WASHINGTON — A military investigation into an ambush that left nine Americans dead recommends that the Army consider taking disciplinary action against three U.S. commanders who oversaw the 2008 mission to send troops to the remote Afghan outpost, defense officials said Tuesday.
The investigation into the bloody battle at Wanat, near the border with Pakistan, was undertaken last fall at the urging of Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Nine soldiers were killed and 27 wounded during the attack at the outpost, which raged for several hours. Among the dead was 1st Lt. Jonathan Brostrom, whose father, a retired Army colonel, pushed for more than a year to persuade the Pentagon to launch a probe of the battle.
The military’s report, which spans almost 4,000 pages, has been sent to Gen. Charles Campbell, the head of U.S. Army Forces Command, to determine whether formal disciplinary action should be taken against any of the officers.
The investigators, led by a three-star Marine general, will release the report after Campbell has made his decision and the families of the deceased soldiers have been briefed on its contents.
The report suggests that disciplinary measures be considered against Capt. Matthew Myer, the company commander, who was awarded the Silver Star for his valor in calling in airstrikes during the attack, and Lt. Col. William Ostlund, the battalion commander who oversaw the operation, military officials said.
Gen. David Petraeus, head of U.S. forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, reviewed the probe’s findings and recommended that Col. Charles Preysler, the brigade commander who oversaw the operation, should also be considered for disciplinary action because, under Army doctrine, he would have also been responsible for some of the shortcomings, military officials said.
Petraeus declined to comment on the report or his role in reviewing it. The three officers who might be subject to disciplinary action did not respond to e-mails.
