AP: ISAF under-reports green-on-blue incidents
According to a Stars & Stripes/Associated Press article, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan is not reporting all of the attacks made on coalition forces by Afghan nationals in uniform;
In recent weeks an Afghan soldier opened fire on a group of American soldiers but missed the group entirely. The Americans quickly shot him to death. Not a word about this was reported by the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, as the coalition is formally known. It was disclosed to the AP by a U.S. official who was granted anonymity in order to give a fuller picture of the “insider” problem.
ISAF also said nothing about last week’s attack in which two Afghan policemen in Kandahar province fired on U.S. soldiers, wounding two. Reporters learned of it from Afghan officials and from U.S. officials in Washington. The two Afghan policemen were shot to death by the Americans present.
Just last Wednesday, an attack that killed a U.S. Army special forces soldier, Staff Sgt. Andrew T. Brittonmihalo, 25, of Simi Valley, Calif., also wounded three other American soldiers. The death was reported by ISAF as an insider attack, but it made no mention of the wounded – or that an Afghan civilian also was killed.
The usurper at the blog formerly known as Blackfive asked the question yesterday about how many green-on-blue-related deaths have there been this year. Apparently there won’t be a concrete answer forthcoming from this administration because they want it to look like there will be no hindrances to our timetable withdrawal.
We can estimate that there have a couple of dozen just in the first four months of this year – but don’t worry…the Afghan investigators have declared that there is no plot underlying the score of deaths. And US forces are now allowed to turn their desks to face their doors. I feel better, don’t you?
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Terror War
Well with the five people killed in the last 4 days, Washington DC’s total homicides for the year stands at 30, seems 24 deaths in a war zone would be small news by comparison.
Please understand, I’m not downplaying the sacrifice made by our servicemen, but I also don’t find it unusual that these attacks in Afghanistan aren’t front page news. I personally see the ‘insider’ information reported by the AP as a blatant attempt to undermine public opinion and demoralize the force.
An old cop trick, always keep your back to the wall unless you trust who’s covering your ass.
CPT Drew Russell and CPT Joshua Lawrence were killed by an ANA SGT on 8 OCT 2011. Officially reported as death by RPG fire. Incorrect, they were murdered by an ANA with his M-16. Everyone here in Kandahar knows it, but was never reported properly to the public. Green on blue incidents are now kept at R/C south level and not disiminated.
“US forces are now allowed to turn their desks . . . ”
*sarcasm*
I had no idea all our troops drove desks .
I was at the Burger King on North (Ft Lewis) JBLM last Monday and there were two soldiers in front of me with ISAF patches on their left shoulders…..what the h*&*&^) are they doing here? Do they train here? Do our soldiers have to check their six when these guys have a weapon in their hands???? What is going on?