Secret US 'Kill Team' Took Afghan Fingers as 'War Trophies'

[Panaconda]

US Soldiers 'Killed Afghan Civilians for Sport and Collected Fingers as Trophies'

Soldiers face charges over secret 'kill team' which allegedly murdered at random and collected fingers as trophies of war

by Chris McGreal

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".

...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/09/us-soldiers-afghan-civilians-fingers

Wonder why they hate us for our "values?"

[wildbilln864]

1. wasn't it ears in Viet Nam? nt

:banghead:

[madmax]

5. That sounds familiar

or I remember it from Apocalypse Now.

[wildbilln864]

16. no there's a guy hre in town....

with a cigar box of them from his tour. According to his neighbor.

[hlthe2b]

2. The "soldiers" are traitors...

I don't believe in the death penalty, but I'll be damned if I know what else to do with them. Bush*s legacy...

[Kolesar]

3. We had some good antiMuslim rancor going in this country, and they had to turn it ugly

--Steven Colbert, this year

[RKP5637]

4. Yeah, we're the US gov., and we're here to help you.

:puke: :puke: :puke:
:nuke: :nuke: :nuke:
:scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:
:hide: :hide: :hide:

[madmax]

6. By and large I think our soldiers are

good guys in a bad place at a bad time, sent by incompetant cowards. Then again, some are just sick shits to begin with so they'd be sick anywhere.

Turning young men into killing machines is not healthy for living beings.

[RKP5637]

10. I noticed the mood of the country shifting more hostile after Bush got in the

first time, like it's OK to be an A-hole or belligerent. As one of my friends said, Bush basically said it's OK for the country to be a bunch of bullies and arrogant toward other countries. I agree so much with what you said about our soldiers. Also, IMO it's all about profit and the MIC that we turn our young men into killing machines and it's definitely not healthy for living beings anyplace. War has become very profitable for those on the take.

[madmax]

11. Also stupidy became Vogue.

When he was running either out on the campaign trail or being interviewed I would think, no way in hell will he win. He's dumber than a box of rocks. Yeah, right - so much for that theory.

I believe 2000 was stolen, but to be that close that it could be was an eye opener. That is why I fear Palin and do not dismiss her out of hand. She is dangerous.

[RKP5637]

12. Same here, never underestimate the stupidity of American people when it comes

to voting and making critical decisions for our future.

[anarch]

7. this kind of thing has no place in the U.S. Army. These guys need to work for a contractor instead,

where there's no real oversight and this kind of thing doesn't even raise an eyebrow. The CIA pays those guys better, too.

USA! USA! USA!

:puke:

[Fumesucker]

8. They hate us for our freedom to kill them and cut off their fingers for trophies..

/wingnut

[Panaconda]

15. From 2004

Published on Monday, April 5, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
Fingers in a Bag
by Bill C. Davis

...

I asked about his military service, which he credited with giving him the financial resources to attend graduate school. We talked about the execution of Timothy McVeigh, which had just taken place, and how he, McVeigh had also been a soldier and we wondered if there was a small percentage of a certain kind of person who is drawn to the military.

With that prodding he remembered one sergeant who was responsible for his basic training. He told me that this sergeant was in the First Gulf War � known during the summer of 2001 as simply the Gulf War � and that he, the sergeant, had kept as a memento of sorts, fingers that he had cut off of dead Iraqi soldiers. A bag of fingers from soldiers either killed by him or someone else that he personally cut off and kept in a bag.

All the advanced technology of even the first Gulf War does not guarantee that the primitive brain is given a holiday. The distance that is a byproduct of modern war is perhaps not satisfying to some. Knowing intellectually the enemy has been pulverized and burned is not enough � some need to feel it, smell it, touch it � show it.

We wondered what psychological need carrying those totems satisfied. What did the act of cutting the fingers off of dead Iraqi soldiers do for the sergeant? Were they trophies? What did the bag of fingers mean to him and to the young soldiers he showed them to?

This story and those questions came rushing back to me as film footage from Falluja flooded our collective consciousness and challenged our understanding of humanity. What did beating the dead American bodies do for the citizens of Falluja? Did they sleep better that night? Did they feel safer? Satisfied? Powerful? Avenged?

...

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/09/09

[gratuitous]

9. But any further casualties anywhere will be due to the Florida Nutjob

So, we're okay with the finger trophies and the grenade tosses. Besides, killing a man just to watch him die has a long and honored history in song ("Folsom Prison Blues") and story. Well, song at least. So now we can make the burning of a Koran the repository of all that's wrong with America, and our faultless, star-spangled fightin' men and women in Afghanistan and Iraq can go back to torturing and butchery with a clean slate.

God bless America!

[Radical Activist]

13. Serial killers always have ritualistic traditions in the movies.

Why not in real life?

Although, I don't believe there's much point in getting too angry at these individuals. This is the nature of any war. If you want to blame someone then blame those who chose to invade and occupy another nation.

[whatchamacallit]

14. Yay us!

:puke: