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

[PeteEU]

US soldiers 'killed Afghan civilians for sport and collected fingers as trophies' | World news | The Guardian

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.

If true, I hope they fry... the are a disgrace to the US military and the US as a whole.

 

[TheNextEra]

If true, that is horrendous. Hopefully these accusations are all false.

 

[soccerboy22]

If this is true I hope for the worst punishment for these men. They are an embarrassment for all those that have served.

 

[OscarB63]

US soldiers 'killed Afghan civilians for sport and collected fingers as trophies' | World news | The Guardian



If true, I hope they fry... the are a disgrace to the US military and the US as a whole.

I don't get it. Why morons like this, if the allegations are true, want to kill civilians. When in a warzone there is ample opportunity to legitimately kill people. i have done it and there was nothing fun, thrilling or exciting about it. it is, and should be, something done out of necessity and nothing more.

If these guys are guilty I hope they fry

 

[Coronado]

If this is true I hope for the worst punishment for these men.

It is from The Guardian though, so the odds are pretty good that it isn't.

 

[MaggieD]

US soldiers 'killed Afghan civilians for sport and collected fingers as trophies' | World news | The Guardian



If true, I hope they fry... the are a disgrace to the US military and the US as a whole.

This is all over the internet. Except on regular news media. Guess they're too busy talking about Koran Saturday.

I agree with you: If true, I hope they fry... the are a disgrace to the US military and the US as a whole.

 

[Apocalypse]

That's just sick, but those are still merely accusations and they should be regarded to as such.
Is there any other source for this except of the Guardian?

 

[Lord Tammerlain]

That's just sick, but those are still merely accusations and they should be regarded to as such.
Is there any other source for this except of the Guardian?

Yes there is

America pays dearly for Afghan war crimes | Editorials - The News Tribune

Five is a minuscule fraction of the 4,000 members of the 5th Stryker Brigade, which came home this summer after a year’s deployment in Afghanistan. Atrocities happen in every war, but today’s professional all-volunteer American Army today may be as scrupulous a combat force as this nation has ever fielded.

There’s also the fact that the probe of the suspicious deaths of three Afghan civilians earlier this year was initiated by the brigade itself against several of its own. In the past – after Vietnam’s My Lai massacre, for example – investigations often happened despite the unit’s commanders, not because of them.

The finger part is new


My link is from August 26

 

[soccerboy22]

It is from The Guardian though, so the odds are pretty good that it isn't.

I have yet to find it anywhere else so far, but I did learn Tom Brady was in a car accident. Damn.

Well never mind apparently some one else found a source about part of the story.

 

[Laila]

But I thought we went to those countries to do good :roll:

 

[MaggieD]

But I thought we went to those countries to do good :roll:

Now, see, that's the problem. Those who judge a whole mission, a whole armed services on the actions of a few bad apples, make the rest of us nutz.

 

[Boo Radley]

That's just sick, but those are still merely accusations and they should be regarded to as such.
Is there any other source for this except of the Guardian?

I agree it should be verified, and then if accurte, the accused tried. But one of the problems with war is that it creates the opportunity for those who have such sick intent to act on those intentions. Not saing this specific accusation is true, but noting the nature of war.

 

[Laila]

Now, see, that's the problem. Those who judge a whole mission, a whole armed services on the actions of a few bad apples, make the rest of us nutz.

I was never "for" the mission to begin with, I never thought we did any good in Iraq and Afghanistan and I held that view before I read about this and I will continue to hold long after this case if true.

 

[OscarB63]

Now, see, that's the problem. Those who judge a whole mission, a whole armed services on the actions of a few bad apples, make the rest of us nutz.

you know how when a few fanatical muslims do something bad, we immediately get lectured for lumping all muslims together? isn't it funny then, that when a few americans do something bad, "their" first reaction is to lump us all together?

"hypocrisy...what a concept"

 

[apdst]

But I thought we went to those countries to do good :roll:

Ya'll don't, We do.

I was never "for" the mission to begin with, I never thought we did any good in Iraq and Afghanistan and I held that view before I read about this and I will continue to hold long after this case if true.

Well, if Muslims, from Afghanistan, hadn't attacked us, we wouldn't have went.

