US Soldiers on trial for killin Afghan Civilians And Kept Fingers, Skull As Trophies.

[T-6000]

American soldiers murdered Afghan civilians for sport and kept finger bones, leg bones, a tooth and a skull as grisly trophies, according to documents released by the Pentagon on Wednesday. The case is the worst such atrocity yet revealed in Afghanistan. It underscores that just as in Iraq, the US military intervention is a brutal colonial war in which the entire population of the country is a target.

The official charge sheets released by the US Army greatly expand the case initially brought against five soldiers charged in June with premeditated murder and beating a fellow soldier who was threatening to inform on them. A total of 12 soldiers now face 76 charges, with multiple counts of drug abuse, mutilating corpses, filing false reports, lying to military investigators and acts of violence against fellow soldiers. (See “The twelve soldiers charged in atrocity and cover-up”)

All 12 soldiers are from the same company of the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Washington. The brigade recently returned from a year-long deployment near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.

You can read the rest here:

http://www.politicaltheatrics.net/2...civilians-and-kept-fingers-skull-as-trophies/

And another article about it here:

A dozen US soldiers are facing trail accused of being part of a 'kill team' that allegedly killed Afghan civilians in an arbitrary fashion - and they even collected their victims' fingers as trophies of war.

Five soldiers have been charged with the killing three Afghan men 'for sport'. And seven more are accused of covering up the murders.

In one of the most serious accusations of war crimes to come out of the Afghan war, the deaths are alleged to have been carried out by members of a Stryker infantry brigade based in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan.

But the father of one of the five accused of murder said today he tried to warn the Army that troops in his son's unit had killed civilians.

By the time suspects were arrested in May, two more Afghans were dead.

You can read the rest here:

http://www.activistpost.com/2010/09/twelve-us-soldiers-face-trial-after.html

I'm honestly pretty speechless about this gruesome incident, to say the least. What could have drove them to do something like this?

**Edit**

Goddamnit, I spelled trial as trail. Can a Mod fix this spelling blunder of mine?

 

[Krynn72]

What could have drove them to do something like this?

I'd wager they were psychopaths before they even joined the army. I doubt they were "driven" to it by anything.


Also, Sergeant Gibbs. What an appropriate name.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Plenty of psychopaths join the military. It's too bad they don't concentrate that insanity on the bad guys.

 

[T-6000]

I'd wager they were psychopaths before they even joined the army. I doubt they were "driven" to it by anything.


Also, Sergeant Gibbs. What an appropriate name.

You'd be surprised how war can turn a sane man into a madman. When my dad was younger and in Chicago he knew a couple of men who had come home from Vietnam and were psychologically crippled. One of them, a younger man, couldn't leave his basement for months. Another one was a good man, but certain things would 'set him off'. In the restaurant they both worked at, someone hollered "They're coming!", he grabbed a nearby broom, held it like an M16, and said "Let them come, I'm ready for them!" My dad was pretty shocked when he saw this. And there's also the increase in vet suicides, especially those coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

My brother is planning on joining either the regular army or the national guard. After some talk with him one day during a long walk, i urged my brother to at least try to keep his fellow soldiers in check, and make sure they don't do anything terrible (Like beat a civilian or kill unnecessarily) and see something he'd regret seeing. If he does get sent overseas.

 

[Krynn72]

You'd be surprised how war can turn a sane man into a madman.

Not really, I understand that the horrific shit they see and do over there can mess them up. But less than a year of it and they're removing the skin of a civilian's head to keep the skull as a trophy? I would bet he was always a ****ed up person.

 

[Raziaar]

This isn't typical solider behavior. These guys are messed up and probably spur each other on.

 

[15357]

I'd wager they were psychopaths before they even joined the army. I doubt they were "driven" to it by anything.


Also, Sergeant Gibbs. What an appropriate name.

Aye. You'd had to be ****ed up in the head even before combat to cut off fingers and skulls as trophies.

 

[StarBob]

 

[Eejit]

members of a Stryker infantry brigade

 

[<RJMC>]

what kind of trophy is the skull of a civilian that didnt offered resistance?

"dude check out this skull,is forma old lady that was already dead when I found her!"

"duuude you are so though badass!"

 

[Some_God]

what kind of trophy is the skull of a civilian that didnt offered resistance?

That's what they want you to believe!

