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COL. DAVID LAPAN (deputy assistant secretary of defense for media operations): Good morning here at the Pentagon, and good evening in Afghanistan. I'd like to welcome to the Pentagon Briefing Room Brigadier General Joseph Osterman, the commanding general of Task Force Leatherneck and the First Marine Division Forward.
As part of Regional Command Southwest, Task Force Leatherneck is comprised of approximately 10,700 personnel, and is responsible for all U.S. Marine ground forces and the Georgian 32nd Infantry Battalion in Helmand province.
General Osterman assumed his duties in Afghanistan in March. This is his first time joining us in this format. He joins us today from his headquarters at Camp Leatherneck in the central Helmand province to provide an update on current operations. General Osterman will make some opening comments, and then he will take your questions. |
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Name(s:) |
Dave Lapan |
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Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Media Operations |
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Agency(ies): |
Department of Defense |
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Archive Link
http://archive.is/8o0BZ |
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Q General, it's Al Pessin from VOA again.
I wanted to ask you about two things that have been in the news in the last week or so. One is the court rulings on 'don't ask, don't tell' that invalidated and then reinstated the policy. Was that noticed out at the FOBs and COPs in your region? And if so, did it create any disruption or any confusion?
And then, the other is the WikiLeaks documents that talked about U.S. forces in Iraq perhaps not doing enough to stop prisoner abuse by Iraqi forces. I want to know if you have any concerns about how Afghan forces treat their prisoners. And what are your orders to your Marines if they become aware of any abuses?
GEN. OSTERMAN: Okay. Well, I'll start with the 'don't ask, don't tell.' The -- really, here down on the ground level here in Afghanistan, there is no impact at all. I think it's safe to say that most of the Marines and sailors of all -- Marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen that I have underneath my charge really are not that aware of a lot of the dialogue that's going on. You've got to remember that most of my Marines are living in 15-man patrol bases where they're lucky to have some running -- some fresh water, you know, in terms of a pump, or some kind of shelter over their head beyond a tent. So as a result, they are not that -- I would say there's not that much information that's coming down to them.
And I also don't know that they necessarily would take it as problematic in terms of the dialogue. They understand that, as Marines, we'll follow the -- whatever laws are in place, and also whatever policies are promulgated by the Secretary of Defense. So really, basically, we'll follow, you know, whatever policy is promulgated there and move on.
As far as the WikiLeaks, that really has had no impact at all on us. Frankly, I personally just read about it in the news, but have not, you know, even visited the website or anything like that. So I'd say it's no impact from that.
And getting to the prisoner situation, that -- we closely monitor the taking of detainees. We don't maintain any long-term detainees here within the field forces. They're allowed to keep them for 96 hours, and then we move -- if they need to be detained beyond that point, we'll move them up to a regulated detention facility that has longer-term capability, that are run by coalition forces.
We do -- because we're closely aligned with our Afghan partners, we do have visibility of the detainees that they take as well. There have been very minor instances where we didn't feel as though they were treating the prisoners correctly. And the Marines have orders to intervene, frankly, and stop that immediately. And once they stop that, they then try to educate the -- whether it be a police officer or an Afghan soldier, educate them on the proper way to conduct detainee operations. And that seems to have worked very well. Most of them, frankly, don't understand all of the rules and regulations associated with that, so the Marines end up providing the mentorship to them, just like they do for combat operations or for patrolling or anything else. We just view that as part of our responsibility to create them as a respected and viable force within the community. |
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Name(s:) |
Joseph Osterman |
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Title: |
Commanding General |
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Agency(ies): |
Task Force Leatherneck, First Marine Division Forward, Department of Defense |
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Url Link
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Archive: |
Archive Link
http://archive.is/8o0BZ |
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