• US soldiers 'killed Afghan civilians for sport and collected fingers as trophies'
    123 replies, posted
[img]http://static.guim.co.uk/static/93972/zones/news/images/logo.gif[/img] [url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/09/us-soldiers-afghan-civilians-fingers]Source[/url] [release]Twelve American soldiers face charges over a secret "kill team" that allegedly blew up and shot Afghan civilians at random and collected their fingers as trophies. Five of the soldiers are charged with murdering three Afghan men who were allegedly killed for sport in separate attacks this year. Seven others are accused of covering up the killings and assaulting a recruit who exposed the murders when he reported other abuses, including members of the unit smoking hashish stolen from civilians. In one of the most serious accusations of war crimes to emerge from the Afghan conflict, the killings are alleged to have been carried out by members of a Stryker infantry brigade based in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan. According to investigators and legal documents, discussion of killing Afghan civilians began after the arrival of Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs at forward operating base Ramrod last November. Other soldiers told the army's criminal investigation command that Gibbs boasted of the things he got away with while serving in Iraq and said how easy it would be to "toss a grenade at someone and kill them". One soldier said he believed Gibbs was "feeling out the platoon". Investigators said Gibbs, 25, hatched a plan with another soldier, Jeremy Morlock, 22, and other members of the unit to form a "kill team". While on patrol over the following months they allegedly killed at least three Afghan civilians. According to the charge sheet, the first target was Gul Mudin, who was killed "by means of throwing a fragmentary grenade at him and shooting him with a rifle", when the patrol entered the village of La Mohammed Kalay in January. Morlock and another soldier, Andrew Holmes, were on guard at the edge of a poppy field when Mudin emerged and stopped on the other side of a wall from the soldiers. Gibbs allegedly handed Morlock a grenade who armed it and dropped it over the wall next to the Afghan and dived for cover. Holmes, 19, then allegedly fired over the wall. Later in the day, Morlock is alleged to have told Holmes that the killing was for fun and threatened him if he told anyone. The second victim, Marach Agha, was shot and killed the following month. Gibbs is alleged to have shot him and placed a Kalashnikov next to the body to justify the killing. In May Mullah Adadhdad was killed after being shot and attacked with a grenade. The Army Times reported that a least one of the soldiers collected the fingers of the victims as souvenirs and that some of them posed for photographs with the bodies. Five soldiers – Gibbs, Morlock, Holmes, Michael Wagnon and Adam Winfield – are accused of murder and aggravated assault among other charges. All of the soldiers have denied the charges. They face the death penalty or life in prison if convicted. The killings came to light in May after the army began investigating a brutal assault on a soldier who told superiors that members of his unit were smoking hashish. The Army Times reported that members of the unit regularly smoked the drug on duty and sometimes stole it from civilians. The soldier, who was straight out of basic training and has not been named, said he witnessed the smoking of hashish and drinking of smuggled alcohol but initially did not report it out of loyalty to his comrades. But when he returned from an assignment at an army headquarters and discovered soldiers using the shipping container in which he was billeted to smoke hashish he reported it. Two days later members of his platoon, including Gibbs and Morlock, accused him of "snitching", gave him a beating and told him to keep his mouth shut. The soldier reported the beating and threats to his officers and then told investigators what he knew of the "kill team". Following the arrest of the original five accused in June, seven other soldiers were charged last month with attempting to cover up the killings and violent assault on the soldier who reported the smoking of hashish. The charges will be considered by a military grand jury later this month which will decide if there is enough evidence for a court martial. Army investigators say Morlock has admitted his involvement in the killings and given details about the role of others including Gibbs. But his lawyer, Michael Waddington, is seeking to have that confession suppressed because he says his client was interviewed while under the influence of prescription drugs taken for battlefield injuries and that he was also suffering from traumatic brain injury. "Our position is that his statements were incoherent, and taken while he was under a cocktail of drugs that shouldn't have been mixed," Waddington told the Seattle Times.[/release]
Doesn't surprise me. War fucks with people, especially this bullshit war.
There will always be fucked up individuals in war. Look at the third crusade, the teutonic crusade, the arab-islamic war and so on. Probably shouldn't have picked three religious conflicts but my point stands. [editline]10:37PM[/editline] It's a shame they don't have more strenuous psychological examinations for people going into highly tense areas, especially third world ones where basically you can do ANYTHING you want over there.
Abso-fucking-lutely brilliant. The brave men of the US Army.
Someone reduce the defense budget, for fuck's sake.
How do they expect to win the war if they can't even keep their own soldiers under control?
[QUOTE=usaokay;24707867][img]http://guides.gamepressure.com/fallout3/gfx/word/894736984.jpg[/img] I guess they didn't wanted the Contract Killer perk.[/QUOTE] That's not.. Oh wait, wait.. Wait I get it with the collecting fingers and yeah. Cool joke.
Sure, soldiers do stupid shit in war, but you can't deny that the Americans are the worst when it comes to this. Which of course has to do with the amount of troops stationed, but also by the lack of discipline and training compared to other countries.
[QUOTE=Carne;24707960]Sure, soldiers do stupid shit in war, but you can't deny that the Americans are the worst when it comes to this. Which of course has to do with the amount of troops stationed, [B]but also by the lack of discipline and training compared to other countries[/B].[/QUOTE] Exactly this
Hurp derp lets recruit angry skinhead 19-year-olds in to our professional fighting force, see what happens.
