Thursday, January 20, 2011

Marine Shoots Afghan Cop

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A U.S. Marine shot and killed an Afghan policeman after an argument Saturday in southern Afghanistan, NATO said.

The military coalition said the two men had a dispute at a patrol base in Sangin, a volatile district of Helmand province.

After the dispute, the Afghan policeman reportedly made threats and handled his weapon carelessly, NATO said. The Marine reported the behavior to his superiors.
NATO said the Afghan policeman left his post but returned and pointed his gun at the Marine, who shouted at him to put the weapon down. When he didn't, the Marine fired two rounds, killing the Afghan policeman.

Standard Operating Procedure is clear on this. No fuzzy area. Someone points a weapon, you shoot him. Preferably in the brain housing group. You may, at your discretion, and in whichever language you are fluent in, shout in a loud and clear voice "Lower your weapon". It isn't written in stone but your superiors will ask you about this, each and every one of them. More than once. It'll go in your permanent record if you reply in the negative, but there's not a damn thing they can do about it. And any superior worth his salt wouldn't want to do a damn thing about it.

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