Afghan civilians claim U.S. troops shot at them after jihadi ambush
posted at 2:37 pm on March 4, 2007 by Allahpundit
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CJ reports that the Kossacks are already sniffing this out for Haditha potential. I wouldn’t worry. Afghanistan is the war they pretend to support so they gain nothing by demagoguing this, except maybe a chance for Murtha to connect it up to “troop fatigue” and how it never would have happened if those 150,000 troops were in Kabul instead of Baghdad and Anbar. Because you can imagine, if we hadn’t invaded Iraq, how cheerfully the left would have greeted the news of a huge escalation of U.S. forces in Afghanistan over the past few years.
The long and short: a suicide bomber blew up near a U.S. convoy, jihadis popped up and started firing at them, and the convoy took off, allegedly shooting at cars they passed while making their escape. Ten Afghans were killed, 35 were wounded. The Afghans say they were shot by Marines but a military spokesman says they might well have been shot by jihadis. This is a little dicey, though:
U.S. forces near Sunday’s bombing later deleted photos taken by a freelance photographer working for The Associated Press and video taken by a freelancer working for AP Television News. Neither the photographer nor the cameraman witnessed the suicide attack or the subsequent gunfire. It was not immediately known why the soldiers deleted the photos and videos. The U.S. military did not immediately comment on the matter.
The freelance photographer, Rahmat Gul, said he took photos of a four-wheel drive vehicle where three Afghans had been shot to death inside.
An American soldier then took Gul’s camera and deleted the photos. Gul said he later received permission to take photos from another soldier, but that the first soldier came back and angrily told him to delete the photos again. Gul said the soldier then raised his fist as if he was going to strike Gul.
This all took place near Jalalabad, in the province of Nangarhar, which is right on the border with Pakistan. The troops involved are elite — reportedly, Marine Special Forces. Kunar province, where the alleged attack on the senior AQ leader’s headquarters took place, is immediately to the north. I wonder if these guys were involved if they’re just hunting Taliban generally.
Update: The AP has a second story about troops allegedly threatening the photographer. “Delete them, or we will delete you.”
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I remember yahoo saying that Americans ran away from a suicide bomber and a ‘militant’ ambush, and that then the americans opened fire on civilian cars
bias anyone
Defector01 on March 4, 2007 at 2:42 PM
The troops should be equipped with Tasers for situations such as this. The left will then have nothing to complain about… oh wait.. nevermind.
If we had not invaded Iraq, everything now being said about Iraq would instead be said about Afghanistan.
rw on March 4, 2007 at 3:02 PM
street - jihadis = no one being killed.
hmm, whom shall I blame?
Opinionnation on March 4, 2007 at 3:36 PM
Lessons Learned:
1. Don’t be near US troops after they have been fired upon.
2. Don’t take photos of US Special Ops personnel.
3. John Murtha is a walking sphincter.
(ok, I just threw that last one in for the fun of it)
TugboatPhil on March 4, 2007 at 3:50 PM
Afghan civilians claim U.S. troops shot at them after jihadi ambush
King Arthur: You were shot?
Afghan civilian: I got better.
TugboatPhil is right about not taking pics of Spec Ops. Thing is were there pictures of dead US Military and any number of things that they know they are not allowed to take pictures of? I would have probably told the reporter the same thing (if it were actually said in the first place) after what happened with the video of the dieing soldier earlier and the sniper vid.
- The Cat
MirCat on March 4, 2007 at 4:31 PM
What the hell is a photographer doing there in the first place. Especially with the US Secial Ops! DUH! The dumba$$ needs to get out of the way.
ChrisIansNana on March 4, 2007 at 4:32 PM
Ah, nuts. I read the title wrong 3 times and just now noticed the AT in shot at.
In that case, was it “Hey crowd, back off.” Warning shot shots.
- The Cat looking rather silly now
MirCat on March 4, 2007 at 4:33 PM
In a war where your enemies dress like civilians because they are civilians, civilians are going to be attacked.
Savage on March 4, 2007 at 4:33 PM
thank goodness you didn’t say the f-word
ChrisIansNana on March 4, 2007 at 4:34 PM
I can’t see the Dems trying to make too much out of this…Afghanistan is like hunting rifles to them ….it’s something they can pretend to support when they go after something their against like while their against the war in Iraq they support Afghanistan so they don’t look anti-troops and while they want more gun control they’ll say their not against using guns for hunting..it’s just a way to avoid looking too much like Socialists.
mlong on March 4, 2007 at 4:56 PM
Ooops, talking about being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or might it be in the right place at the right time. Depends on the persuasion of those our men killed. But hey, it’s like my dad told me when I was a kid, if you hang around with the troublemakers, trouble will certainly find you. I consider this a non story except that our fine fighting soldiers have now decreased the number of people out to kill us, so this is a good thing, no?
rayvet on March 4, 2007 at 5:09 PM
Jamil Hussein could not be reached for comment.
Theworldisnotenough on March 4, 2007 at 6:47 PM
Well the Military Haters are out in force already calling the Marine Special Ops people cowards
RichSchein on March 4, 2007 at 6:49 PM
“Well the Military Haters are out in force already calling the Marine Special Ops people cowards”
Except never to their face in a dark alley, huh?
rayvet on March 4, 2007 at 7:03 PM
I’m sorry but I agree about the civilian-looking adversary thing. If militants fight without a uniform, or trying to look like civies on purpose…..civilians will end up dead.
Isn’t that part of why the enemy is so detestable? They dress down on purpose, hoping that news stories such as this will undermine our troops.
And I hold our media in higher contempt than terrorists for being so GLEEFULLY complicit in this.
unamused on March 4, 2007 at 8:11 PM
That is what happens in war, some folks are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sad but predictable.
Buzzy on March 4, 2007 at 8:30 PM
Just don’t say that at Huffpo or the attack machine goes into overdrive
RichSchein on March 4, 2007 at 8:51 PM
War is ugly. Deal.
PRCalDude on March 5, 2007 at 12:09 PM