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

Damn that's some crazy shit. Weirdos.

Who would keep fingers and body parts thats some nasty shit. Even if they were still wrong murderers but only kept normal 'trophies' like equipment that would be SLIGHTLY more sane.


The article says they got in trouble for hashish because somebody snitched on them for it. People I've talked to who've been over there said that while drug use is strictly prohibited by the army honestly nobody gave a shit about hashish (form of weed)

MY BET/GUESS (no info to back it up just a guess) is that they were actually smoking opium and got in shit for it, but it was labelled as 'hashish' to keep them from getting ****ed over really badly by the UCMJ rules. Opium easy to come by over there, easy as hell. Makes you lazy and addicted but makes you kinda 'off' in the head too.

 

[lord_raken]

That's horrible. I'm unsure why these guys did this but they need to answer for their actions one way or another. Civilian causalities is a grim reality of war but soldiers targeting innocents for the purpose of taking trophies. ... F**king sick.

T-6000: your first link is a biased piece of shit.

 

[flamingdts]

WAR

WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING

 

[15357]

WAR

WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING

Well, that's not entirely true. War is good for a whole variety of things, from population control (I know, I know) to testing new technologies.

Of course the costs are horrendous.

 

[flamingdts]

Well, that's not entirely true. War is good for a whole variety of things, from population control (I know, I know) to testing new technologies.

Of course the costs are horrendous.

Not to mention, costs to the environment is almost permanent and could not be replaced within several life times.

 

[T-6000]

I knew someone was going to make a joke about that, sooner or later. Hell, I was tempted to myself but I decided not to at the last minute since I felt people would frown upon me for joking about a terrible situation. As much as I am angry at these soldiers for what they did, I believe that a counselor or a psychological examiner should talk with these soldiers and examine why they did this. Was it just drugs, were they psychopaths that joined the army, or have they witnessed & experienced things that made them do this? I think it's important that we try to get the answer as soon as possible, to try as much as possible to prevent this from happening ever again.

 

[Shem]

They probably had a number of psychological problems before they joined the Military for them to commit such acts, or, as the charges would indicate, they were intoxicated at the time. I think the former is more likely. Drugs can do a number of bad things to the user, but rarely do we see such an outcome, with fingers being kept as trophies.

 

[unozero]

"You get to see exotic places and the Army can prepare for a career after you've completed your Service."


BUT DO I GET TO KILL PEOPLE?

 

[T-6000]

"You get to see exotic places and the Army can prepare for a career after you've completed your Service."


BUT DO I GET TO KILL PEOPLE?

Funny you mentioned that, it reminds me of when my sister was still in school (but in her junior year) a classmate she knew was planning on joining the military after graduating. He told her that he hoped he would get sent to Iraq so he could kill as many "Dirty Ragheads" as he could. *shrugs* Hey, what can I say? I live in a very racist town.

 

[StarBob]

WAR

WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING

SAY IT AGAIN

 

[Warped]

my friend was telling me when he got back, he was at an Iraqi checkpoint standing guard, and his combat buddy was with him as well, and this guy gets out of the car, walks through the pylons towards them, and the car drove off quickly and blew up the other bad guy from a distance. he was puking for a day and couldn't get the guy's pieces out of his suit. and while he was cleaning it he puked even more. he was probably not more than 20 feet away too when the guy self destructed. he only got one confirmed kill but he still asked his commanding officer for a trophy. heres the sad part though, he said he didn't want the burka so he took the man's garbs and left the dead man there naked in the street.

i know my friend before the war, he was good and normal but now he like gloats about his kill. its probably the only thing he can take home from the war that he feels proud about even though i don't think he was about it anyway. war is disgusting imo, and we should be so beyond this now. i want to step foot on other planets before i die, not other continents during battle

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

Well, that's not entirely true. War is good for a whole variety of things, from population control (I know, I know) to testing new technologies.

Of course the costs are horrendous.

It's a song.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Where would we be without Numbers to straight-facedly answer all our rhetorical questions? He's worse than the Copenhagen Interpretation.

"So what you're saying is, right, that the cat is until observed both alive and dead, or half alive and half dead, undead if you will, all sort of mixed together. Is that right? Is that really what you're saying?"

"Yes."

 

[VirusType2]

There's something missing here, I just can't put my finger on it.