Panel frustrated in Marine shooting case

[unhappycamper]

Panel frustrated in Marine shooting case
By Estes Thompson - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Feb 21, 2008 6:15:24 EST

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Col. Barton Sloat was frustrated. For weeks he had heard testimony about a Marine special operations company accused of killing Afghan civilians, but still wasn't sure how many had actually died.

Sloat, who with two other senior Marine officers was part of a panel investigating the events, was told that only a few of more than 160 Afghan witnesses told the same story. The little hard evidence collected was either lost or left behind in Afghanistan.

"We're not sure of anything," Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent David Kurre testified.

"That's the most accurate statement I've heard in the court so far," Sloat said.

As early as this week, Sloat and his two colleagues who make up the special Court of Inquiry -- a rarely used administrative fact-finding process -- could recommend whether two company officers should be charged criminally.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_shootingcase_080220/