Marines Cleared of Army's Bogus Charges

Two Marines cleared in Afghan deaths
Up to 19 civilians killed in 2007 incident; Marines fired after car bombing

The Associated Press
updated 2:39 p.m. ET, Fri., May. 23, 2008

RALEIGH , N.C. - Two Marine Corps officers whose unit was accused of killing up to 19Afghan civilians in 2007 will not face criminal charges, the corps said Friday.

The Marines said Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland, the commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Central Command, made the decision not to bring charges after reviewing the findings of a special tribunal that heard more than three weeks of testimony in January at Camp Lejuene.

The tribunal investigated allegations that as many as 19 Afghan civilians died when a unit of Marines special operations troops opened fire after a car bomb targeted their convoy in March 2007 in Nangahar Province.

The Marines said Helland determined the Marines in the convoy “acted appropriately and in accordance with the rules of engagement and tactics, techniques and procedures in place at the time in response to a complex attack.”

It was the first time in more than 50 years the Marines empanelled a Court of Inquiry. The panel, comprised of two Marine Corps colonels and a lieutenant colonel, only considered the actions of the company’s commander, 38-year-old Maj. Fred C. Galvin of the Kansas City area, and a platoon leader, Capt. Vincent J. Noble, 29, of Philadelphia.

“Obviously, I am delighted about the findings,” said civilian attorney Knox Nunnally, who represented Noble before the Court of Inquiry. “From a legal standpoint, it was overwhelming that this was going to be the result.”

'Issues' related to incident uncovered
The Marines, however, said “administrative, manning and training issues” related to the incident were uncovered by the court’s investigation. Those unspecified issues have been forwarded to the commander of the Marine Corps’s special operations command for action.

The Corps also said Galvin, Noble and a third officer — Capt. Robert Olsen — will face administrative actions. It was not immediately clear what those actions might be.

Citing witness accounts, Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission concluded the Marines fired indiscriminately at vehicles and pedestrians in six different locations on a 10-mile stretch of road. Nearly a dozen Marines told the court they heard gunfire after the bombing and called the unit’s fire a disciplined response to a well-planned ambush.

Galvin and several other Marines were sent back to Camp Lejeune after the shooting. The rest of the unit was ordered to leave Afghanistan and returned to the ships of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit in the Persian Gulf.

An Army investigation later concluded that 50 people were injured and 19 were killed. The brigade commander in charge of regular forces in the province publicly apologized for the shootings, saying he was ashamed of what had happened.

But a week later, Marine Corps commandant Gen. James T. Conway said the Army officer shouldn’t have apologized because an investigation into what occurred was still ongoing. Nunnally has said he believes three to five people died and less than 19 were injured.

“This is a concurrence that all the Marines on the patrol did the right thing,” said Galvin’s civilian lawyer, Mark Waple.

Gen Conway - Keep Us Expeditionary

Gen James Conway:
New World Needs Return Of Expeditionary Marine Corps

“Terrible decisions” are at hand in calling the Marine Corps out of land fighting and back to its expeditionary, maritime-based roots, but the move is vital to successfully fighting the war on terror in a world that will be drastically different in 20 years, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway said May 14.

“Our value is not in the fact that we provide a second land army to this great country,”

Conway told the crowd of several hundred at the Marine Corps Association’s annual Command, Control, Communications and Computers (C4) awards dinner. “Our value is that we provide an expeditionary force second-to-none that can get out of town quickly, be light on its feet, be adaptable wherever we go, and very, very lethal.”

“We’ve got a ways to go, however, to get back there and there are some terrible decisions along the way, quite frankly,” he added.

Citing the work of the Marine Corps’ Strategic Vision Group, which is evaluating how to position the service into 2025 and beyond, Conway painted a future requiring a more agile and littoral-focused corps. For example, 75 percent of the world’s population will be living within 250 miles of a coastline by 2035, according to the group.

“So if you look at that arc of instability, it’s got a lot of blue on it,” Conway said. “If you accept that we’ll be fighting amongst the people, we’re going to be fighting in those littorals we think, a good bit, in this global war.”

The group, which released a preliminary information paper on strategic trends and implications in February, also postulates that water may become as valuable as oil, with 67 percent of the world’s population facing shortages by 2030 and conflicts between nations developing over competition for the resource. Furthermore, the group says, China and India are becoming bigger economic and political players, the legitimacy of sovereign nation-states is being increasingly challenged, and the definition of conflict is broadening to include terror by non-state actors.

“So it’s going to be a different world from what we know it, folks, and so we ask ourselves, how does our Marine Corps engage?” Conway said.

Strategic plans and recommendations from the group, which falls under the responsibility of Lt. Gen James Amos, commanding general of Marine Corps Combat Development Command, are expected in the coming months.

The Marine Corps has seen the question of how to engage in the new world already manifest itself with improvised explosive devices in Iraq and Afghanistan, Conway said. Additional armor offers troops more protection from IED’s, but more armor also adds weight, which must be limited to get personnel aboard ships or aircraft.

