General Investigated For Removing Soldiers After Shooting Civilians

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j4q2WpV2h-J5t6gpz7p9KcaND0bQD8THGM3O1

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Defense Department's inspector general has opened an investigation into an Army general who ordered a Marine special forces unit out of Afghanistan after a shooting in March that left as many as 19 civilians dead.

The probe will review whether Lt. Gen. Francis H. Kearney III, deputy commander of Special Operations Command, exercised poor judgment and potentially compromised eventual legal proceedings in incidents involving special forces troops in Afghanistan, according to a Defense Department official.

One incident was the Marine shooting and a second involved two Army Green Berets, who have been charged with premeditated murder in the killing of an Afghanistan man last year.

The official, who requested anonymity because the Pentagon does not publicly discuss ongoing investigations, said the IG would look at whether Kearney exerted undue command influence over the legal proceedings by taking actions that could suggest he presumed the individuals guilty before they had their day in court.

Kearney ordered a Marine special operations company out of Afghanistan after the unit allegedly fired at civilians on a road in Nangarhar province. At the time, he was special operations chief for U.S. Central Command, which oversees the operations in a region that includes Afghanistan and Iraq.