U.S. Marines Shot At & Killed Innocent Civilians

Jay Price reports for the News & Observer (Raleigh, NC; Witness: Marines fired on harmless civilians, Jan 8, 2008):

CAMP LEJEUNE — After they were attacked by a car bomb, a Marine Special Operations unit drove down an Afghan highway for several miles shooting at — and apparently killing — motorists who posed them no threat, said the first witness Tuesday in an unusual hearing into the incident.

A former counterintelligence Marine with the unit said that as the convoy was returning to its base the turret gunner in the Humvee in front of him shot at “at least five and fewer than twenty” vehicles.

The Marine, former Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Travers, described seeing flashes of ugly scenes as he drove past cars careening off the road. Other cars were stopped, he said, with slumped occupants, including the frightened face of a child in the back seat of a car.

“I really felt that there were a lot of people that died that day who didn’t need to,” he said. “They were just driving their cars.”

Travers' account was similar to that given by civilian witnesses to an Afghan human rights group after the March 4 incident. As many as 19 people were killed and up to 50 wounded, according to earlier reports....

...None of the 30 Marines on the patrol has been charged with a crime. The hearing was ordered to examine the facts and evidence....

...The hearing, called a court of inquiry, is believed to be the first of its type help 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.