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Gruesome Find Told at US Hearing into Afghan Killings
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Washington - An investigator told how he found dismembered fingers near the quarters of an alleged rogue US army unit accused of killing Afghans for sport and taking trophies from the bodies.
Gruesome details of a killing spree in Afghanistan by US soldiers are being revealed in a court in the US. (AFP/File/Yuri Cortez) The gruesome testimony came as a third US soldier faced a pre-trial hearing over the alleged killings -- after which the rogue soldiers allegedly posed for photos with their victims -- in southern Afghanistan earlier this year.
If proved in a full court martial, the crimes would be among the worst committed by US forces in Afghanistan, and could deal a blow to efforts to win over the support of ordinary Afghans in the war-torn country.
Private Andrew Holmes, one of five soldiers accused of going rogue, listened quietly as Special Agent Benjamin Stevenson described finding severed fingers near where members of the unit lived.
Army prosecutors allege Holmes participated in the execution of an Afghan the southern Kandahar province in January, kept a finger bone from an Afghan corpse and smoked hashish with some of the other killers.
On Monday, Stevenson, testifying by speakerphone, said he had a map provided by the army's star witness, Corporal Jeremy Morlock, showing where investigators could find the digits allegedly taken from Afghan civilians.
Using Morlock's map, Stevenson said he and another agent located a large, protective dirt barrier near the soldiers' residences in Forward Operating Base Ramrod.
On top of the barrier, they found a plastic bottle containing two fingers, wrapped in cloth.
"Right where we were told the fingers would be, there they were," Stevenson said. Another bone was found nearby.
Investigators also discovered a bone over a foot (30 cm) long, possibly a leg, in a house believed to be that of another soldier, Adam Kelly, who faces charges over covering up the alleged killings, but is not charged with murder.
Holmes's attorney Dan Conway pointed out that the bones were found near the housing unit of Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs, the alleged ringleader of the rogue unit.
Speaking with reporters during a break, Conway said his client did once have a bone that a superior officer forced him to take and that Holmes got rid of it "as soon as practically possible."
Specialist Ryan Mallet, an eye-witness to the January shooting leading to Holmes murder charge, testified that he was on a hill in a small village when he saw Morlock call a man over from a field.
Mallet looked away, but then heard Morlock yell: "Grenade, hes got a grenade. Holmes, shoot him."
Holmes fired several rounds, according to Mallet, after which the man was still standing. The defense contends that Holmes did not fire the fatal shots and is fighting with the army to release photos Conroy says will show that.
After the rounds were fired, a grenade exploded, Mallett said.
When the dust cleared, the Afghan man was on the ground, unmoving.
Another soldier shot him twice.
Mallet, who described Holmes as a friend, said that the odd thing about the shooting was that despite shouting a grenade warning, Morlock "never raised his rifle that I could see."
Conway told reporters that Holmes did not know that his team leader was staging a killing and that his team leader was using him as an unwitting participant in a cover story.
The soldiers participating in the alleged execution plots, allegedly orchestrated by Gibbs, were all members of the Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Division's Stryker brigade at Ramrod.
Morlock, the army's main witness against the accused killers including Holmes, is also charged with murdering Afghan civilians. He was the first to face a pre-trial hearing in September, and his case will now go to a full court martial.
Monday's proceeding is part of a series of pre-trial hearings to determine if the soldiers accused in the murders and the cover-up of the killings will face full courts-martial.
The Holmes pre-trial hearing is due to wrap up on Tuesday.
17 Comments so far
Show AllBoys will be boys ! You give them guns, and teach them to hate, and that killing is good, and there you have it. There really is nothing unusual about these mens behavior they just got caught.All wars create this enviroment, as long as we have wars, this is what will happen.
"Boys will be boys ! You give them guns, and teach them to hate, and that killing is good, and there you have it."
Killing is not only good, killing is FUN!!
WASHINGTON (AP) — The commandant of the Marine Corps said Thursday he has counseled a senior subordinate for saying publicly, "It's fun to shoot some people."
Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, an infantry officer who has commanded Marines in both Afghanistan and Iraq, made the comments Tuesday while speaking to a forum in San Diego about strategies for the war on terror. Mattis is the commanding general of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Quantico, Va.
Full USA Today story at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-02-03-marine-comments_x.htm
I wonder how many of these "boys" that were not caught or exposed for having fun killing civilians in Afghan or Iraq, now roaming on our streets today. It's a frighten to think these innocent looking killers living among us and will one turn out to be a serial killer. I really don't like to criticize our soldiers who genuinely volunteer and many gave their lives for this Country so we can remain free for the rich and powerful to abuse and rob us in broad daylight.
They continue to refer to the soldiers and their behavior as "rogue". I witnessed this type of activity often in Viet Nam. It was not only overlooked, but encouraged. I doubt if things have changed much in the military. It's the country that has gone rogue.
Support the troops, salute the flag, hail to the chief, see you in hell. We are all guilty.
I agree with you.
The whole country has gone "rougue."
Yes, we are all guilty!
Nobody ever mentions the "free fire zones" in Vietnam,, where the door gunners could just lean out and shoot at anything that moved or stood. I cannot understand why more Vietnam vets are not loudly protesting this generations entry into unnecessary conflict. These internet pages are the few sources for real opinions and news,, thank goodness for them.
America The Beautiful in action!
