Four seconds in Afghanistan: Was it combat, or a crime?
By Kim Murphy (from Los Angeles Times)
Published: June 10, 2012

Pre-trial hearing at Bamberg opens for soldier who killed Afghan civilian

By Steven Beardsley
Stars and Stripes
Published: June 20, 2012

...
The case centers on the military’s rules of engagement and their application in the heat of combat: Does the instinct to defend oneself trump the stated rule that a soldier must positively identify a target before shooting?

Citing investigations following the incident, Army counsel is arguing that Taylor, who lead a route-clearing platoon with the Bamberg-based 54th Engineer Battalion in central Afghanistan, failed to follow those rules when he shot Hikmat.

Taylor’s lawyer said the rules of engagement fail to reflect a war in which it can be hard to distinguish between civilians and combatants, or passenger cars and vehicle-borne explosive devices.

“These charges present a threat to every U.S. servicemember who will face combat from today on,” defense attorney James Culp said in a phone interview before the hearing. ...

Pre-trial hearing for soldier who killed Afghan civilian continues
By Steven Beardsley
Stars and Stripes
Published: June 21, 2012

Taylor’s platoon leader testified Wednesday that the rules of engagement under which the platoon trained while downrange require a “reasonable certainty” of a target’s hostile intent. Second Lt. Jeremiah Paterson agreed he would use lethal force if “51 percent” sure of the target’s hostile intent, or “pretty sure.”
JMM emphasis added - we train as we fight and we fight as we train.

Soldier who killed Afghan civilian says he felt threat to his men
By Steven Beardsley
Stars and Stripes
Published: June 22, 2012

BAMBERG, Germany — A platoon sergeant charged in the shooting death of an Afghan civilian said Friday he believed his platoon was seconds away from a car bomb attack when he fired his weapon.

Sgt. 1st Class Walter Taylor is charged with negligent homicide and dereliction of duty for the shooting death of an Afghan civilian who drove with her family into the middle of a firefight and abruptly exited the car as soldiers neared.

After three days of testimony at an Article 32 hearing as to whether Taylor correctly followed rules of engagement to identify hostile intent before shooting Dr. Aqilah Hikmat, an investigating officer will soon make a recommendation as to the disposition of charges, which could include forwarding to court-martial.

In an unsworn statement Friday, Taylor apologized for the harm he had caused to both Hikmat’s family and relations between the U.S. and Afghanistan, but he maintained his decision was the best possible under the circumstances.

“Based on the facts available to me at the time, I believed the person dressed in black who exited the vehicle was a threat to me and my men,” he said.

Taylor, 31, has otherwise sat silently through three days of testimony. His soldiers, supervisors and criminal investigators have detailed the July 2011 insurgent attack in Wardak province that preceded the shooting and what ensued when the car drove up and stopped over a command wire, similar to other command wires the platoon had found connected to roadside bombs in previous missions.
and a good comment to the last article:

Kal_El

Unless you have ridden in a Husky, Buffalo, RG-31, or MRAP and have conducted Route Clearance, you cannot truly understand what any Soldier experiences while out on a patrol. This team had just been hit and knew the TTP's, knew and were executing there well trained battle drills, and saw a threat (which is often a secondary device or VBIED). Soldiers are smart, and in instances like this, they react. You have literally mere seconds to react... what would you do? Risk the lives of your Soldiers or eliminate the threat?

Politically driven, after-the-fact hearings and court martial will not bring back this Afghan woman. It will tear a platoon and company apart and ruin the life of at least one platoon sergeant.

I have deployed seven times. The ROE has increasingly gotten longer, more confusing and less clear every time it is "revised".

I am a combat engineer. We would plan missions, review the routes, state the 5 C's, discuss the ROE, make alternate plans, conduct battle drills, and review the threats and previous hot spots EVERY time we went on a mission. I am confident this route clearance team did all this as well.

Maybe the Colonels reviewing this decision have some solid combat experiences and will make the right decision. If they don't, this man will face three years for doing what many would say was the right action.
The CENTCOM ROE (PID, "reasonable certainty", etc.) is discussed in the Dealing with Haditha thread - esp. posts 131, 132, 133.

Regards

Mike