Yesterday the Washington Times reported that Lt. Gen. Frank Kearney had murder charges brought against the two soldiers who had already been exonerated by the Army's Criminal Investigation Command.
A crusading three-star general has sparked outrage within the Army Special Forces and Marine Special Operations Command by publicly condemning and twice bringing legal actions against members of their forces.
None of Lt. Gen. Frank Kearney's actions has resulted in a conviction, but they have roiled the military community, led to the resignations of several top-trained Marines, and sparked accusations of improper command influence.
Today, the General explains that he was acting to resolve conflict.
A spokesman for Lt. Gen. Frank Kearney, who is under fire from military rank and file for bringing homicide charges against two soldiers who had already been cleared, said yesterday the general had acted only to clarify the situation after two investigations produced conflicting results.
Rep. Walter B. Jones, North Carolina Republican, has called on Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to open an investigation into the actions of the general, who has irked soldiers and Marines with the charges against a two-man Special Forces sniper team in Afghanistan.
There is also anger over Gen. Kearney's decision to expel members of a Marine Special Operations company from Afghanistan before a criminal investigation was completed into an ambush incident that left several Afghans dead.
Both incidents prompted criticism from the Afghan government and humanitarian agencies, which said innocent people were killed.
Col. Hans Bush, a spokesman for the Special Operations Command where Gen. Kearney is the deputy commander, said yesterday that there had in fact been two investigations into the sniper incident, with one clearing the two soldiers and the other suggesting a crime had taken place.
Defense attorney Mark Waple said Kearney failed to provide critical evidence to an investigator.
But defense lawyer Mark Waple, who represents one of the Fox Company Marines, charged yesterday that Gen. Kearney had failed to provide critical evidence to the investigator conducting the final probe of the sniper team.
"Why did he direct criminal charges to be preferred by an accuser who had not been provided the criminal investigation that exonerated these two soldiers? ... The accuser is on record as saying he never saw [the exonerating evidence], and if he had seen it, he would not have signed the charges," the lawyer said.
LTG Kearney needs to be booted out with at least one grade lower rank. It won't happen, but it should. You don't prefer charges to "clear things up". The man should not be allowed anywhere near troops. Period. He certainly shouldn't be allowed to drag good soldiers through the mud because he's an idiot.
Posted by: Teresa | October 11, 2007 at 10:56 AM