US soldiers 'killed Afghan civilians for sport and collected fingers as trophies'

US soldiers 'killed Afghan civilians for sport and collected fingers as trophies'

www.guardian.co.uk

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.

(visit the link for the full news article)

i am speechless this actualy hurts my brain these so called soilders need to swing for this nonsense what did they watch ingloriousbastards one to many times and think they needed souvenirs to prove kills

i realy hope they make a good example of these troops and that these guys spend the rest of there lives in jail or end up swinging from a noose im all for supporting the troops just not ones like these

www.guardian.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Sadly, a lot of this goes on and they either don't get caught or get any supplemental discipline. Some just kill and don't collect any 'souvenirs'. How can they kill innocent woman and children? 'easy, just don't lead them as much'.

Originally posted by KilrathiLG


i am speechless this actualy hurts my brain these so called soilders need to swing for this nonsense what did they watch ingloriousbastards one to many times and think they needed souvenirs to prove kills

i realy hope they make a good example of these troops and that these guys spend the rest of there lives in jail or end up swinging from a noose im all for supporting the troops just not ones like these

www.guardian.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Since I still believe in an eye for an eye, I will use the same US propaganda ideology to call the whole American forces in Afghanistan terrorists.

Case Closed.

I will generalize that they are bad, see, this is the example that they are bad.. I win.

War brutalises. My father told me how in World War 2, German women were raped by his unit. By us - the supposed good guys. I was shocked as I'd never heard this.
That said - this sort of rot has to be cut out if an army is to remain professional. And it has to be seen to be cut out. I don't care what 'the other side' does. We have to be better.
Of course it would help if we didn't send in troops who are little more than boys.

yeah but for every one case like this any possible future conflct using american troops gets set back years in terms of credibility and makes any kind of trust with the locals next to impossible

As disgusting as i find this inexcusable act, I have to ask myself one question:

How many back to back tours have these soldiers served?

I have never been in the military, and cannot pretend to know the stresses involved with taking and returning fire day in and day out. But i can imagine that a young man who has seen two or three tours or more, would have a harder and harder time viewing the enemy as anything more than a walking target. I am not making excuses for them I am just trying to figure out what trauma these men went through to be able to rationalize these actions in thier own minds.

Atrocities like this happen in times of war. Does this make them acceptable or justified?

Not in my opinion.

If i was in charge of the situation, the men would be courtmarshalled punished and treated for PTSD .

A sad story all around, for the victims, the victims families, and yes, even the soldiers.

Respectfully,

~Meathead

reply to post by KilrathiLG

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.

allegedly

: Accused but not proven or convicted

Sounds like Propaganda. Only time will tell. If true they should be tried and convicted.

We should be open to the possibility that this wasn't a secret kill team and were playing for fun but perhaps a mission sent from the high ranks.

This is called destabalizing a region!

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
We should be open to the possibility that this wasn't a secret kill team and were playing for fun.

Yup.

Investigators said Gibbs, 25, hatched a plan with another soldier, Jeremy Morlock, 22, and other members of the unit to form a "kill team".

Just the idea of a few warped individuals.

If this is a true story. Im not that surprised.

How do you force a nation in to a new government that by our own governments example is created simply to control the masses. I'm sure things like this have happened every war in history. If you want people to submit to your control kill at random and show off the fact that you do it! Fear is a powerful opponent and i know if that was what i was facing i wouldn't want to fight i'd either run, submit or fight back hence all the resistance to the troops.

Im betting much much more of this happens than is ever reported. A mate of mine has recently got back from Afghanistan and is already itching to go back for a second tour.

When asked why he replied 'because you can do what you want out there'

I wonder what he means......

Originally posted by oozyism

I will generalize that they are bad, see, this is the example that they are bad.. I win.

Oozy,

Satire and sarcasm from you? I'm starting to like you.

On topic-

For anyone to not expect to see cases like this in any war, from any side is ridiculous. What matters is they have been charged and will be given their day in court.

I'm a bit skeptical of the Guardian as well, but this is old news. Must be a slow news day and American bashing is a popular sport. The Koran burning was canceled so they need new fodder.

Originally posted by jlafleur02
Why so many comments deleted. You deleted mine? I didn't violate any rules? I really don't trust this site anymore. You should never censor anyone. Thats why we come here, too bad that you have gone this route.

mine was deleted earlier, but showed back up? I dont know what happened, maybe its the new layout or something giving ats trouble.

I can't imagine being in a warzone for such an extended period, I probably wouldn't last a day if I think about it. When you're taught to kill, it's got to be hard to stay grounded and level. Are these examples of bad apples? It could be. But there just has to be more to it than that. Soldiers have been through a lot.. it's something to think about and unless you've been in those shoes you can't really get a solid true feeling what it's like.

Originally posted by SLAYER69
reply to post by KilrathiLG

 

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.

allegedly

: Accused but not proven or convicted

Sounds like Propaganda. Only time will tell. If true they should be tried and convicted.

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.

link

There seems to be more to it than just propaganda Slayer.
But i agree with you , there is an investigation to take place - any commentary now is a little bit premature .

reply to post by UmbraSumus


Why does the investigation matter? Isn't the investigation done by the occupation? Last I heard they were the ones who stopped a civilian death probe, which would have been UN based?

Interesting don't you think? Then this pops up.