Obama Promises Full Investigation of Afghanistan Shootings

Killing of civilians is 'outrageous,' says president

By Jim Garamone American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, March 13, 2012 – President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the United States takes seriously the March 11 murder of Afghan civilians and promised Afghan leaders a full investigation into the incident. “We’re heartbroken over the loss of innocent life,” Obama said of the incident in Kandahar province where an American soldier allegedly left his combat outpost and murdered Afghan civilians. Defense officials have not been able to determine the exact number of people killed, and the investigation continues.  Obama called Afghan President Hamid Karzai and spoke about the incident, which he addressed today at a White House news briefing centered mostly about trade with China. “The killing…

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Panetta: Taliban’s Murder Tactics Show Their Weakness

These incidents are being taken seriously, but the United States and NATO will not change its strategy in response, the defense secretary said.

By Jim Garamone American Forces Press Service FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. – The Taliban’s adoption of murder tactics is a sign of their weakness, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said March 2. There have been a number of so-called “green on blue” incidents, in which members of the Afghan army and police killed NATO International Security Assistance Force troops, since the accidental burning of Qurans at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan. These incidents are being taken seriously, but the United States and NATO will not change its strategy in response, Panetta told 101st Airborne Division soldiers. The secretary said he discussed these incidents with Marine Corps Gen. John Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. …

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Ryan Smith

1:21 pm on Monday, March 5, 2012

Dick, you make a very good point. I would argue, however, that it's ludicrous that we live in a world where offending someone's religious sensibilities warrants a death penalty.   more ›

3 Indicted in Soldier's Slaying

A grand jury indicted three men on murder charges Wednesday for the death of Spc. James A. Willis III, a Fort Stewart soldier whose body was found in Camden County in November.

A Fort Stewart soldier and two civilians were indicted on murder charges Wednesday for the Nov. 15 death of Spc. James A. Willis III, another Fort Stewart soldier, according to a Florida Times-Union report. 23-year-old Spc. Jeffrey Eicher, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, and civilians Aaron Paxton, 36, and Timothy Pennington, 39, were all arrested in Camden County in November, the day after hunters found Willis' body. All three were charged with aggravated assault, conspiracy to commit murder, malice murder and felony murder. The indictment also says they conspired to traffic in marijuana and had agreed to buy and plant more than 10 pounds of it, according to the Times-Union. The indictment states that Eicher, Paxton and Pennington conspired to …

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Soldier Who Survived Sept. 2010 Shootings Says He Can't Remember Attack

In pretrial motions in the case of Spc. Neftaly Platero, a 3rd ID soldier accused in the shooting deaths of two comrades and the wounding of a third, the only survivor of the attack told the court Friday that he couldn't remember being shot.

A Fort Stewart soldier who allegedly identified a fellow service member as the man who wounded him and killed his two roommates in Iraq now can't remember being shot, according to an Associated Press report. All four soldiers were assigned to the Third Infantry Division. According to his supervisor, Pfc. Jeffrey Shonk -- who was shot along with two other soldiers during an incident in Iraq in September of 2010 -- managed to identify Spc. Neftaly Platero as his attacker moments after the shooting took place. Staff Sgt. Jhamaal Martin told the court during Friday's pretrial motions that he heard shots coming from the building where Platero and the others lived. Martin said he ran in to find an Iraqi interpreter pinning Platero to the floor. …

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Family of Murder Victim Questions Military Prosecutors' Competence

The mother of a murdered soldier expressed grave doubts Monday about the ability of the officers prosecuting the case.

There was a brief disturbance after an arraignment on Fort Stewart today when a murder victim's mother confronted a military prosecutor outside of court and questioned his professionalism and ability. Ling Noonan, of Watertown, CT -- whose son,Pfc. Gebrah Noonan, was one of two soldiers killed in a shooting incident last year in Fallujah, Iraq -- harangued Army prosecutor Capt. Brett Lamborn outside the courtroom after the arraignment of Spc. Neftaly Platero, the accused in her son's death. Among other accusations, Noonan claimed that rather than concentrate on her son's murder, Lamborn had insisted on describing to her family a sexual assault case he was prosecuting -- behavior she felt qualified as sexual harassment. Noonan's son was …

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Pooler Man Killed

Pooler police are investigating the city's first homicide in almost five years.