Showing posts with label AFGHAN CIVILIAN KILLINGS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AFGHAN CIVILIAN KILLINGS. Show all posts
Monday, March 21, 2011
Thursday, December 2, 2010
US soldier admits to sport killing
A US military court has spared an American soldier from an early discharge from the US Army after he admitted to shooting unarmed Afghan civilians for fun.
PressTV
Staff Sergeant Robert Stevens, 25, an Army medic from the State of Oregon, was only sentenced to nine months in prison on Wednesday for killing Afghan civilians, after pleading guilty.
He confessed to opening fire on two Afghan farmers in March 2010 for no apparent reason. He and other US troops were acting on orders from a squad leader during a patrol in March, Reuters reported.
The case began as an investigation into hashish use among US soldiers who were part of an infantry unit then known as the 5th Stryker Brigade. But the investigation has grown into the most serious prosecution of alleged atrocities by US military personnel in nearly nine years of conflict in war-torn Afghanistan.
Four more US soldiers are implicated in the case. The soldiers have been charged with other crimes, including mutilating bodies and keeping body parts as trophies.
Stevens has agreed to testify against the other members of the group.
Staff Sergeant Robert Stevens, 25, an Army medic from the State of Oregon, was only sentenced to nine months in prison on Wednesday for killing Afghan civilians, after pleading guilty.
He confessed to opening fire on two Afghan farmers in March 2010 for no apparent reason. He and other US troops were acting on orders from a squad leader during a patrol in March, Reuters reported.
The case began as an investigation into hashish use among US soldiers who were part of an infantry unit then known as the 5th Stryker Brigade. But the investigation has grown into the most serious prosecution of alleged atrocities by US military personnel in nearly nine years of conflict in war-torn Afghanistan.
Four more US soldiers are implicated in the case. The soldiers have been charged with other crimes, including mutilating bodies and keeping body parts as trophies.
Stevens has agreed to testify against the other members of the group.
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Sunday, November 7, 2010
Chomsky: US-led Afghan war, criminal
Renowned Jewish-American scholar Noam Chomsky says US invasion of Afghanistan was illegal since to date there is no evidence that al-Qaeda has carried out the 9/11 attacks.
"The explicit and declared motive of the [Afghanistan] war was to compel the Taliban to turn over to the United States, the people who they accused of having been involved in World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorist acts. The Taliban…they requested evidence…and the Bush administration refused to provide any," the 81-year-old senior academic made the remarks on Press TV's program a Simple Question.
"We later discovered one of the reasons why they did not bring evidence: they did not have any."
The political analyst also said that nonexistence of such evidence was confirmed by FBI eight months later.
"The head of FBI, after the most intense international investigation in history, informed the press that the FBI believed that the plot may have been hatched in Afghanistan, but was probably implemented in the United Arab Emirates and Germany."
Chomsky added that three weeks into the war, "a British officer announced that the US and Britain would continue bombing, until the people of Afghanistan overthrew the Taliban... That was later turned into the official justification for the war."
"All of this was totally illegal. It was more, criminal," Chomsky said.
The 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan was launched with the official objective of curbing militancy and bringing peace and stability to the country.
Nine years on, however, the American and Afghan officials admit that the country remains unstable and civilians continue to pay the heaviest price.
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Contrived Propaganda Tapes Reveal War On Terror Fraud
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Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Afghan civilian war injuries double in Kandahar conflict
Wounded patients flooding into hospitals, says Red Cross, while fighting is stopping the sick getting basic medical care
Peter Beaument
Guardian
The number of Afghan civilians hospitalised for serious war wounds has doubled in 12 months in Kandahar, the focus of an ongoing US-led campaign against Taliban strongholds.
In August and September, Mirwais regional hospital in the country's second biggest city admitted almost 1,000 new patients with weapons injuries, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The total for the same period of 2009 was 500.
The Red Cross reported a "drastic increase" in the number of amputations from war injuries, reflecting the nature of the violence.
Afghan and Nato forces launched Operation Dragon Strike to retake strongholds in the insurgency's heartland around Kandahar from the Taliban. But the area had already been the focus of escalating military operations for weeks. There are now about 30,000 international troops in the southern Taliban heartlands of Helmand and Kandahar provinces.
Describing the influx of new patients as "hitting record highs", Reto Stocker, the Red Cross chief in Kabul, said the casualties being seen at Mirwais hospital were only "the tip of the iceberg".
The Red Cross has been distributing emergency first aid kits at the front lines.
The latest figures from Kandahar have dramatically underlined a warning from the UN this year that civilian deaths caused by the conflict were up by a third from the previous year.
That report noted a sharp increase in suicide attacks, roadside bombings and political assassinations. Other injuries were from air strikes including drones and other military actions by the coalition forces. The UN report noted three suicide bombings a week and a 45% increase in assassinations of officials.
Read Full Article
RELATED ARTICLES:
Is Iran Playing Geopolitical Chess with 9-11, and Winning?
Afghan Mineral Deposits Was 'Economic Prize' All Along - Brzezinski
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| Nosrait Shoaib/AFP/Getty Images |
Guardian
The number of Afghan civilians hospitalised for serious war wounds has doubled in 12 months in Kandahar, the focus of an ongoing US-led campaign against Taliban strongholds.
In August and September, Mirwais regional hospital in the country's second biggest city admitted almost 1,000 new patients with weapons injuries, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The total for the same period of 2009 was 500.
The Red Cross reported a "drastic increase" in the number of amputations from war injuries, reflecting the nature of the violence.
Afghan and Nato forces launched Operation Dragon Strike to retake strongholds in the insurgency's heartland around Kandahar from the Taliban. But the area had already been the focus of escalating military operations for weeks. There are now about 30,000 international troops in the southern Taliban heartlands of Helmand and Kandahar provinces.
Describing the influx of new patients as "hitting record highs", Reto Stocker, the Red Cross chief in Kabul, said the casualties being seen at Mirwais hospital were only "the tip of the iceberg".
The Red Cross has been distributing emergency first aid kits at the front lines.
The latest figures from Kandahar have dramatically underlined a warning from the UN this year that civilian deaths caused by the conflict were up by a third from the previous year.
That report noted a sharp increase in suicide attacks, roadside bombings and political assassinations. Other injuries were from air strikes including drones and other military actions by the coalition forces. The UN report noted three suicide bombings a week and a 45% increase in assassinations of officials.
Read Full Article
RELATED ARTICLES:
Is Iran Playing Geopolitical Chess with 9-11, and Winning?
Afghan Mineral Deposits Was 'Economic Prize' All Along - Brzezinski
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Saturday, September 11, 2010
Wikileaks to Release Massive Document Collection on Iraq War
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| Illustration: Raymond Salvatore Harmon | |
Wikileaks.org the website behind the recent release of more than 92,000 documents covering US military operations and communications in Afghanistan are currently in the works of releasing a massive collection on similar documents regarding operations in Iraq 3 times the size of that released before.
Wikileaks the global whistleblower website which came into the spotlight after releasing a video of a US military massacre in Iraq caught on a pilot’s video feed titled ‘Collateral Damage‘ (Extreme caution advised NSFW) has revealed that it is currently working with a not-for-profit organization to release programs and stories based on what is described as massive cache of classified U.S. military field reports related to the Iraq War.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has teamed up with media organizations—including major television networks and one or more American media outlets—in an unspecified number of countries to produce a set of documentaries and stories based on the cache of Iraq War documents in the possession of WikiLeaks stated it’s Editor Iain Overton reported Newsweek earlier today.
Overton acknowledged that the volume of Iraq War reports that WikiLeaks has made available for the project is massive, and almost certainly more than the 92,000 Afghan field reports the organization made available for advance review to The New York Times, Britain’s Guardian, and Germany’s Der Spiegel.
After contacting regional news networks like Al Jazeera it is not yet clear whether or not they will be amongst those participating in the media coverage of the documents that are speculated to contain information that could put many lives at risk.
Individuals and organizations most expected to be at risk will be Iraqis whom cooperated with the US Army throughout and after the invasion of the country that left more than 1.5 million killed and over 7 million internally and externally displaced.
–
Ahmad Al-Shagra is the Editor of The Next Web Middle East. He’s a Developer, Trainer and Business Technology Analyst. Follow him on Twitter or reach him atahmad@me.thenextweb.com.
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Friday, September 10, 2010
Twelve U.S. soldiers face trial after Afghan civilians 'were killed for sport and their fingers collected as trophies'
The Daily Mail A dozen US soldiers are facing trail accused of being part of a 'kill team' that allegedly killed Afghan civilians in an arbitrary fashion - and they even collected their victims' fingers as trophies of war.
Five soldiers have been charged with the killing three Afghan men 'for sport'. And seven more are accused of covering up the murders.
In one of the most serious accusations of war crimes to come out of the Afghan war, the deaths are alleged to have been carried out by members of a Stryker infantry brigade based in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan.
But the father of one of the five accused of murder said today he tried to warn the Army that troops in his son's unit had killed civilians.
By the time suspects were arrested in May, two more Afghans were dead.
Christopher Winfield said his son Adam, 22, was so disgusted after the first killing that he sent Facebook messages home asking for help.
In one of the most serious accusations of war crimes to come out of the Afghan war, the deaths are alleged to have been carried out by members of a Stryker infantry brigade based in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan.
But the father of one of the five accused of murder said today he tried to warn the Army that troops in his son's unit had killed civilians.
By the time suspects were arrested in May, two more Afghans were dead.
Christopher Winfield said his son Adam, 22, was so disgusted after the first killing that he sent Facebook messages home asking for help.
Winfield called the Army and a military hot line asking officials to investigate - to no avail.
His son's lawyer said he was ordered to shoot at the third victim but deliberately shot high.
