A Reader Writes:
"I tried to post this article link on the post you wrote about the 5 military deaths but for some reason it is not working this morning."
( Linnane: He's talking about this story:
Report Faults Officers' Absence in Afghan Ambush that Killed 5 U.S. Troops )
"My kid was in this unit a few years ago and had nothing nice to say about the ethics or character of Col. Randy George, commander of the division's 4th Brigade Combat Team. Our boys were sitting ducks. What do you say to their parents?"
Meanwhile, a similar story:
Fault Found in Afghan Outpost's Fall
A U.S. military investigation into how the Taliban overran an outpost last fall in Afghanistan, killing eight soldiers and injuring 22, cited "inadequate measures taken by the Chain of Command."
The three-pronged Taliban attack on Combat Outpost Keating, in the Kamdesh district of Afghanistan's Nuristan province, on October 3 2009, has been trumpeted by the insurgents as a major achievement. Though the attack was repelled after several hours of combat, the U.S. military evacuated and destroyed the outpost, which housed some 60 U.S. troops, three days later. Coalition troops are no longer present in that area, and most of Nuristan has fallen under insurgent control.
The U.S. military had decided to close the outpost by July-August 2009, but delayed the move because of other military operations in a nearby district.
Such a "mindset of imminent closure" prevented the unit from improving the outpost's defenses even as intelligence reports warned of a planned strike by "a large enemy force," Friday's report said. These inadequate defenses, in turn, made Keating "an attractive target" for the Taliban, the report said.
Following the report's conclusion, a summary of which was released Friday, the commander of American forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has taken "appropriate action" against the officers involved, the U.S. military said. It didn't release the officers' names or specify the nature of the action.
