12 U.S. Soldiers Charged in Afghan Civilian Murders
- Posted on September 9, 2010 at 8:29am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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Five U.S. soldiers have been accused of murdering Afghan civilians for sport, while seven others have been implicated in the cover-up, according to CBS News.
Besides the murder and cover-up charges, the soldiers are also accused of mutilating corpses, taking pot shots at Afghan civilians, smoking hashish, and beating up a private who revealed the group’s actions. The ordeal reportedly began when Sgt. Calvin Gibbs joked about how easy it would be “toss a grenade at someone and kill them.”
From there, five soldiers allegedly formed a “kill team,” and on separate occasions murdered three Afghan civilians that seem to have been chosen at random.
The family of one of those soldiers charged says it tried to warn the Army of the group’s killings. According to the Associated Press, “Christopher Winfield says his son Adam was so disgusted after the first killing that he sent Facebook messages home asking for help. Winfield says he called Fort Lewis and a military hotline asking officials to investigate — but to no avail.”
According to the younger Winfield’s attorney, Spc. Winfield was ordered to shoot at the third victim, but deliberately shot high.
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bose
Posted on January 20, 2011 at 3:06pmYou Americans never change. You invented the bumper sticker because you actually believe anyone cares what you think, and you feel the need to comment on everything under the sun for the same reason. Although it’s cute that you get so hot and bothered at each others comments, it does beg the question: don’t you have anything better to do with your time?
Report Post »tollesboroteaparty
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 6:06amIt is easy for us to set here and judge these men on what we are hearing, truth or not, but God only knows what they themselves have been through. In the past 3 months 189 US soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Some of our men have had to endure a lot with losing many platoon members and good friends.Maybe we should not be so quick to judge them. If we think a lot of what goes on over there is ridiculous from where we are sitting, just think what they must think from where they are sitting and trying to survive.
Report Post »kindling
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 3:38amWe need to bring our people home.
Report Post »BigWes
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 12:16amIf it‘s true I am confident that the military will do what should be done because that’s what makes them different from the the people they fight..
Report Post »Assunta
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 6:32pmIf this is a true story their behavior is just like the radical Muslims who murder the innocent. One bad deed doesn’t make up for another bad deed. The US cannot be a part of the problems of that country through our troops or otherwise. I hope this story is not true for so many reasons.
Report Post »KnightErrantJR
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 5:37pmIf this happened, it is a horrible thing. However, I also worry, every single day, about my Marine son in Afghanistan because of what he has described about what they currently have to do and the state of the country. Instead of going in with enough force and enough troops to complete objectives, they are stationed with Afghan troops that they are suppose to help train and they are intentionally sent to do “good will” missions such as handing out goodies to the Afghans, many of whom do not like or trust them, in part because they aren’t actually fixing the Taliban problem, and in part because some of them don’t want them to fix the problem.
My son has told us that the Afghan troops are so poorly paid that as part of their pay they are allowed to go into villages and demand food and shelter from the locals, which of course many of them abuse. The Afghani military does not prohibit their troops from using drugs themselves, so they often have to serve along side Afghani that are wacked out on opium. They are also so disorganized that one of them was playing with a “disarmed” IED and blew his own arm off within 20 feet of my son. Because he was screwing around.
I was 100% behind us going into Afghanistan. The Taliban was in control, and they were direct allies to the people that killed 3000 of our people. This was very clear cut. But we need to actually neutralize the threat as best we can, and then move on. How long can you expect to avoid situations like the above when our troops have to “train” with people that get to abuse villagers as “pay” and can do drugs on the job?
I worry about my son every day, and not just for his physical health and safety, but for his soul considering what is going on around him every day. He joined the military to protect his country and because he has a sense of honor. How long does that last when he’s told that part of his job is to “train” people that are expected to have no honor at all?
Report Post »79USMC83
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 7:20pmOOH RAH!! Wiil be praying for your Marine. POLITICALLY CORRECT warfare is putting my brother‘s and sister’s in danger. Let them loose with everything they have or bring them HOME!!! This is absurd and needs to be changed. If they want to build a country send in the Peace corps and if you want to destroy the enemy send in the Marine Corps.
Report Post »This article will set off the Left but like most crimes in the media you are guilty until proven innocent. If this is true these men cannot DIS-HONOR men like your son doing a mission and working with these stone age pigs that have NO sense of what freedom or justice really is.
