2 Tell of Gunfire on Afghan Road: Marines Shot at Many Motorists, Witness at Hearing Testifies

Jan 09, 06:04 AM

Jan. 9--CAMP LEJEUNE -- A Marine Special Operations unit drove down an Afghan highway for several miles shooting at motorists who didn't seem threatening, said the first witness Tuesday in an unusual hearing into the incident.

A second witness, though, countered that fellow Marines had probably shot for little more than a mile and were too well-trained to have done so without being shot at first. Both men, though, said they hadn't seen anyone firing at their convoy.

Nathaniel Travers, a former counterintelligence sergeant, said that as the convoy was returning to its base, the turret gunner in the Humvee in front of him shot "at least five and fewer than twenty" vehicles.

Travers described flashes of scenes as his Humvee drove past shot-up cars careening off the road or stopped with slumped occupants. One vivid memory, he said, was the frightened face of a child in the back seat of a car that had bullet holes stitched across the windshield and roof.

"I really felt that there were a lot of people that died that day who didn't need to," Travers said. "They were just driving their cars."

His account was similar to those that civilian witnesses gave to journalists and an Afghan human rights group after the incident last March.

As many as 19 people were killed and up to 50 wounded, according to some reports. The Afghan rights group's report said that the convoy had fired along as many as10 miles of highway and that the casualties included an infant, a 16-year-old girl and three elderly men.

A key question is whether the convoy was fired upon. Attorneys for the Marines have said that they were ambushed in a complex, planned attack, and only shot in response to fire.

Their cross-examination of Travers, who was a government witness, gave a preview of the defense's plan for the hearing, which is expected to last about two weeks. Mark Waple, a civilian attorney for Maj. Fred J. Galvin, the company commander, asked whether Travers would disagree if 19 Marines testified or offered sworn statements that they had heard small arms fire, or whether he would disagree with nine Marine witnesses who saw muzzle flashes and other evidence of small arms fire.

Without hesitation, Travers said no.

The unit's mission was to drive from its base near Jalalabad air base about 40 miles to the Pakistan border to scout the area and allow Travers to talk with a local tribal leader. Not long after the six Humvees started back toward base, a suicide car bomb exploded in the other lane, just ahead of the command Humvee in which Travers was riding.

Jose Queiro was the turret gunner in the Humvee and testified Tuesday that just seconds after the bomb detonated he heard small-arms fire ahead, on the other side of the bomb site. Two other convoy vehicles were in the area, along with several civilian vehicles. Travers, too, testified that he heard shots right after the bomb, but because he was inside the armored Humvee couldn't tell where they were or the type of gun.

Once they were rolling from the scene, though, he focused almost solely on one side of the road and said that he saw no signs that anyone was firing at them. Travers said that he was in the worst position in the vehicle to analyze the source of gunfire.

None of the 30 Marines on the patrol has been charged with a crime. The hearing, called a court of inquiry, is thought to be the first of its type held by the Marines in more than 50 years. Information that comes out of it could lead to legal charges, but the hearing is an administrative procedure to sort out the facts and evidence.

Two men, company commander Galvin and platoon commander Capt. Vincent J. Noble, are named as the focus of the hearing.

Both witnesses Tuesday said the pair were outstanding officers. Many of the Marines in the convoy, including Travers, were seasoned combat veterans with experience in much-more-violent Iraq. The idea that the bomb made them panic and randomly fired on civilians for miles has drawn skepticism from members of the military, and Queiro scoffed at the notion, saying the unit was too well-trained.

"Our guys would not shoot for the hell of it, they would not shoot because they were spazzing out," he said.

The three senior officers leading the hearing will issue a formal report to Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland, commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command, who will decide how to proceed. Helland could decide on criminal charges, lesser forms of discipline or dropping the matter.

jay.price@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4526

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