Medic Murdered
Navy Corpsman James Layton was shot dead in a hail of Taliban gunfire, along with the wounded Marine he was working on. McClatchy:
KABUL, Afghanistan — Navy medical corpsman James Layton, of Riverbank, Calif., had been ministering first aid to wounded Marine Lt. Michael Johnson, of Virginia Beach, Va., when both were killed Tuesday under a volley of insurgent bullets in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province.
The dead were identified as Layton, 22; Johnson, 25; Gunnery Sgt. Edwin Johnson, 31, of Columbus, Ga.; and Staff Sgt. Aaron Kenefick, 30, of Roswell, Ga. They were working with Afghan troops, who were supposed to search the village for weapons and meet with village elders. They were at the head of a column moving into the village on foot when they were ambushed last Tuesday.* Eight Afghan soldiers and the unit’s Afghan interpreter were also killed. Three Americans and 19 Afghans were wounded.
Layton, a petty officer third class, apparently had been applying medical aid when he and Michael Johnson came under fierce attack, Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer, 21, of Greensburg, Ky., told McClatchy Newspapers. He and others said they’d found the wrappings of bandages and other medical gear strewn around Layton and Johnson.
That’s from a McClatchy embed who was in the column, 250 yards behind the ambush.
It’s a small incident in the grand scheme of things. Another Navy corpsman doing his job, working on the wounded, sometimes under fire, and dying in combat as thousands have before him have in the Pacific, in Korea, in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. I don’t know if it’s happened quite like that recently, shot dead while applying bandages to a wounded man. Maybe there will be a decoration, something to be presented to his parents to let them know his nation is grateful he did his duty and tended to a wounded Marine under fire, without regard for his own safety. Meanwhile, it’s a heart-rending tableau to imagine, the bandage wrappings and medical gear strewn about the bodies. I stared at the screen for a while and had to compose myself when I worked on the wire copy on deadline tonight.
Sounds like a war crime. Maybe there were ambiguous circumstances, and the Taliban didn’t realize they were killing a medic as he worked on a wounded man. Though considering that they blow up bombs in crowded marketplaces, murder schoolteachers, throw acid on schoolgirls’ faces, and draw fire on women and children in order to create the appearance of American war crimes, I’d say the burden of proof is on them.
Waiting for the international outcry. We’ve all been waiting for some international outcry, demands for war crimes charges, regarding some of the above crimes for some time now. Plenty of demands for people involved in those kinds of activities to be released. Maybe some of the perennial protestors will make demands on behalf of James Layton, but I’m not going to hold my breath.
I remember an Army medic who was kissed by a wounded Iraqi soldier he was working on. The GIs said that was gay and laughed at the medic. But the Iraqi was getting better treatment from our people than he would have from his own, and he was grateful. I hope all the Iraqis the medic worked on remembered that later. I always have. He was working on Iraqis while other Iraqis were still shooting at us.
* Herschel Smith at Captain’s Journal looked at this incident and some of the other questions it raised about rules of engagement and force protection the other day.
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Topics: Afghanistan, military
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:35 pm Comments (5) on Thursday, September 10, 2009
5 Responses to “Medic Murdered”
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September 10th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
I’m reasonably sure no international body gives a rat’s patoot about war crimes committed *against* the US. I’m prepared to be contradicted, but unwilling to hold my breath waiting.
September 11th, 2009 at 12:48 am
To be truthful, neither our side nor their side believe that those who would conduct such a war time tribunal are worth a shit.
September 11th, 2009 at 7:09 am
God bless them.
September 11th, 2009 at 10:02 am
any international tribunal formed these days would decide that it was the fault of the Americans for being there, and hand out awards to the Taliban for bravery.
let’s face it: they didn’t give a damn about anything except killing as many people as they could, and the concept of a medic, let alone that one shouldn’t shoot at them, is beyond their grasp.
kill them all.
September 14th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
I was struck by how close in time the operation where Marines were killed was to the rescue of the NYT reporter. The Marines had no helicopters but the reporter did just 180 miles away. I began to wonder if resources were pulled from our Marines to prep and prepare to rescue the reporter. What do you think? Is it worth asking McClatchyDC if the day reported is local time in Afghanistan or US?
o kansascity.com/451/story/1430521.html
– Posted on Tue, Sep. 08, 2009 10:01 AM
“…Four U.S. Marines died Tuesday…battle, which lasted seven hours. … Gangigal, in a valley about six miles from the Pakistani border…”
o mcclatchydc.com/251/story/74997.html
– Posted on Tuesday, September 8, 2009
“…waited more than an hour for U.S. helicopters to arrive…”
o mcclatchydc.com/227/story/75036.html?storylink=omni_popular#none
– Posted on Tuesday, September 8, 2009
” … …first shot cracked out at 5:30 a.m. … ”
Meanwhile, 180 miles away, is this where those resources for our Marines went to prep?:
o nytimes.com/2009/09/10/world/asia/10rescue.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
– Published: September 9, 2009 (Wednesday)
“Britain ordered a predawn commando raid in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday to rescue a British reporter for The New York Times…outside the immediate district in Kunduz Province… … …United States provided intelligence assistance and helicopters for the mission, and had attack aircraft at the ready if needed… … … At about 2:30 a.m. local time Wednesday, the allied helicopters descended on the hideout and disgorged the British commandos. … With surveillance drones and helicopters overhead…”