. Troops Mistakenly Kill Six Afghan Policemen
By Candace Rondeaux, Washington Post Foreign Service
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 10 -- U.S. Special Forces troops in southeastern Afghanistan killed six Afghan policemen and wounded 13 Wednesday in an incident that Afghan and U.S. officials said was a case of mistaken identity.
The "friendly fire" incident occurred about midnight when troops who were engaged in an operation in the city of Qalat, in Zabol province, came face to face with a group of what they thought were Taliban insurgents, said Gen. Mohammad Yacoub Zabuli, a provincial police official. According to Zabuli and a U.S. military statement, there was a brief exchange of gunfire before the U.S. troops realized that the men firing on them were Afghan police.
Zabuli said that the Afghan policemen opened fire, thinking they were under attack from insurgents. U.S. forces then called for air support and fired a missile at the area, he said.
"Coalition forces deeply regret the incident of mistaken fire," Col. Jerry O'Hara, a U.S. military spokesman, said in a statement released Wednesday. "Initial reports indicate this was a tragic case of mistaken identity on both parts."
An armed insurgent who had barricaded himself inside a building in the area was also killed during the operation, and another insurgent was detained, according to the statement.
The U.S. military said the target of Wednesday's raid was an insurgent commander suspected of being behind repeated attacks on Afghanistan's main highway. It was not clear if the commander was killed in the operation.
U.S. troops have been involved in several "friendly fire" incidents with Afghan security forces this year, including one this summer that killed nine Afghan police officers. Afghan officials have decried what they call a lack of coordination between U.S.-led coalition troops and Afghan security forces.
"We're really concerned about these mistaken identity cases," Zabuli said. "We want the U.S. forces to stop these kinds of incidents from happening."
Zabuli said a joint delegation of officials from the U.S. military and the Afghan Defense and Interior ministries had been sent to the province to investigate the incident.
Special correspondent Javed Hamdard in Kabul contributed to this report.
:munchin
the straaaaange thing is... you cant get them damn Afghan cops to shoot back at bad guys when you are on a patrol and a gunfight breaks out... them cocksuckers CAN however hide three grown men behind a rock the size a a 12 pack of bud light...
...yet here they are returning fire
ya cant get them to stay awake during guard shift even when you let them start a raging bonfire to stray warm...
...and yet here they are at midnight, returning fire.
how odd
Where is our new Ernie Pyle?
About as close as it can get:
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/
The reality is that very few reporters are brave enough to leave the safety of Kabul, Bagram or Kandahar Airfield in order to get ground truth reality. Just about every report I've seen from the MSM related to Afghanistan are filled with factual errors and second hand gossip. Bottomline, these reporters don't spend the time to investigate and simply create an eye-catching headline that stretches the truth or manipulates facts to make it a "sexier" story.
I just returned from Afghanistan. In October, I was part of a fact finding mission in RC-East investigating a friendly fire incident that resulted in several ANA Soldiers being killed by a unit that was incorrectly identified as an SF ODA. We spent an entire day with some high ranking Afghan Army officers explaining to them that it was not SF and that the entire incident was a tragic error.
Unfortunately, our Afghan Govt "allies" in Kabul use these incidents to point fingers. They talk crap about us in public, but when the reporters are excused they are wondering when their next injection of US taxpayer funded money is coming their way.
AngelsSix
12-11-2008, 20:37
One word: Hoollywoood...........T.V. is not just corrupting Americana, folks:rolleyes:
Team Sergeant
12-12-2008, 10:06
USSF Mistakenly Kill 6 Afghan Police
US Special Forces Mistakenly Kill 6 Afghan Police
Jason Straziuso, AP
9 Dec 2008
It's time for a retraction from the AP and the reporter Jason Straziuso, as the story headline is false, this was not the work of The US Army Special Forces aka "The Green Berets".
You heard it here first.;)
Spread the word.
And no, we will not elaborate any further concerning who the idiot reporter was writing about.
Do not ask.
Team Sergeant