Top general in Afghanistan expels Marines

[leobold1]

Top general in Afghanistan expels Marines - Examiner.com

Mar 23, 2007 11:52 AM (56 mins ago)
by Rowan Scarborough, The Examiner

WASHINGTON - The top American general in Afghanistan has expelled a U.S. Marine special operations company for the way the men responded to an ambush March 4, Marine sources said.

Maj. Cliff Gilmore, a spokesman for Marine Special Operations Command, confirmed to The Examiner that the company of 120 Marines is redeploying.

He said the decision followed an ambush on the company's convoy by a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device. A second Marine source said the Marines retaliated and some civilians were killed.

The action brought an abrupt end to what promised to be a historic deployment. The unit sailed in January from Camp Lejuene, N.C., as the first Marine Corps special operations company sent overseas. The Corps joined U.S. Special Operations Command a year ago.

The company is now redeploying to Kuwait after just a few weeks in Afghanistan in what was supposed to be a six-month tour.

A Marine officer assigned to special operations said Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, the top U.S. commander, took the extraordinary step of expelling the unit after he consulted with Afghan Prime Minister Hamid Karzai.

A spokesman for Eikenberry could not be reached today.

Gilmore said, "The unit responded to the ambush and the local population perceptions of that response have damaged the relationship between the local population and the Marine special operations company."

rscarborough@dcexaminer.com

[Woodmonkey]

Did I read this right? The Marines were attacked, responded to that attack, and now they are in the wrong?

[Caldric]

Politics are an amazing human invention.

[las47032]

What did the general expect them to do? Play hide and go seek?

Perhaps, it's the general who should be kicked out out of Afghanistan. Likwise for the rest of the perfumed princes.

Furthermore, politicans, and the high command can take political correctness and shove it!

Time to quit pussyfooting around, change rules of engagement and kick a$$!

[sfga6970]

"The unit responded to the ambush and the local population perceptions of that response have damaged the relationship between the local population and the Marine special operations company."

I'm sure that LTG Eikenberry has a lot more information and intelligence reports that we can not possibly glean from a short article written here in the States by a reporter. Although the Marines did retaliate, was it against the right people? Did the civilians they killed play any part in the attack or were they just shooting at anyone they saw? There are a lot of unanswered questions that need to be addressed before we make our knee-jerk comments. I'm sure that the General thought long and hard about this and talked with his staff, and the Prime Minister, before he made that decision. This is one of the problems the military has, people don't let the Commanders in the field make these hard decisions without second guessing them.

[sfga6970]

An update on this story.

Readiness of ousted spec ops unit questioned
http://www.marineco rpstimes. com/news/ 2007/03/marine_ marsoc_expelled0 70330/

{EXCERPT} , By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer Posted : Monday Apr 2, 2007 21:53:36 EDT

The recent expulsion from Afghanistan of the Marine Corps’ first special operations company did more than just put the relatively new leatherneck command in the spotlight. It has made many question
whether the company was up to the task in the first place.