However, this should not be seen as an isolated "war crime". It is simply one very sadistic event among thousands and thousands of illegal killings.
Every Afghan death resulting from the invasion and occupations is a war crime as part of a very large war crime.
Nice how they shoehorned in the hashish smoking, gotta have that fall-back war waged forever too...
http://projects.publicintegrity.org/WarCard/ ... http://WarCriminalsWatch.org ... http://DefundWar.org ... http://WikiLeaks.org … http://UnitedForPeace.org ... http://JustForeignPolicy.org ... http://www.prosecutegeorgebush.com ... 50 Top U.S. War Criminals: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/citizenarrest
Not to mention that the American and NATO invasion and occupation of Afghanistan is the ultimate war crime, a war of aggression. Nevertheless these mindless idiot horrors are just a small glimpse of the depravity which is most often condoned or hidden. But, for AFP editors to allow these lines to appear in this article is pathetic and shows deliberate blindness of the media to sanctioned criminality.
“If proved in a full court martial, the crimes would be among the worst committed by US forces in Afghanistan, and could deal a blow to efforts to win over the support of ordinary Afghans in the war-torn country.”
What a ridiculous statement.
http://www.crimesofwar.org/onnews/news-afghanistan.html
These crime comes nowhere near the war crimes committed with the complicity of the US military and Special Forces in Afghanistan that have been ignored by consecutive US administrations.
Just remember the Afghan massacre of Dasht-e Leili in November 2001, near the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, after a battle between the Northern Alliance forces of Rashid Dostum and the Taliban thousands of the latter surrendered, to Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, an Afghan warlord and a key U.S. ally in ousting the Taliban regime, "under assurances that they would not be harmed.
Up to 3,000 murdered Taliban prisoners lie in an unmarked mass grave in a lonely stretch of Afghan desert, according to Afghan Massacre: The Convoy of Death, a documentary from veteran BBC journalist and filmmaker, Jamie Doran.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6528593886494656568#
And how about :
US Marines fire 'indiscriminately' at Afghan civilians in Shinwar massacre
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/protests-after-us-troops-kill-16-afghans-438935.html
and let us not forget that US military exposed - systematic torture and murder of Afghan prisoners inside Bagram.
http://www.theinsider.org/news/article.asp?id=1205
And last but not least lets remember what Obama had to say!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSv2Wn5WP_8
Well said, well researched, a most intelligent post. Your message contains more truth than a month of network news.
May the internet be full of messages as wise as yours. Thanks.
When I was teaching middle school early one morning during homeroom period, when everyone was milling around getting ready for the day, a student casually dropped a handful of glossy black and white photos of human heads wearing Nazi Helmets on my desk. They were lying around on the ground as if scattered there at random.
I tried to hide my shock and asked him if I might not keep the photos until the end of the day. I wanted nobody else to see them. I still less wanted students, teachers, maybe even the local paper calling the pictures superpatriotic and an opposing group outraged by their being at school.
I got my car back today. While it was being fixed I was alone in my house for three days. I enjoyed those three days. Who the fuck knows what people are prepared to do? When I go to the library, or the grocery store, or pick up my grandkids, I look at the people I see. How many of my peaceable neighbors would give my name to the NSA?
Which of those seemingly ordinary people would, if a leader told them to, cut my throat for the supposed safety of their country? I have to pick up my granddaughter at preschool tomorrow. We always go to the library. I wouldn't miss it for the world.
I don't know what I would do if somebody tried to harm her........
"Human, all too human"----Nietzsche.
don't fear your neighbors, Nietzsche. no one ever knows for sure what events are in store for this day. smile and walk forth with confidence. do that for your granddaughter. anxiety, fear, paranoia, xenophobia allows us to accept the police state which never, ever results in a secure and comfortable state of mind.
Oh, look...
More evidence of the US Military committing War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity.
Non Serviam - I will not serve.
War is a package deal, atrocity is part of the package.
On Killing by LtCol Dave Grossman, 2009, Excerpts
Atrocity has always been part of war, and in order to understand war we must understand atrocity. Atrocity – this close-range murder of the innocent and helpless – is the most repulsive aspect of war, and that which resides within man and permits him to perform these acts is the most repulsive aspect of mankind. The killing is always traumatic. But when you have to kill women and children, or when you have to kill men in their houses, in front of their wives and children, and when you have to do it not from twenty thousand feet up, the horror transcends description or understanding.
The shock and horror of seeing unprovoked violent death meted out creates a deep atavistic fear in human beings. Through atrocity the oppressed population can be numbed into a learned helplessness state of submission and compliance. The effect on the atrocity-committing soldiers appears to be very similar. Human life is profoundly cheapened by these acts, and the soldier realizes that one of the lives that has been cheapened is his own.
http://theformofmoney.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2010/2/28/4466517.html
If any of these guys are guilty of murder, so is Bush, and Cheney, and Rumsfeld, etc...
I want them all on trial. I also want Santa Clause to leave a new Mercedes convertible under my christmas tree.
Let's change the years and the players and retry a couple of the phrases here:
Recent atrocities "could deal a blow to efforts to win over the support of ordinary Jews in war-torn Europe."
"Klaus Barbie, one of the officers accused of 'going rogue' . . ."
There are differences, to be sure. But one of them is that the Americans do all this while under no real threat.