Thanks for sharing your sons description of what we are doing there. Just like the men in this article and this so-called counter insurgency warfare. It all starts at the top, the Commander in Chief wants NO part of the WAR against RADICAL ISLAM,the Generals want to be ad-hock nation buiulders the men in this story were lacking small unit leadership!!!
KnightErrantJR
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 7:33pm79USMC83, thank you very much for your reply, and even more for your prayers!
Report Post »mikey1947
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 5:02pmUntil you are or have been in a war zone you never know how you will act! If this is true it is horrible and despicable and needs to be dealt with. The stress that our troops go through needs to be brought to the American peoples attention more and not just when they do something wrong!
Report Post »liberalismisadisease
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 4:59pmAfter the Time article on the fake Haiditha massacre and the networks carrying it (which was shown to be a lie planted by a muslim propagandist), I no longer watch or believe a word the mainstream media says. Wiki!? ha, ha. That’s a site that is not neutral, so they don’t have any standing in my book. The world hates us because we are a threat to dictators and evil everywhere (but they love us when we bail them out, like we did to Europe after WWII with the $50billion in 1940′s dollars Marshall Plan). And Lester, I know that there were a few hundred thousand civilian deaths. Did you know how many died under Saddam? the estimates are around 2 million! And when the Soviet Union finally dissolved and admitted their history, we saw that Joseph Stalin was responsible for the death of close to 30 million Russians (that’s right! There OWN citizens) in a time when that represented around 1/3 of their population. These people weren’t just killed, they were tortured. Read about it in Alexandr Solzhenitsyn’s books. Through his writings he helped to make the world aware of the Gulag, the Soviet Union’s forced labor camp system – particularly The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, two of his best-known works. Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970. No, Lester. You and GlennBeckIsADemagogue and your buddy obama are nothing but apologists for America. Your minds are poisoned; you cannot see the good in America. So I suggest leaving and moving elsewhere.
Report Post »SGTTAZ67
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 3:56pmUnfortunately, once again a few bad apples spoil it for the bunch. I learned a long time ago to turn off emotion and do my duty witout regard to personal feelins. It worked for me in the Gulf War, Afganistan in 05 and Iraq in 09, Every military member knows right from wrong. Every deployng military member gets LAws of War training. 99.9999999% of them follow the rules, do their duty and serve ther country honorably. If these charges are found to be true, then they should be turned over to the local authorities for trial, as is done with other countries under SOFA.
Report Post »kb1200cc
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 5:46pmAmen Brother.
Report Post »rperea
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 1:38pmThose types of things happened in Vietnam also. When I went to boot camp in 1968 the indoctrination started, its subtle at first, marching or running your singing cadences everywhere you go, you heard the words over and over again, ****, Dink, Sloop, Charlie and worse. When I got Vietnam you looked at the locals as less than human, it was easy to kill them, burn their homes and fields, mistreat their children, they were Gooks and Dinks. What stopped me?, they way I was raised in the barrio by my parents, great NCO’s and Officers, discipline and the unit I belong to ( 11th Armored Calvary).
Report Post »When this happen almost always it starts at the top, remember the Mi Lai massacre? It didn’t start with Lt.Cally, it started with the chain of command ignoring their troops and playing politics.
GlennBeckIsADemagogue
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 12:25pmWe need to get the hell out of Afghanistan. First Abu Ghraib, then waterboarding, now this. No wonder most of the world hates us.
Report Post »Corinthian in TN
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 12:59pmFunny, in a not so much kinda way. The rest of the world hates us, NOT because we have a couple of VERY BAD, ignorant and disgusting apples, but because we DETEST the evil that such people do. WE, here in the U.S., FIGHT to bring this sort of EVIL to light, to bring Justice to those that were wronged. We admit we aren’t and have never been perfect…. we admit we’ve made mistakes, and we KNOW we WILL do better. THAT IS WHY MANY IN THE WORLD HATE US. Not because of what we do, but because they KNOW THEY are even MORE GUILTY of MUCH WORSE crimes than we are, and THEY ARE NEVER going to admit it. Iran Kills 1,000′s, it’s another day at work, the U.S. kills 1, and it’s the World Holocost. Difference between U.S. and the World? We KNOW and BELIEVE that that doesn’t excuse us.
Report Post »LesterWillox
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 1:20pm@Corinthian
Don’t you think it might also have something to do with hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths directly related to the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War
People hate the US because they‘re afraid they’ll be next.
