Posted on 11/11/2011 3:32:50 PM PST by Cardhu
STAFF SGT Calvin Gibbs, the ringleader of a rogue US army unit responsible for the "thrill kills" of Afghan civilians has been jailed for life, after a military jury convicted him of three murders.
A five-member military panel found Gibbs guilty at the end of a week-long court martial, and said he should serve at least ten years behind bars before being eligible for parole.
He was convicted on 15 counts in all, including three of premeditated murder for his role in three killings in southern Afghanistan between January and May last year.
The prosecution portrayed Gibbs as the leader of the rogue unit, which also harvested body parts from the victims as macabre war trophies.
Three members of the unit had already pleaded guilty in a scandal that has threatened embarrassment for the US military on the scale of the Abu Ghraib prison abuse in Iraq.
Each of the murder convictions carried a minimum life sentence. The prosecution said Gibbs should be refused parole, and turned the disgraced soldier's description of his Afghan victims as "savages" back on him.
"There is the savage," said Major Dre LeBlanc, pointing at Gibbs. "Sergeant Gibbs is the savage."
For the defence, attorney Phil Stackhouse asked that the jury bear in mind Gibbs' wife Chelsy and young son Calvin Jr whenconsidering a sentence, noting that Gibbs received credit for 547 days of time served.
In closing arguments, prosecutor Major Robert Stelle dismissed Gibbs's claims that he was responding to legitimate attack when the team killed the Afghans.
"This is a case about betrayal, the ultimate betrayal. [Gibbs] betrayed his folk, he betrayed his unit, and with the flag of his nation emblazoned across his chest, thousands of miles from home, he betrayed his nation," Mr Stelle said.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
"In my mind, it was like keeping the antlers off a deer you'd shoot... You have to come to terms with the things you're doing," he said.
Infra-redneck?
A Beserkir?
And you will suffer the consequences of the disgrace you have brought on to the United States and its military as well having to face the ultimate judgment when your day comes........
“Gibbs had claimed his unit was engaged in genuine combat, while admitting that he took fingers and teeth from the corpses.”
One possibility does not negate the other. If true, it is a reflection of normal human behavior since the stone age. In an increasingly retro-barbaric culture, expect barbarism.
Go look at the youtube videos of Qaddafi being murdered, including the knife carefully slipped up his rectum prior to the beatings, then look at the video of Secretary of State Jabba the Hillary lounging back in her armchair while laughingly crowing, “We came, we saw, we killed him”.
Talk to an experienced prosecutor or defense attorney.
Consider Obama’s approval of infanticide in Illinois. What he endorsed and defended is capital murder in some jurisdictions.
This is a lost nation. It is not yet wholly corrupt but it is generally corrupt. The sergeant is merely a pale indicator of a general cultural decay.
Well said. IMHO, the snowball started rolling 1/22/1973.
Funny how this story wasn’t covered all that much, unlike the Abu Gharib story which was 24/7 ad nauseum......I wonder why that is?
I'm sorry to say that your words ring true. Look as the evil of the Sandusky/Penn State scandal as yet another indicator.
And yes, it's going to get worse. I fear for the generation now coming into adulthood.
There have been soldiers like this guy in every war the US has fought.
Not to excuse him, though - he and his accomplices should be shot. But it's not anything new.
We know this enemy would not hold themselves to this same standard. One needs look no further than the culture of the Middle East itself to know that innocence and civilian does not spare one in islam at the hands of islam.
I've seen posts right here on FR supporting a return to barbaric style war or the turning of deserts to glass. Even advocating that we should not take prisoners of the islamic nature, but dispose of them forthwith on the battlefield.
Yes, under our Rule of Engagement, he should be sentenced to murder.
“And you will suffer the consequences of the disgrace you have brought on to the United States and its military as well having to face the ultimate judgment when your day comes........”
MEGABUMP!
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