Everyone who isn't in the war from the USA and UK want it to stop. Then these fucking idiots went and did that.
By the way, did any of you yet hear about the news story wherein the US military (or someone in the US military, it had to at least be a senior command position) changed the grades of US Army translators testing for literacy with local Afghan languages from fails to passing grades? Christ, I wish things were so easy in my school...
There's always some shit stains in every army, don't judge an apple by a few bad seeds.
[QUOTE=Sottalytober;24708526]There's always some shit stains in every army, don't judge an apple by a few bad seeds.[/QUOTE] but what if that apple is rotten IN THE CORE (apple core)
Fucking terrible.
[QUOTE=The golden;24708844]There is always at least 1 person who has to say this. If this shit is so uncommon, why does it continuously make the news? I mean, this is only the stuff that makes it to the surface.[/QUOTE] are you retarded? no one cares about the normal shit soldiers do, peculiar things like this are exactly what make the news. [QUOTE=Canuhearme?;24709144]Because the 1.1 million other soldiers aren't really doing anything newsworthy.[/QUOTE] yeah
[QUOTE=The golden;24708844]There is always at least 1 person who has to say this. If this shit is so uncommon, why does it continuously make the news? I mean, this is only the stuff that makes it to the surface.[/QUOTE] Because the 1.1 million other soldiers aren't really doing anything newsworthy.
[QUOTE=Carne;24707960]Sure, soldiers do stupid shit in war, but you can't deny that the Americans are the worst when it comes to this. Which of course has to do with the amount of troops stationed, but also by the lack of discipline and training compared to other countries.[/QUOTE] Or you know, it's just the fact that the number of Americans stationed there [B]vastly[/B] outnumber any other?
Meh the Taliban do it with soldiers heads and get 1000 dollars so whats stopping us? EDIT: Oh wait bad reading, thats civillians their talking about, ok thats pretty bad.
[QUOTE=usaokay;24707867][img_thumb]http://guides.gamepressure.com/fallout3/gfx/word/894736984.jpg[/img_thumb] I guess they didn't wanted the Contract Killer perk.[/QUOTE] I was going to make that joke until I realized I'm not that tasteless.
[QUOTE=The golden;24709322]Not what I meant. Let's take the British forces for example. I have not read anything like this done by their soldiers. However there have been a disturbing amount of articles saying they US troops have. (Including this one)[/QUOTE] Because lets face it, the world just loves making the United States look bad. Notice how it was a US recruit that reported it too. I like how everyone missed that part...
What the Christ. War really fucks up some people.
[QUOTE=Swilly;24710842]Because lets face it, the world just loves making the United States look bad. Notice how it was a US recruit that reported it too. I like how everyone missed that part...[/QUOTE] Exactly this. The world is literally watching every move the US makes with this war. The only reason why you hear "so much" of it is because of media bias. Afterall, who wouldn't jump at the chance to smear the US, eh? It almost seems like a sport. Not to mention, this is Facepunch: Generally ignorant and naive, Anti-American and extremely liberal.
oh this doesn't mean anything i mean in any large group of people you're bound to have a at least one group of horrible murdering psychopaths honestly this has nothing to do with the us army at all and we should ocntinue to ignore it's catastrophically high sexual harassment and suicide rate. [editline]05:01PM[/editline] [QUOTE=Jim_Riley;24710981]Exactly this. The world is literally watching every move the US makes with this war. The only reason why you hear "so much" of it is because of media bias. Afterall, who wouldn't jump at the chance to smear the US, eh? It almost seems like a sport. Not to mention, this is Facepunch: Generally ignorant and naive, Anti-American and extremely liberal.[/QUOTE] yeah if anyone exposes corruption in the us military they must be a communist brilliant, you should have run witch trials you seem to have the concept down well enough.
I get the impression US soldiers are suffering from significant lack of discipline.
[QUOTE=Im Crimson;24711288]I get the impression US soldiers are suffering from significant lack of discipline.[/QUOTE] What? [I]nooooooooooooo.[/I]
[QUOTE=Jim_Riley;24710981]Exactly this. The world is literally watching every move the US makes with this war. The only reason why you hear "so much" of it is because of media bias. Afterall, who wouldn't jump at the chance to smear the US, eh? It almost seems like a sport. Not to mention, this is Facepunch: Generally ignorant and naive, Anti-American and extremely liberal.[/QUOTE] Right, so worldwide media has some global conspiracy going on bent on making US soldiers look bad? Surely the US can't be at fault :downs:
[QUOTE=Im Crimson;24711344]Right, so worldwide media has some global conspiracy going on bent on making US soldiers look bad? Surely the US can't be at fault :downs:[/QUOTE] Controversy gives you high ratings, so yeah
War is beyond hell. Not suprised they went nuts, or turned into murderous disgraces.
[QUOTE=wewt!;24711529]Controversy gives you high ratings, so yeah[/QUOTE] But if the stories are true, how the fuck does it matter? [editline]05:42PM[/editline] [QUOTE=Xystus234;24711540]War is beyond hell. Not suprised they went nuts, or turned into murderous disgraces.[/QUOTE] what, so it's okay for soldiers to go crazy and hunt people for sport, but when a civilian does the same thing for the same reason suddenly they're monsters?
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