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Soldiers "kill team" which allegedly murdered at random and collected fingers as trophies
Guardian ^ | September 9th 2010 | Chris McGreal

Posted on 09/09/2010 3:46:45 AM PDT by Cardhu

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.

(Excerpt) Read more at m.guardian.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; murder; trophy; ussoldiers
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To: The Magical Mischief Tour

Yes, I am. They have done it before, and they will do it again.


21 posted on 09/09/2010 6:27:30 AM PDT by snarkbait (<<For Rent>>)
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To: marychesnutfan

Why would the local newspaper of one of the soldiers print it?


22 posted on 09/09/2010 6:43:26 AM PDT by panthermom
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To: bill1952

It was covered in some, and was on CBS’s website.


23 posted on 09/09/2010 6:46:37 AM PDT by ChurtleDawg (voting only encourages them)
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To: marychesnutfan

I guess the dad of one of the soldiers charged is of no validity either.

http://www.wdtn.com/dpps/military/Soldiers-father-Army-was-warned-of-murder-plot_3576646


24 posted on 09/09/2010 6:57:55 AM PDT by panthermom
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To: Cardhu

This story will do far more damage than someone burning the Koran.


25 posted on 09/09/2010 7:22:22 AM PDT by CodeToad (Islam needs to be banned in the US and treated as a criminal enterprise.)
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To: mo
Hmmm..sounds like another Leftist military fantasy...just in time for the elections.

Let's see...... where have I seen this before? A PLATOON of soldiers, some of whom get 'high', lose their cool and torch a village, killing the 'citizens'?

26 posted on 09/09/2010 9:27:49 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lame and ill informed post.)
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To: ConservativeWarrior
The author’s been watching too many Oliver Stone war films.

Or just finished watching PLATOON.

27 posted on 09/09/2010 9:28:41 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lame and ill informed post.)
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To: And2TheRepublic

to an active soldier like you — I salute you! God bless you and keep you safe


28 posted on 09/09/2010 9:43:24 AM PDT by Cronos (A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: Alexander P)
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To: Cardhu

Allegedly? I saw this on mil.com, I think it was an AP story. No idea if these men did it but if they did, that’s danged lame and creepy. If they didn’t well this article 32(??) will most probably end their careers anyway whether they win the case or not.


29 posted on 09/09/2010 12:24:52 PM PDT by Karliner (Now this is not the end. .... But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning, Churchill 1942)
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To: rman04554; SunkenCiv
Sounds like back in the Viet Nam days of Soldiers cutting off ears after murdering Innocent civilians, particularly woman and children.

In ancient Egypt, First Dynasty, when ever they did a KIA count they cut off the uncircumcised penises of the dead foes and presented them to the Commander as a head count(sic).

30 posted on 09/09/2010 12:41:58 PM PDT by Little Bill (`-)
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To: UCANSEE2

I was with A/2/35, Stone is an asshole.


31 posted on 09/09/2010 12:45:33 PM PDT by Little Bill (`-)
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To: Little Bill
I think he's a bomb thrower.

From wikipedia:

In a controversial Guardian special report published in 2006, McGreal, who has covered both apartheid South Africa and Israel in his career, compared the two and alleged numerous similarities, citing the United States Department of State's annual human rights report for 1999.[1] Among other claims, McGreal alleged that Israel's Population Registration Act is similar to an apartheid era South African Act of the same name. The latter categorized South Africans according to racial definitions in order to determine who could live in what land. McGreal alleges that the Israeli act "serves a similar purpose by distinguishing between nationality and citizenship. Arabs and Jews alike can be citizens, but each is assigned a separate 'nationality' marked on identity cards(either spelled out or, more recently, in a numeric code), in effect determining where they are permitted to live, access to some government welfare programmes, and how they are likely to be treated by civil servants and policemen."[2]

Extensive responses to McGreal's allegations were offered by several media watchdog organizations, including the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America,[3][4][5] the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre, [6] Engage,[7] and Honest Reporting,[8] which viewed his claims as false and defamatory. The Guardian's letters editor reported that "more than 100 letters on the subject had been directed at the page, with roughly three endorsing the decision to deal with the subject, to every two against, most of the latter rejecting any apartheid analogy." [9]

32 posted on 09/09/2010 12:56:53 PM PDT by Jimmy Valentine's brother (Victory or Death)
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To: Jimmy Valentine's brother
Thankx Jimmy, we who served in those days are used to being Pissed on, but my kids and grandkids like me so F'em.
33 posted on 09/09/2010 3:06:41 PM PDT by Little Bill (`-)
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To: Little Bill; AdmSmith; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; bigheadfred; blueyon; Convert from ECUSA; ..
Thanks Little Bill. They sound charming:
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.

34 posted on 09/09/2010 6:22:21 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Democratic Underground... matters are worse, as their latest fund drive has come up short...)
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To: SunkenCiv

A little bit of trivia I ran across, we like to talk about the past but sometimes we ignore the details.


35 posted on 09/09/2010 6:32:04 PM PDT by Little Bill (`-)
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To: Little Bill
Thanks Jimmy Valentine's brother.

Chris McGreal:
Google

36 posted on 09/10/2010 7:45:47 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Democratic Underground... matters are worse, as their latest fund drive has come up short...)
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To: And2TheRepublic

I agree and God bless you for serving, but slander is a favorite tool of the Left and of Islamic radicals. I’d give the odds of this being based on truthful testimony less than 25%, and people will chew me out for not making the odds even lower.


37 posted on 09/12/2010 1:06:20 PM PDT by Arthur Wildfire! March (Conservative scandals? Boring. DNC scandals? Exciting. We are sick of being excited.)
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To: Jimmy Valentine's brother; SunkenCiv

The McGreal leopard cannot change its spots
http://cifwatch.com/2010/08/26/the-mcgreal-leopard-cannot-change-its-spots/
From his attempts to smear the Israeli government for their alleged collaboration with South Africa on nuclear warheads to his latest egregious distortions of Pamela Geller’s motives for her opposition to the mosque near Ground Zero, the Guardian’s Chris McGreal’s animus towards Israel and Jews remains unchanged and is a direct reflection of the divorced-from-reality Guardian World View and the twisting of facts to suit its preconceived conclusions. Let us examine ... [snip]


38 posted on 09/12/2010 1:14:27 PM PDT by Arthur Wildfire! March (Conservative scandals? Boring. DNC scandals? Exciting. We are sick of being excited.)
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