Petraeus: Blackwater shootings undermined mission

NORFOLK

Gen. David Petraeus, head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, told a federal judge here that the shooting deaths of two Afghan civilians by Blackwater contractors undermined the military's mission and weakened the "bond of trust" with Afghans.

Patraeus' statement was included in a letter sent to U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar in advance of next week's sentencings of Justin Cannon and Christopher Drotleff.

The former Blackwater arms instructors were convicted in federal court earlier this year of involuntary manslaughter. A jury acquitted them of murder charges.

Drotleff, of Virginia Beach, and Cannon, of Louisiana, shot and killed two Afghans and wounded a third following a traffic accident at an intersection in Kabul in May 2009. They claimed that they fired their weapons in self-defense after a car came at them.

The sentencings on Tuesday are expected to be contentious. The government wants prison time for both men, but their lawyers will argue for probation.

Each side filed typical pre-sentencing position papers. The defense lawyers asked for leniency, citing time already served and acceptance of responsibility for the shootings. Prosecutors said there was no acceptance, and that the two deserve prison time, in part, because of their prior histories of bad behavior. Cannon was caught using cocaine in the Army and was discharged. Drotleff was discharged from the Marines after going AWOL, and has a slew of misdemeanor convictions.

But the letter from Petraeus has thrust the case into a new light. And both sides are wondering how Doumar, who is prone to speaking his mind, will react.

"I think that it's rather unusual that he submitted a letter. I certainly did not expect it, and was surprised that it came," said Norfolk lawyer James Broccoletti, one of Cannon's two attorneys.

While the full letter was not made public, both sides referred to it in their position papers.

Prosecutors quoted from, and paraphrased, the general's letter: "The military mission in Afghanistan was and remains not only to combat insurgents but also to 'enable Afghanistan to secure and govern itself, thereby assuring that Afghanistan is never again a sanctuary for al-Qaida and its affiliates.' "

The letter called the shootings a "setback" that forced military and civilian personnel in Kabul to "overcome adverse U.S. sentiment," and, as a result, our "personnel faced a heightened level of danger as they went about their missions."

Petraeus went on to say that the shootings "put the success of our mission in jeopardy and put the lives of our service members and civilian personnel serving in Afghanistan at risk."

In their pre-sentencing filing, defense attorneys wrote:

"General Petraeus certainly has the right to express his opinion and to submit his views to the court. Mr. Drotleff respectfully disagrees with his conclusion."

Drotleff's "act of self-defense" was about the 100th incident of civilian casualties in the Afghan war, the attorneys said, citing media reports.

"Most recently, in March, nine boys collecting firewood to heat their homes in the eastern Afghanistan mountains were killed by NATO helicopter gunners who mistook them for insurgents," the attorneys told the judge, citing a New York Times article.

Petraeus apologized to the Afghan government, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai rejected the apology, stating that the "people of Afghanistan are tired of these incidents and excuses," the attorneys said, citing another Times story.

Less than two weeks later, forces under Petraeus' command mistakenly killed two more Afghan boys who were watering farm fields, believing that they might be planting a roadside bomb, the lawyers told the judge, citing a Voice of America report.

"To our knowledge, none of these tragic incidents involved malice or ill will by American or NATO troops. Instead, they were unfortunate, and tragic, consequences of war," the attorneys told the judge.

The same should apply to the actions of Drotleff and Cannon, they said.

"I think that it's a tragedy when any civilians are killed in a war zone," Broccoletti said Thursday. "That's the problem with this circumstance. It's a war zone."

Efforts to reach Petraeus or his spokesperson were unsuccessful.

Prosecutors for the U.S. attorney's office declined to comment beyond what's in the filings. Other defense attorneys for Cannon and Drotleff also declined to comment.

Prosecutors have asked the judge to sentence Cannon to 2-1/2 years in prison and to give Drotleff almost 3-1/2 years in prison. The maximum penalty is eight years.

Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com