Wed, Jun 02, 2010
February Air Strike The Result Of "Inaccurate And
Unprofessional" Reporting By UAS Crews
The U.S. Military released a report Saturday that lays the
blame for a mistaken February air strike in Afghanistan in the laps
of the operators of the UAVs that directed the strike. As many as
23 civilians were killed when a civilian convoy was mistaken for an
insurgent force and attacked.
In a written statement, military officials said that four senior
officers had been reprimanded, and two junior officers had been
"admonished" as a result of the attack. Such notations in their
service records could be considered damaging to their careers.
The actual attack was carried out by a U.S. helicopter, which
fired on a convoy comprised of three vehicles approaching the
village of Khod on February 21st. A Special Forces commander on the
ground believed the convoy was carrying reinforcements for the
Taliban fighters engaged with Coalition forces in Khod.
The Washington Post reports that, according to the report, the
Predator crews had been tracking the convoy for three and a half
hours from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. The reports said the
operators "deprived the ground force commander of vital
information."
Predator Ground Station File Photo
According to the report, the operators missed the women who were
riding in the convoy. While it indicated that they did report
seeing children nearby, they thought only armed male combatants
occupied the vehicles. The aircrews halted the attack when they
noticed that it appeared there were women riding in the convoy
vehicles, but by then 23 men had been killed, and the dozen wounded
included a woman and three children.
The attack drew an official apology from U.S. NATO Commander in
Afghanistan Stanley McChrystal. The apology was accepted by Afghan
President Hamid Karzai, who said in a statement that he was
satisfied with the results of the investigation, and that a similar
"deeply regrettable" incident would not happen in the future.
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