Army rejects punishment for officers after probe found dereliction of duty in Afghanistan

No punishment after Afghanistan firefight

WASHINGTON — The Army has reversed a decision to punish three officers for command failures that led to one of the deadliest firefights for U.S. forces since the Afghanistan war began nearly a decade ago.

Families of the soldiers killed during the battle said they were briefed Wednesday by Army officials on the decision not to reprimand the officers for dereliction of duty. They were told punishing the three would have a chilling effect on other battlefield commanders who have to make crucial decisions.

The attack at the small village of Wanat (WAH-naht) near the Pakistan border left nine American soldiers dead and 27 wounded. Their platoon-size unit was attacked by as many as 200 insurgents during the early morning hours of July 13, 2008.

U.S. Central Command, the military organization managing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, directed a Marine Corps general last September to investigate the battle after families expressed dissatisfaction with an earlier inquiry by the Army.

The investigation by Marine Lt. Gen. Richard Natonski concluded that the brigade, battalion and company commanders should be punished for having too few troops at the remote outpost and for not supplying them properly, according to the family members.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., a member of the Armed Services Committee and a Marine combat officer in Vietnam, said on Wednesday that after receiving Natonski’s investigation in January, the Army issued letters of reprimand to all three officers for being “derelict in the performance of their duties through neglect or culpable inefficiency.”

But after an Army command in Georgia took a closer look at Natonski’s report, service officials decided to annul the reprimands, according to Webb.

“I find it deeply troubling that the Army has exonerated these officers and in the process rejected the findings of the independent review,” Webb said in a statement. “This development raises concerns regarding the principle of command accountability in the Army.”

Col. Tom Collins, an Army spokesman, said the service did not have an immediate comment.

“I believe we got what we wanted when the investigation showed there was wrongdoing by the Army,” said Kurt Zwilling, whose son Gunnar was one of the soldiers killed at Wanat. “But I’m not surprised the Army didn’t punish its own.”

Natonski’s findings were delivered to Army Gen. Charles Campbell, then the leader of Army Forces Command at Fort McPherson. Campbell retired earlier this month, but he conducted the briefing for the families.

Carlene Cross, whose son Jason Bogar was killed at Wanat, said the families first were informed of Natonski’s findings, which she said were endorsed by Gen. David Petraeus, the Central Command chief just appointed top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

“Then Gen. Campbell gets up and says they’re not going to do anything to them,” Cross said. “They’ve completely revoked all of the dereliction findings and basically they won’t even get a slap on the wrist,” she said. “We were just furious.”