This is a little ridiculous. Two green beret’s, as we all know are very highly trained, have been charged with murder after they took out an “enemy combatant”, who could be “legally killed” when identified. This guy, Nawab Buntangyar, was setting off roadside bombs and setting up suicide attacks against Afghan and American forces. Of course, he should have been taken out. Well, that’s exactly what the Army’s Jag found. It was justifiable homicide.

From his position about 100 yards away, Master Sgt. Troy Anderson had a clear shot at the Afghan man standing outside a residential compound in a village near the Pakistan border last October. When Capt. Dave Staffel, the Special Forces officer in charge, gave the order to shoot, Sergeant Anderson fired a bullet into the man’s head, killing him.

In June, Captain Staffel and Sergeant Anderson were charged with premeditated murder. On Tuesday, in a rare public examination of the rules that govern the actions of Special Operations troops in Afghanistan, a military hearing will convene at Fort Bragg to weigh the evidence against the two men, both Green Berets.

The case revolves around differing interpretations of the kind of force that the Special Forces team that hunted and killed the man, Nawab Buntangyar, were allowed to use once they found him, apparently unarmed.

To the Special Forces soldiers and their 12-man detachment, the shooting, near the village of Ster Kalay, was a textbook example of a classified mission completed in accordance with the American rules of engagement. They said those rules allowed the killing of Mr. Buntangyar, whom the American Special Operations Command here has called an “enemy combatant.”

Mr. Buntangyar had organized suicide and roadside bomb attacks, Captain Staffel’s lawyer said.

However, even after the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command said that taking Buntangyar out was legal and justified, Gen. Kearney called for the murder charges! What is wrong with this picture?? He was also just promoted to second in command of Special Forces.

But to the two-star general in charge of the Special Operations forces in Afghanistan at the time, Frank H. Kearney, who has since become a three-star general, the episode appeared to be an unauthorized, illegal killing. In June, after two military investigations, General Kearney moved to have murder charges brought against Captain Staffel and Sergeant Anderson — respectively, the junior commissioned and senior noncommissioned officers of Operational Detachment Alpha 374, Third Battalion, Third Special Forces Group.

Something is very fishy here. I hope for the families sake that this gets taken care of very quickly. These guys do enough for this country without having to worry about the next bomb maker they kill. They took out a very bad man and they should have been promoted instead of General Kearney charging them with murder.

Sorry, but, these guys should and have earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to this kind of garbage. Enough already! Be happy that bomb maker is dead and our boys are able to come home.

Bill O’Reilly on this: