Family Sues US Defense Department Over Cover Up of Marine's Murder

The family of US Marine Gregory Buckley has filed suit against the Defense Department in a search for more information about the Marine's death in an inside attack on a military base in Afghanistan in 2012.

MOSCOW, December 30 (Sputnik) — The family of a US Marine who was killed at a base in Afghanistan under shadowy circumstances has filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Defense and the Marine Corps in a New York State court to find out what really happened, Fox News reported.

In August 2012, just days before he was set to come home, 21-year-old Lance Corporal Gregory Buckley was killed along with two other Marines in an inside attack at a gym at Marine Forward Operating Base Delhi by a 17-year-old Afghan "tea boy" (an Afghan euphemism for sex slave) armed with an assault rifle.

Buckley's parents said that they simply want authorities to provide them with details about what really happened to their son, and do not seek any financial compensation, Fox News explained.

The Buckley family accuses the Defense Department of hiding details about the shooting, and criticizes them for allowing a corrupt, drug-dealing, weapons-selling, Taliban-affiliated Afghan police chief named Sarwar Jan to live and operate out of the base.

Buckley's father, Gregory Buckley Sr., told Fox News: "He [the Afghan teen] shot my son point-blank with an AK-47; shot him four times in the chest and once in his neck. He was in the gym with a pair of shorts and a tank top on. How is that allowed?"

"I want them to admit that they were wrong. And I want someone to be held responsible for my son's death," Buckley added.

Jason Brezler, a Marine who had earlier warned about the imminent danger posed by Sarwar Jan, was discharged from the Marines for providing information via an unsecure Yahoo account. The Buckley family says that through their case, they will attempt to clear Brezler's name once and for all, Fox explained.

Last week, Brezler, now working as a firefighter in New York City, filed his own lawsuit against the Marine Corps and the US Department of the Navy. He called Sarwar Jan a "notorious drug dealer, child rapist and Taliban collaborator," and his legal case notes that the Marine base should never have allowed him to enter, let alone operate out of the base, Courthouse News Service explained.

Brezler noted that even after the attack, the Marine Corps "inexplicitly refused" to investigate the shooting because the investigation would "reveal incompetent, unacceptable and, in the case of FOB Delhi, reprehensible conduct on the part of senior Marine commanders."

According to federal "Gold Star" laws, families of soldiers killed in the line of duty have a right to all the relevant information about their deaths. Attorney Michael Bowe told Fox that the Buckley family is "entitled to all relevant information and reports about the death of their son. They don't need to beg.

They don't need to ask pretty please and they certainly shouldn't have to bring a lawsuit."