1stLt Blair has been charged with attempted murder in the shooting of an Afghani man on 22 April 2010 in the area of Salaam Bazaar in Helmund province, Afghanistan. He is the sole Marine charged with any offenses for this unit and area. 1stLt Blair is also charged with attempted murder at another time by shooting at a suspected insurgent who was riding on a motorcycle. This Afghan man was not injured. 1stLt Blair also has been charged with various other offenses related to these attempted murder charges: false statement; two specifications of assault with a deadly weapon; conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman; assault with intent to commit murder; impeding an investigation; and soliciting another to make a false statement.

Shawn Blair is a solid infantry platoon commander with an otherwise sterling record. He and his platoon were operating in what was perhaps the most dangerous areas in Afghanistan. He and his company were sent to Salaam Bazaar because it was a Taliban stronghold and they were to eradicate the Taliban presence. Shawn was tasked to cover this area despite being short-handed. During his platoon’s occupation in that area, they would be subject to 3-4 firefights every day. Several Marines were killed or wounded in the Salaam Bazaar area of operations. He was often forced to be strict with his Marines to enforce discipline and keep them sharp. Some Marines attached to his platoon made the initial allegations which launched an investigation thereby creating a war crimes case.

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From The News Tribune

By: ADAM ASHTON; staff writer

Two generals who oversaw the training for a troubled Stryker brigade told an Army investigator that they regretted not removing the brigade commander before the unit left for Afghanistan, according to a defense witness who has studied the investigation and who testified Wednesday in court at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

“The brigade was dysfunctional,” said Texas A&M sociology professor Stjepan Mestrovic. He testified on behalf of Spc. Jeremy Morlock, who pleaded guilty to murdering three Afghan civilians during his deployment with the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division last year.

Mestrovic’s description was the first public discussion of the report. It was commissioned last fall by Lewis-McChord commander Lt. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti to investigate whether officers should have known that enlisted soldiers were using drugs and carrying out schemes to murder civilians after deploying to southern Afghanistan in July 2009. [Read more...]

Crossposted from Seattle Times Newspaper

In one of the most serious war-crimes cases to emerge from the Afghanistan war, five soldiers from a Stryker infantry brigade based at Joint Base Lewis- McChord are now charged with murder for their alleged roles in the random killings of three Afghan civilians.

By Hal Bernton

Seattle Times staff reporter

Spc. Jeremy Morlock

Last December, Army Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs began joking with other soldiers about how easy it would be to “toss a grenade” at Afghan civilians and kill them, according to statements made by fellow platoon members to military investigators.

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Crossposted from Navy News

U.S. troops in Afghanistan could soon be awarded a medal for not doing something, a precedent-setting award that would be given for “courageous restraint” for holding fire to save civilian lives.

The proposal is now circulating in the Kabul headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force, a command spokesman confirmed Tuesday.

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WASHINGTON — The American-led effort to gain control of southern Afghanistan is off to a slow start and the political clock is ticking as U.S. troops head into what could be the bloodiest fight yet in the eight-year war.

The U.S. and its NATO allies last week set a goal of starting to transfer control of Afghanistan to the central government by the end of the year, and President Obama has said U.S. troops must start leaving in 2011.

But the slow pace of progress makes it less likely Obama can meet these tight deadlines, and it’s not clear if he can buy more time: He has struggled to persuade Congress to commit troops based on the current schedule.

The expanded U.S. campaign began in late winter in the small farming hamlets of Marjah, in Helmand Province, and has advanced more slowly than expected, officials said.

Now U.S. and NATO troops face a much more formidable task: securing Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban and the area from which al-Qaida planned the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

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