An Army spokeswoman declined to comment about whether the base received any tips about the case.
The new details about Winfield's efforts to alert the Army and his son's pleas raised questions about the Army's handling of the case and its system for allowing soldiers to report misconduct by their colleagues.
The soldiers have been accused of conspiracy and premeditated murder. The highest ranking of them is Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, who, with Cpl. Jeremy Morlock, are accused of taking part in all three killings. Pte Andrew Holmes is charged with murder in the first killing, and Specialist Michael Wagnon is charged in another. Both deny the charges. Winfield is charged with murder in the final killing, and his lawyer insists he was ordered to shoot after Gibbs hit the civilian with a grenade. Winfield deliberately shot high and missed, he said.
Gibbs has denied the charges. His lawyer said his client maintains that the shootings were 'appropriate engagements' and denies involvement in any conspiracy to kill civilians.
The soldiers, all assigned to the 5th Stryker Brigade, deployed in July 2009 and were stationed at a base in Kandahar Province. Gibbs, 25, arrived in the unit late last year and soon began discussing how easy it would be to kill civilians, some in the platoon told Army investigators.
The first indication for Christopher Winfield and his wife, Emma, that something was amiss came on January 15, the day of the first killing.
'I'm not sure what to do about something that happened out here, but I need to be secretive about this,' their son wrote them in a Facebook message. But, he wrote, those involved told him about it and urged him to 'get one of my own.'
He said that virtually everyone in the platoon was aware of what was going on, but no one seemed to object. He added: 'If you talk to anyone on my behalf, I have proof that they are planning another one in the form of an AK-47 they want to drop on a guy.'
He continued that he didn't know who to trust and feared for his safety if his comrades learned he was talking to authorities. 'Should I do the right thing and put myself in danger for it. Or just shut up and deal with it,' he asked his parents.
'There are no more good men left here. It eats away at my conscience everyday.'
In statements to investigators, at least three platoon members said Gibbs directly threatened Winfield. One soldier, Private first class Justin Stoner, who reported hashish smoking in the unit, said he was beaten by several platoon members.
Gibbs and Morlock then paid him a visit, with Gibbs rolling out on the floor a set of severed fingers, he told investigators. Morlock told him that 'if I don't want to end up like that guy ... shut the hell up.'
The killings eventually came to light when the soldier who had reported the drug use told investigators that Morlock 'had three prior kills that none of which I believe were actually justified.'
Preliminary hearings in the case are expected to begin this autumn.
His son's lawyer said he was ordered to shoot at the third victim but deliberately shot high.
An Army spokeswoman declined to comment about whether the base received any tips about the case.
The new details about Winfield's efforts to alert the Army and his son's pleas raised questions about the Army's handling of the case and its system for allowing soldiers to report misconduct by their colleagues.
The soldiers have been accused of conspiracy and premeditated murder. The highest ranking of them is Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, who, with Cpl. Jeremy Morlock, are accused of taking part in all three killings. Pte Andrew Holmes is charged with murder in the first killing, and Specialist Michael Wagnon is charged in another. Both deny the charges. Winfield is charged with murder in the final killing, and his lawyer insists he was ordered to shoot after Gibbs hit the civilian with a grenade. Winfield deliberately shot high and missed, he said.
Gibbs has denied the charges. His lawyer said his client maintains that the shootings were 'appropriate engagements' and denies involvement in any conspiracy to kill civilians.
The soldiers, all assigned to the 5th Stryker Brigade, deployed in July 2009 and were stationed at a base in Kandahar Province. Gibbs, 25, arrived in the unit late last year and soon began discussing how easy it would be to kill civilians, some in the platoon told Army investigators.
The first indication for Christopher Winfield and his wife, Emma, that something was amiss came on January 15, the day of the first killing.
'I'm not sure what to do about something that happened out here, but I need to be secretive about this,' their son wrote them in a Facebook message. But, he wrote, those involved told him about it and urged him to 'get one of my own.'
He said that virtually everyone in the platoon was aware of what was going on, but no one seemed to object. He added: 'If you talk to anyone on my behalf, I have proof that they are planning another one in the form of an AK-47 they want to drop on a guy.'
He continued that he didn't know who to trust and feared for his safety if his comrades learned he was talking to authorities. 'Should I do the right thing and put myself in danger for it. Or just shut up and deal with it,' he asked his parents.
'There are no more good men left here. It eats away at my conscience everyday.'
In statements to investigators, at least three platoon members said Gibbs directly threatened Winfield. One soldier, Private first class Justin Stoner, who reported hashish smoking in the unit, said he was beaten by several platoon members.
Gibbs and Morlock then paid him a visit, with Gibbs rolling out on the floor a set of severed fingers, he told investigators. Morlock told him that 'if I don't want to end up like that guy ... shut the hell up.'
The killings eventually came to light when the soldier who had reported the drug use told investigators that Morlock 'had three prior kills that none of which I believe were actually justified.'
Preliminary hearings in the case are expected to begin this autumn.
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