“Where is that sweet spot, how do we do both, is a major question that [Amos] and his guys are wrestling with, but that we’re all really facing, I think, as a corps,” Conway said.

Conway said that while winning the fight in Iraq and Afghanistan is of the utmost priority, it should not take away from the service’s need or desire to think beyond today’s battlefields.
Becoming a “two-fisted” force that can fight conventional warfare as well as it can fight counterinsurgencies will take reshaping of the force and a return to training that the service hasn’t been doing, Conway said.

The Marines cannot be wedded to a “particular way or mode of war,” according to the Strategic Vision Group’s preliminary information paper.

“The future demands a military organization that is agile and adaptive in its approach to the unique conditions each conflict poses,” the report states. “By virtue of its relatively small size and flexible structure, [and] maritime orientation, [the Marine Corps has] the opportunity to pioneer decentralized and agile responses to a wider set of contingencies across the full spectrum of conflict.”

--Rebekah Gordon
Inside The Navy
May 19, 2008

IRON BRIGADE takes over in the Baghdad Belts

Iron Brigade takes command at FOB Hammer
By Spc. Justin Snyder, 2nd BCT, 1st Armd. Div., PAO

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER, Iraq – Authority in the Mada’in Qada area of Iraq transferred from the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, here May 15.

“Like the Hammer Brigade, the Iron Brigade will be at your side to continue to support and assist you,” said 2nd BCT commander, Col. Pat White, to Iraqis in attendance. “We are honored to be a part of your history.”

The ceremony began with the playing of both the United States and Iraqi national anthems. Following the anthems, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commanding general of Multi-National Division – Center, addressed the crowd, which included 2nd BCT Soldiers, 3rd HBCT Soldiers and many local Iraqi leaders and citizens.

Lynch, a native of Hamilton, Ohio, began by thanking everyone for coming out and supporting the Hammer and Iron Brigades. He told the crowd that his Soldiers could not have been successful alone and that the partnerships they developed with the Iraqi Army and National Police were a large part of their success. “Everyone did this together, including the courageous people of the Mada’in Qada,” Lynch said. “We are excited about what the future holds for you as Col. Pat White and the [Iron] Brigade Combat Team takes command. They will take things to the next level in the Mada’in Qada.”

He then introduced Col. Wayne W. Grigsby Jr., 3rd HBCT commander, and congratulated him on a job well done.

“Wayne, you did an outstanding job and your Soldiers were lucky to have served with you,” Lynch said. “Nothing was too great for you to accomplish and you accomplished it all. The people of the Mada’in Qada will miss you greatly.”

Grigsby, a native of Prince George’s County, Md., took the microphone and thanked the Iraqis for accepting him and his Soldiers as their neighbors.

When the Hammer Soldiers arrived in the Mada’in Qada 15 months ago, the region was strangled by Shia and Sunni extremist influences. The markets were vacant, women and children could not walk safely in the streets and irrigation canals were dry, leaving the area sparse of drinking water.

The Hammer Soldiers went to work alongside the IA, NP and Sons of Iraq, providing security, which led to the detaining of more than 500 suspected criminals, 47 of them being high-value targets. This allowed them to help revitalize markets, build schools and improve water distribution facilities, once again returning glory to the people of the Mada’in Qada.

On this celebratory day, Grigsby said he was proud to be a part of the rebuilding, and it was because of the bold citizens of Iraq that they were able to come so far. “All things have changed in the Mada’in Qada and we have transformed,” Grigsby said. “In our time here, the bold citizens have stepped forward. Because of you, the Mada’in Qada is a better place for future generations.”

Grigsby promised more improvements would come as the Iron Brigade took over command in the qada.“The Sledgehammer Brigade is leaving, but the mission will continue on,” Grigsby said. “Col. White and the great Iron Brigade will take on this task and continue to make the Mada’in Qada even better than it stands today.”

Grigsby left the podium and cased the colors of the 3rd HBCT, signifying the brigade’s mission completed, turning over command to the 2nd BCT.

White, from Apple Valley, Ca., followed by uncasing the Iron Brigade’s colors, signifying the transfer of authority as official. The Iron Brigade stands strong and ready to perform full spectrum operations in the Mada’in Qada.

White thanked the 3rd HBCT for a great transition and said that there is nothing more important than what the Army is doing in Iraq. He said the Iron Brigade would continue to support and assist the people of Iraq, but it would involve their help.

“As the transition moves forward, there remains one constant, to free citizens in this Mada’in Qada,” White said. “It is up to you to provide the leadership, security and economic growth required to improve this Mada’in one day at a time.”

Lynch believes this transition holds much larger meaning than just a change of command, one that will stay with the Iraqi people forever.“We are doing this for our children and your children,” Lynch said. “We are truly building a new Iraq together.”

The 2nd BCT, 1st Armd. Div., from Baumholder, Germany, has been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom since April in the Mada’in Qada in southeastern Baghdad Province.