Report Post »TheBlazenTruth
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 1:52pmWhy does the world hate us if we do the things they do? Or maybe it is because we actually punish evil and stand up for those who cant stand up for themselves? If this is true then these soldiers will be put to death or at least spend the rest of their life behind bars (I vote for death). If its not true then it only shows easily the weak minded are and just throw up their hands and say “We need to get the hell out of Afghanistan. First Abu Ghraib, then waterboarding, now this. No wonder most of the world hates us”. Whats wrong with waterboarding? who doesnt like that?
Report Post »phoenixbetrayal
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 2:08pmfirst world trade center bombings, then uss cole, then 9/11, then random beheadings. it‘s a wonder we haven’t had more call to turn that country into a sheet of glass.
Report Post »LesterWillox
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 2:51pm@Theblazentruth
Yeah, you should try waterboarding some time! It’s fun in a bun.
Report Post »mikey1947
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 5:09pmFirst of all you sound like an idiot for the first comment you made and then second have you forgotten what happened on 911 amd what will happen if we get the hell out of Afghanistan as you stated! I can just hear you now if we did get out and we started fighting this war on American soil again! I have a son in AF Security Forces who joined because he wanted to do something to help protect his country and as I see it I have a vested interest in what I said about staying till the war is won. I hope this Liberal self serving President and Congress we have now has at least the common sense to see Afghanistan through! This is just my opinion and I have the right to express it because of all the brave men and women in the Armed Forces that preserved it for me!
Report Post »kb1200cc
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 5:43pmNot “US” just whiny libs like you genius. ANY atrocity committed by ANY of our armed forces is inexcusable. That being said, acts committed by the animals were fighting are orders of magnitude worse. to even attempt a moral equivalency here is obscene! Of the people that hate us the most I think its Whiny libs that hate this country the most. And the fact that you have the right to be a self loathing, America loathing lefty do nothing is ENTIRELY because kids die for you to keep that right. I know most lefties think GOD doesnt exist so I wont ask you to thank him for that right but you DAMN WELL better thank a soldier.
Report Post »phoenixbetrayal
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 11:19amgreat, yet another reason for the left to hate the military. “see, see they are killing people! we need to disband the military! they are evil!” can’t wait for chris matthews to get a tingle up his leg from this story. meanwhile the murderers here at home are generally ignored. it’s only a headline if the person is in uniform. some people just don’t get that there are good and bad people of every race and creed
Report Post »jessieH
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 11:17amIf it’s true, they should pay with their lives. If it’s false, CBS should pay with theirs. Didn’t they run a fake story about President Bush not having been in the military?
Report Post »ratfink
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 11:10amIs it TRUE!!!!
Report Post »ME
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 5:15pmjudge jury and executioner, I see, must be a lib
Report Post »get the facts could be just one spineless whip that may be looking for a ticket home I am not saying ether way just an option I can only conger till the all the facts are available.
Hillbillybone
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 9:33amThe US Military will go to no end to prosecute crimes like these, commited by lowly ranking members.
Any crime to this measure should be treated like murder and tried as such.
Also the military needs to investigate the LIE that was commited 4 years ago this week by Major Jill Metzger, does anyone remember her? Her lie cost us TAX Payers billions of dollars to Krzygstan(Spelling) Because she claimed she was kidnapped but really she was just going to be late getting back on post after going out to get an abortion that had complications. She claimed she was kidnapped, a bomb placed in her back pocket, and she was held for a couple of days when she overpowered her gaurd, ran NAKED for 30 miles and was found only a mile or so away from the base. If this act of heroism actually happend, why didn’t they parade her around like they did Pvt. Jessica Lynch who said she could not remember anything for recruitment purposes? Now Jill Metzger is a civilian living with her OSI Hubby drawing a 100% VA Disability for PTSD and still running in the USAF Marathon, and the USMC Marathon, now there is a disabled Vet…….Made up her own story and got it all.
So on this 4 year anniversary, all I can say is…..SAD and SHAME on the upper ranks, I guess Rank does have its privilages…………
I am a retired USAF MSgt, so I know alittle about the crap that gets covered up
Report Post »DukeCLR
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 9:30amI would love to see this prove to be a false story but there are bad apples everywhere and it’s important for us to find the truth and take the necessary action.
Report Post »benrush
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 8:44amIf this is true it is a despicable act of senseless murder. If it is not, it is a despicable act of treacherous and treasonous journalism.
Act responsibly.
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