To address the article, it's probably bull****. 99% of these cockamamy accusations against American troops have turned out to be just that, since we first went to war against the Muslim terrorists.

It's like the story that came out several years ago--2006-07?--where American troops burned the bodies of Taliban fighters. It was billed as some kind of insult to Islam and an atrocity and blah, blah, blah. When the real story came out, the bodies were burned for hygene reasons, plus they were stinking up the whole outpost and the soldiers weren't able to bury the bodies, nor evacuate them; so there was only one thing to do.

I'm sure the real story is somewhere out there about this incident, I just hope we get to hear it.

 

[Taylor]

One of the soldiers' parents are claiming they knew this was going on and tried several times to get the Army to do something about it:

The father of a U.S. soldier serving in Afghanistan says he tried nearly a half dozen times to pass an urgent message from his son to the Army: Troops in his unit had murdered an Afghan civilian, planned more killings and threatened him to keep quiet about it.

By the time officials arrested suspects months later, two more Afghans were dead.

And much to Christopher Winfield's horror, his son Adam was among the five Fort Lewis-based soldiers charged in the killings.

The elder Winfield told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview that his son did not kill the unarmed man and would never have been in the situation if the Army had investigated the warnings he says he passed along to Fort Lewis.

The Associated Press: Soldier's father: Army was warned of murder plot

 

[Taylor]

One of the soldiers was apparently from Wasilla. What are the odds that the media will avoid making some sort of connection with Sarah Palin?

 

[MaggieD]

I was never "for" the mission to begin with, I never thought we did any good in Iraq and Afghanistan and I held that view before I read about this and I will continue to hold long after this case if true.

You don't have to be "for or against" the mission to be wrong in making blanket judgements on the actions of a few.

 

[VanceMack]

US soldiers 'killed Afghan civilians for sport and collected fingers as trophies' | World news | The Guardian
If true, I hope they fry... the are a disgrace to the US military and the US as a whole.

These men should be considered innocent until proven guilty. But IF proven guilty...should be hammered to the fullest extent of the law. The description of their behaviors is not something I cannot fathom because I have seen this type of behavior with civilian prisoners...but it is nonetheless unexcusable.

 

[apdst]

One of the soldiers' parents are claiming they knew this was going on and tried several times to get the Army to do something about it:

The Associated Press: Soldier's father: Army was warned of murder plot

That soldier ****ed up, by not properly using his chain of command.

 

[Aunt Spiker]

I doubt that it's true.

Sounds and awful lot like the Inglorious Bastards . . . is there a Stieglitz on the team perchance?

 

[OscarB63]

That soldier ****ed up, by not properly using his chain of command.

I'd like to see the evidence where this kid or his parents tried to notify the army. sounds to me a lot like the kid got caught and now daddy is trying to cover his ass by claiming "we tried to tell them"

 

[mike2810]

These men should be considered innocent until proven guilty. But IF proven guilty...should be hammered to the fullest extent of the law. The description of their behaviors is not something I cannot fathom because I have seen this type of behavior with civilian prisoners...but it is nonetheless unexcusable.

Agreed. Now if proven inocent, should not the papers/news be held accountable for publishing/reporting false information? Interesting that no one wants to hold reporters accountable.

 

[Coronado]

That soldier ****ed up, by not properly using his chain of command.

Read on down:

Soldiers serving in a combat theater typically would report crimes up the chain of command, to military investigators or chaplains, to members of the Defense Department inspector general's office, or even to another unit if their own commanders are involved.

One soldier, Pfc. Justin A. Stoner, who reported hashish smoking in the unit, said he was beaten by several platoon members. Gibbs and Morlock then paid him a visit, with Gibbs rolling out on the floor a set of severed fingers, he told investigators.

Morlock told him that "if I don't want to end up like that guy ... shut the hell up."

If true, that is a major problem.

 

[Coronado]

I'd like to see the evidence where this kid or his parents tried to notify the army. sounds to me a lot like the kid got caught and now daddy is trying to cover his ass by claiming "we tried to tell them"

Reading the article might help:

"I'm not sure what to do about something that happened out here but I need to be secretive about this," their son wrote them in a Facebook message. The couple gave the AP copies of the Facebook messages, Internet chats and their phone records.