All right now, it is pretty easy to get spun up about a story like this. Warrior faced with split-second, life and death decision second guessed and then sacrificed by the lard-asses in the rear with the gear. It happens far too often and we rightfully jump up and wave our digital pitchforks. Let’s look at what happened here and also remember that none of us know anything vaguely resembling the whole story and that this report is from the Guardian.
The Guardian has learned that a US special forces soldier who is believed to have accidentally killed Norgrove is likely to face disciplinary action after failing to inform his commanding officers that he had used a grenade until long after the event.
Sources in Kabul and London have confirmed that during the assault on the kidnappers’ hideaway the hostage broke away from her captors and lay in a foetal position to avoid harm.
The soldier from the elite Seal Team Six special forces unite failed to see Norgrove and tossed his fragmentation grenade in, which exploded next to her
This story adds some new details incuding the idea that disciplinary action may come due to failure to report employing a frag. The initial reports that that the military released said that it was a suicide vest clacked off by one of the bad guys that killed her. The fact that Gen. Petraeus was so quick to tell the Brits it was probably us should give you some idea how clear the evidence looks now.
It seems very apparent that one of the SEALs on the mission threw a grenade. It seems quite likely that this grenade killed Linda Norgrove. It seems pretty likely that this was a fragmentation grenade and not a flash bang. It seems highly unlikely that he knew she was in the area when he threw it.
Up until this point the SEAL has done nothing wrong and deserves all benefit of the doubt regarding his decision to use a frag. Even if he used it mistakenly, thinking it was a flash bang, he still has done nothing to deserve punishment. If they were issued frags for a mission, then there was a reasonable belief that they would be needed. The decision about what particular weapon to employ is his choice as there is no time to run that up the flagpole during a hostage rescue.
After the mission an After Action Review would have been conducted and each member of the assault force would detail the actions they took, what they saw, what weapons they used and what effects they caused. If the reports are accurate and this guy threw a frag but didn’t relay that during the AAR, then he is in deep shite. First of all it is lying and that just doesn’t fly, second it caused us huge damage around the world when we got caught lying and had to admit it. Any punishment he receives would be for that, not for the accidental killing of the hostage. It is crazy to even contemplate that all the members of the team did not have her safety as their highest priority.
I hope this information is incorrect and that I can issue an apology to this guy and everyone else involved. But if it did go down like this, then the guy responsible will be going down as well.