Thrill Kill in Afghanistan

[Ramadhan]

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-sol...ry?id=11732681


Confession Video: US Soldier Describes Thrill Kill of Innocent Afghans

By MATTHEW COLE, BRIAN ROSS (@brianross) and ANGELA M. HILL
Sept. 27, 2010

Dressed in a t-shirt and Army shorts, a 22-year-old corporal from Wasilla, Alaska casually describes on a video tape made by military investigators how his unit's "crazy" sergeant randomly chose three unarmed, innocent victims to be murdered in Afghanistan.
Corporal Jeremy N. Morlock is one of five GI's charged with pre-meditated murder in a case that includes allegations of widespread drug use, the collection of body parts and photos of the U.S. soldiers holding the Afghan bodies like hunter's trophies.

All five soldiers were part of the 5th Stryker Combat Brigade, of the 2nd Infantry Division, based at Ft. Lewis-McChord, Washington. In charging documents released by the Army, the military alleges that the five, Staff Sgt. Calvin R. Gibbs, Spec Adam C. Winfield, Spec. Michael S. Wagnon II, Pfc. Andrew H. Holmes and Morlock were involved in one or more of three murders that took place between January and May of this year.
Lawyers and family members of the soldiers say they all intend to fight the charges.
An Article 32 hearing for Morlock, the military equivalent of a grand jury, is scheduled later today at Fort Lewis-McChord, Washington.
On the tape, obtained by ABC News, Morlock admits his role in the deaths of three Afghans but claims the plan was organized by his unit's sergeant, Calvin Gibbs, who is also charged with pre-meditated murder.
"He just really doesn't have any problems with f---ing killing these people," Morlock said on tape as he laid out the scenario he said the sergeant used to make it seem the civilians were killed in action.

"And so we identify a guy. Gibbs makes a comment, like, you know, you guys wanna wax this guy or what?" Morlock told military investigators during an interview videotaped in May at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan.
The corporal said Gibbs gave orders to open fire on the civilian at the same time Gibbs threw a hand grenade at the victim.
"He pulled out one of his grenades, an American grenade, you know, popped it, throws it, tells me where to go to whack this guy, kill this guy, kill this guy," Morlock told the investigators.

Allegations that US Soldiers Killed Innocent Civilians in Afghanistan

Morlock said Sergeant Gibbs carried a Russian grenade to throw next to the body of the dead Afghan, to make it seem he was about to attack the American soldiers.
The corporal said he opened fire as directed, fearful of not following Gibbs' orders.
"It's definitely not the right thing to do," Morlock told the investigators. "But I mean, when you got a squad leader bringing you into that, that type of real, that mindset, and he believes that you're on board with that, there's definitely no way you wanted him to think otherwise."
The investigator asked Morlock, "Because you felt maybe the next shot might be coming your way?"
"You never know. Exactly," answered Morlock. "I mean Gibbs talked about how easy it is, people disappear on the battlefield all the time."
A lawyer for Gibbs declined to comment. All five charged are in military custody.
Morlock's lawyer, Michael Waddington, said his client made his confession at a time when he was taking heavy medication.
"My client did not kill anyone," said Waddington. "He did not use any bullets or any grenades to kill any of these individuals."
In addition to murder, the Army's charging documents allege rampant drug use in Morlock's unit, as well as the dismemberment of dead Afghan civilians.
Cpl. Morlock describes how Sergeant Gibbs allegedly collected the fingers of some of his Afghan victims.
"It's his thing now," said Morlock. "I don't know, his crazy stuff. War trophies, whatever."
Morlock said Gibbs boasted of carrying out similar murders in Iraq but was never caught and threatened the men in his unit with harm if they refused to participate or revealed what was happening.
"If Gibbs knew that I was sitting in front of this camera right now, there's no doubt in my mind that he'd f---ing take me out if he had to," Morlock told the Army investigators.

[Ramadhan]

http://gulfnews.com/news/world/afgha...-kill-1.872432

• Published: 09:11 September 23, 2011

Third US soldier pleads guilty to Afghan thrill kill

A third member of an alleged rogue US army unit in Afghanistan pleaded guilty Thursday in a plea deal over shock killings of local civilians


JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Washington: A third member of an alleged rogue US army unit in Afghanistan pleaded guilty Thursday in a plea deal over shock killings of local civilians that embarrassed the US army.
Private First Class Andrew Holmes was accused of being a member of a five-person "kill team" implicated in the slaying of three Afghans while stationed in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province in January 2010.
After negotiations, Holmes pleaded guilty to murder, but not to premeditated murder, during a court-martial hearing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, in the western state of Washington. He was expected to be sentenced on Friday.
Speaking in a clear voice, the 21-year-old from Boise, Idaho also pleaded guilty to two other offenses: possessing a finger harvested from an Afghan corpse and smoking marijuana in hashish form while deployed.


As part of the agreement, prosecutors dismissed three charges, including the two major charges of premeditated murder and conspiracy.
After entering his pleas, Holmes read a prepared statement explaining his actions on January 15, 2010 and answered questions about the incident from the presiding judge Kwasi Hawks.
According to Holmes, the incident began when fellow soldier Jeremy Morlock motioned for an Afghan boy to come closer.
When the boy was about 15 feet (five metres) away, Morlock threw a grenade at him. Holmes then fired his squad automatic weapon at the boy at Morlock's urging.
"I fired six to eight rounds - and have regretted it ever since," Holmes told the judge.
The squad had also discussed scenarios to make the killing of Afghan civilians appear justified.
Holmes voiced regret for the killing, admitting it was "reckless" but saying it was not his intention to murder the civilian. Quizzed by the judge, he said he believed the bullets from his gun killed the Afghan boy, not the grenade.
The soldier also recalled his doubts about the Afghan civilian being a threat and called himself "naive" in his assessment of the situation at the time. He was 19 at the time of the shooting.
"He pleaded guilty to doing something reckless that killed a human being," defense attorney Daniel Conway said after the proceedings.
Two other members of the alleged rogue unit, Morlock and Adam Winfield, reached plea deals earlier this year as the US Army works to conclude the high-profile war crimes case.
Morlock received a 24-year sentence in March. In August, Winfield received a three-year sentence after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter, saying he was threatened by his platoon sergeant to take part in the killings.

