Posted on 03/20/2011 7:38:42 PM PDT by Cardhu
Commanders in Afghanistan are bracing themselves for possible riots and public fury triggered by the publication of "trophy" photographs of US soldiers posing with the dead bodies of defenceless Afghan civilians they killed.
Senior officials at Nato's International Security Assistance Force in Kabul have compared the pictures published by the German news weekly Der Spiegel to the images of US soldiers abusing prisoners in Abu Ghraib in Iraq which sparked waves of anti-US protests around the world.
They fear that the pictures could be even more damaging as they show the aftermath of the deliberate murders of Afghan civilians by a rogue US Stryker tank unit that operated in the southern province of Kandahar last year.
Some of the activities of the self-styled "kill team" are already public, with 12 men currently on trial in Seattle for their role in the killing of three civilians.
Five of the soldiers are on trial for pre-meditated murder, after they staged killings to make it look like they were defending themselves from Taliban attacks.
Other charges include the mutilation of corpses, the possession of images of human casualties and drug abuse.
All of the soldiers have denied the charges. They face the death penalty or life in prison if convicted.
The case has already created shock around the world, particularly with the revelations that the men cut "trophies" from the bodies of the people they killed.
An investigation by Der Spiegel has unearthed approximately 4,000 photos and videos taken by the men.
The magazine, which is planning to publish only three images, said that in addition to the crimes the men were on trial for there are "also entire collections of pictures of other victims that some of the defendants were keeping".
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Black humor is a natural human response to the unpleasant. I will not judge these men but I hope they are prepared for the onslaught of hatred they will get. We are sending very young men into combat and this happens more often than people think.
Bush’s fault, no doubt.
Der Spiegel.
Thanks Cardhu.
The Guardian is NYT of the UK.
Interesting way to put it
I wonder what Murtha and Durbin would have to say about this.
Some people are going to spend the rest of their days in jail.
These troops aren’t being charged with black humor, or even accidentally killing civilians, they’re being charged with premeditated murder of noncombatants in a combat zone. That happens far less than the media portrays it and in the rare cases when it does happen should be prosecuted vigorously. The men America sends into combat are well able to tell the difference and act accordingly.
God I hope this is not true. If it is, I am ashamed to have served in the same military as these people.
Kill all the enemy you can, but don’t kill civilians and FOR DAMN SURE don’t have your picture taken next to them.
Didn’t we learn anything from Abu Ghraib? If you are going to do stupid shit, DON’T TAKE PICTURES.
The MSM will cover it up, because it makes their Golden Boy look bad. If Bush was still President, it would be all over the news.
We shall see.
Buried mid-article:
“All of the soldiers have denied the charges.”
If they are guilty or innocent, let the military handle it. Please not another AbuGhraib orgy filled with grandstanding Congressmen and Senators and pants wetting officials. This stuff happens in war, always has, always will. That doesn’t make it right but it doesn’t need to be turned into Grand Spectacle of Self-Flagellation.
So, assuming it’s legit, where’s the ravenous global media Abu Ghraib media outrage now demanding the SECDEF’s resignation? Oh, that’s right. It’s Obama’s war now. Never mind. Just some bad actors. An isolated incident, not encouraged at the highest levels like the prisoner abuse in Iraq. /s/
Of course there won't be, the President has a "D" next to his name.
“Last night many organisations employing foreign staff, including the United Nations, ordered their staff into a “lockdown”, banning all movements around Kabul and requiring people to remain in their compounds.”
Yes, that is right. There are some criminal types that make it into our military and thank God it is very few.
i have serious doubts about this account of the actions of these soldiers.
When my boy was in Afghanistan back in 2008-2009, his platoon COP took rocket fire that was determined to be from a village not far from the Pakistan border. His platoon returned fire with 120mm mortars.
Despite claims by other parties of civilian casualties (including children) the Damage Assessment parties found only the mangled bodies of four Taliban fighters in that village.
The rocket attacks stopped.
BS
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