http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/25/army-accused-of-covering-up-mistakes-in-afghan-battle/?hpt=C1

Army accused of covering up mistakes in Afghan battle

It will go down in history as one of the U.S. military’s worst battles in Afghanistan. And according to the families of the soldiers who died there, the history written by the U.S. Army is biased and inaccurate.

Relatives of those killed in Wanat, at a combat outpost in the rugged mountains of northeastern Afghanistan, say the Army is covering up mistakes made by the dead mens’ commanders and placing blame on a junior officer who was simply following orders.

“My personal opinion is that the Army is trying to protect their institution,” said Dave Brostrom, the father of 1st Lt. Jonathan Brostrom, who was killed in the battle. “It

*** continued from above ***

In a meeting between Army officials and several family members of the nine dead soldiers, Campbell explained his decision not to reprimand the commanding officers was to protect future combat missions.

“I informed the Secretary of the Army of the action that I took,

If the initial investigation was accurate, and I don’t have any reason to assume otherwise, this smells of coverup.  It’s either that or the guy who issued the second report doesn’t have the sense of a wood beetle   The fact that he seems to think the commanders had exercised due care in the performance of their duties tells me he’s out to lunch.  Busy or not there is no reason why the company commander and up the line would not have been aware of the situation and would not have done something about it unless they didn’t feel it was necessary, in which case they could be considered negligent in their assessment and for the lack of support.

My experience in the army is that many superior officers will do almost anything to cover their asses when things go wrong.

gray - 26 March 2011 01:06 AM

My experience in the army is that many superior officers will do almost anything to cover their asses when things go wrong.

That sounds right. Let blame roll the chain of command. Oh, hey, look, here’s a dead guy who can’t pass the buck.

Although I can completely understand a parent’s grief, the sad fact about wartime combat is that it is messy, confused, unpredictable, and generally poorly-managed.  There is no reason to believe that the war in Afghanistan can be “won” in a conventional military sense - the Afghanis are a clannish, medieval people who are both used to and adept at repelling foreign invasions.  There is also no reason to expect that the average Afghani views this particular war as any different from any other.

The makeup of their society seems to be such that they fight amongst themselves when left alone, and yet somehow manage to create a pseudo-monolithic resistance to ANY foreign military intervention, no matter how well-intentioned.

The British tried to conquor Afghanistan - and failed.  The Russians tried, too - and failed.  The fact that WE percieve our current military intervention as “humanitarian” is probably not relevant to the average Afghani - we send soldiers, they shoot some people, therefore we are an invader.  We likely can’t win this on military terms.

And more people’s children will die, regardless.  Yet, I’m torn - the Taliban were and are a murderous, totalitarian bunch, and I think we must have some kind of moral duty to oppose them . . . I’m just not sure that the military solution is the way.

SteveE - 27 March 2011 05:15 AM

I’m just not sure that the military solution is the way.

The best solution is economic, not military.  Unfortunately, you need the military aspect of it to keep folks such as the Taliban from destroying the economic solution.