Holmes, along with Morlock, was one of the US soldiers shown posing for the camera with an Afghan corpse, in shocking photos published by German news magazine Der Spiegel.
Two other soldiers - Michael Wagnon and alleged ringleader Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs - still face charges for their alleged role in the killings.
The soldiers were members of Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Division's Stryker brigade, based out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle.

[Ramadhan]

This truly makes me sick.
I wonder how many more out there in Afghan and Iraq of these kind of filthy dogs committing these evils not getting caught or being covered up.

Trumble, where are you?

[جوري]

Trumble, where are you?

On the U.N council to Veto against a Palestinian state obviously!!

Hey there! Looks like you're enjoying the discussion, but you're not signed up for an account.

When you create an account, you can participate in the discussions and share your thoughts. You also get notifications, here and via email, whenever new posts are made. And you can like posts and make new friends.
Sign Up

[Nate]

This is a common group mentality in the military, when they dehumanize the people and make everyone a enemy, it becomes a game. We saw it alot in Vietnam but with todays media it comes out more.
When I went through boot camp we called the targets at the range Commies (before 9/11) and after 9/11 they changed to Hadji's

then theres the fact of over deployment causes huge mental problems for combat soldiers. IMO they need to end the WAR'S and bring them all backs. Its bad a Afghan or Iragi get labeled a terrorist for protecting themselves from the US troops that have come into there country and start murdering people. Most of the troops are trying to do the right thing but a lot dont care or hate arabs, I know, I have had to set some straight.....

[Who Am I?]

This is a common group mentality in the military, when they dehumanize the people and make everyone a enemy, it becomes a game. We saw it alot in Vietnam but with todays media it comes out more.
When I went through boot camp we called the targets at the range Commies (before 9/11) and after 9/11 they changed to Hadji's

then theres the fact of over deployment causes huge mental problems for combat soldiers. IMO they need to end the WAR'S and bring them all backs. Its bad a Afghan or Iragi get labeled a terrorist for protecting themselves from the US troops that have come into there country and start murdering people. Most of the troops are trying to do the right thing but a lot dont care or hate arabs, I know, I have had to set some straight.....

:sl:

Well as you said, it's common military propaganda to portray the enemy as some kind of inhuman monster and not a fellow person. It has happened in every major conflict throughout history, but it's only been in the "modern" wars that it has become widespread because of social media and internet.

It was discussed in another thread here about how the US military recruits gangsters and criminals because enlistments are down and they need fresh cannon fodder. In many cases, the military knows about the recruits' criminal records but they ignore it. I see a lot of the "thug mentality" in some of these war crime stories.

Then you have the fact that you train kids to be killers for a few years and then if they survive that and they return home, society expects them to return to civilian life like nothing happened and they're just supposed to forget everything they were taught in the military.

[Abz2000]

who's watched "platoon" starring charlie sheen?
it gives a good insight into how they get dehumanised.

here's some accounts:

[Ghazalah]

Holmes voiced regret for the killing, admitting it was "reckless" but saying it was not his intention to murder the civilian.

Where's the logic in that? What was the intention then if it wasn't to kill? Nothing but animals.

[Abz2000]

anyone who thinks it's no big deal needs to watch this - contains extremely violent real life material, watch with caution.
i remembered watching it and reading the wikipedia page on it and wondering how it's possible that they'd just randomly decide to murder people and make them suffer, but i'd forgotten that these governments were conditioning people to think like that.

http://robert-lindsay.blogspot.com/2...885a2501c7a7c5

also research 3 guys one hammer

[m2p]

inanilahi wa inalayhi rajiun

May allah guide the Soldier that confessed for telling the truth

[Who Am I?]

who's watched "platoon" starring charlie sheen?
it gives a good insight into how they get dehumanised.

I have that movie on DVD and watch it from time to time.

Also look at "Casualties of War" with Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn, which is based on a true story from Vietnam.

I have said repeatedly that this current "War on Terror" is my generation's Vietnam.

[m2p]

I have that movie on DVD and watch it from time to time.

Also look at "Casualties of War" with Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn, which is based on a true story from Vietnam.

I have said repeatedly that this current "War on Terror" is my generation's Vietnam.

true and Gaza is the worlds largest concentration camp

[Who Am I?]

true and Gaza is the worlds largest concentration camp

You would think that the Israelis of all people would be mindful of that seeing what they went through during the Holocaust...

[MSalman]

Ya Allah, the blood of a Muslim is very cheap now days. We have adopted the ways of the kuffaar and abandoned jihad; as a result, we are being humiliated and unable to even protect honour and blood of our brothers & sisters.

May Allah help us, ameen

An attempt to kill a U.S. soldier equals = 86 years of imprisonment. Murder of three Muslims equals = 7 years of imprisonment.

Allhamdulillah, our dead are in paradise but your dead are hell!

[Abz2000]

dont worry about those who died fighting, they're much happier than us,
What hurts me is the situation of all their loved ones and the trials they face.
And what gets to me is the plight of all those that got murdered while not fighting an illegal invasion and not striving at all