Franks cast doubts on raid victims' innocence

TAMPA -- A defiant Gen. Tommy Franks said Monday the "one mistake I know of" during a January raid in which U.S. forces killed 16 Afghans was made by the Afghans themselves, who he said fired first on the American troops.

An investigation has determined that the people killed and captured during the raid were neither members of the al-Qaida terrorist network nor the Taliban political faction, but U.S. officials have thus far refused to shoulder any blame.

In a Monday briefing, Franks went so far as to cast some doubt on the innocence of the raid victims. "It's unfortunate that friendlies -- if they all can be categorized that way -- were killed," he said. "But the one mistake that I know of was that someone fired on U.S. troops doing their jobs."

The commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan also said:

The search for Osama bin Laden continues, but with an uncertain outcome. He said U.S. forces still do not know where the al-Qaida leader is. "We'll assume he is alive until I see evidence he is not alive."

The prospects for an Afghan national army, one that might take over responsibility for protecting and defending the country, are uncertain, too.

"For sure we want a police force, and for sure we want a national army ... as quickly as we can," he said. "But what size? Where? That's what we're studying right now."

Franks said an assessment team has been in Afghanistan and is due back at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa today.

Franks called the situation in Afghanistan "murky and troublesome" and said he is "not sure what the future will look like."

He acknowledged recent military exercises in Kenya, but declined to address how far U.S. forces would go in pursuit of the al-Qaida network.

Any evolution of the mission beyond its current boundaries is a presidential decision, he said, "and I have not seen that decision made."

The 16 raid fatalities occurred Jan. 23 in special operations raids on two suspected Taliban or al-Qaida compounds about 60 miles north of Kandahar.

In the first compound, Franks said, two Afghans fired weapons when U.S. troops entered and were killed by return fire.

In the second, he said, U.S. troops were fired on "from several directions" and again returned fire. They "worked their way through" the compound, he said, killing 14 more people.

Franks also said Monday he did not think the incident represented a failure of U.S. intelligence, nor "trigger happy" troops.

Intelligence is "some science, some art," he said, and a combat commander always wants it to be better than it is. Good coordination is the key to fewer problems in any operation, he said, but it's not always clear in Afghanistan who can be trusted with information.

"We will always be careful how information is shared," he said.

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