Reply #99: Conspiracy to murder Afghans, mutilate corpses and cover up the evidence.

[seafan]

"It is just a matter of time."




19 June 2010:

A total of five US soldiers are now charged with murder in the killing of three civilians in Afghanistan earlier this year, according to a statement issued by the Army Wednesday. Three soldiers were charged Tuesday, joining two charged earlier this month. All could face the death penalty if convicted.

Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, 25, of Billings, Montana, and Spec. Jeremy Morlock, 22, of Wasilla, Alaska, were charged with three counts each of murder and one count each of assault. Pfc. Andrew Holmes, 19, of Boise, Idaho; Spec. Michael Wagnon, 29, of Las Vegas; and Spec. Adam Winfield, 21, of Cape Coral, Florida, were charged Tuesday with one count of premeditated murder.

The three killings took place in separate incidents near Forward Operating Base Ramrod in Kandahar province, a position manned by soldiers of B company, 2nd battalion, 1st infantry regiment, 5th Stryker brigade combat team, 2nd infantry division.

Pfc. Holmes is accused of killing Gul Mudin in January. Spec. Wagnon is accused of shooting Marach Agha to death on February 22, as well as asking another soldier to erase the evidence of the death from a computer hard drive. Spec. Winfield is accused of killing Mullah Adahdad May 2. The killings all involved the use of grenades and rifle fire

Spec. Morlock and Staff Sgt. Gibbs were charged in all three of the killings, and in an assault on a fourth victim May 5. According to the French news service Agence France-Presse, the assault victim was a fellow soldier who was trying to expose drug abuse in the unit and was severely beaten in retaliation. While recovering from his injuries in the hospital, the soldier revealed the involvement of the five men in the three murders. The charge sheet indicates that the assault involved punching and kicking, as well as spitting in the face.

The five soldiers are now being held in pre-trial confinement at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma, Washington, the home base for the Stryker Brigade, which remains in Afghanistan. The brigade has seen heavy combat against Taliban fighters since it deployed in July 2009, suffering 33 combat deaths, with three more soldiers dying from non-combat-related causes.

Two of the five soldiers were on their third combat deployment—Gibbs, who was in Iraq from January 2004 to January 2005 and in Afghanistan from January 2006 to May 2007, and Wagnon, who was in Iraq twice, from February 2004 to February 2005 and from August 2006 to November 2007.

The other three soldiers were on their first overseas combat deployment. Morlock had a criminal record before and during his military service, including a domestic-violence protective order obtained by his wife two years ago, and a conviction for disorderly conduct last year.

.....

June, 2010: Charge Sheet


September 9, 2010: Soldier's father: Army was warned of murder plot

SEATTLE The father of a U.S. soldier serving in Afghanistan says he tried nearly a half dozen times to pass an urgent message from his son to the Army: Troops in his unit had murdered an Afghan civilian, planned more killings and threatened him to keep quiet about it.

By the time officials arrested suspects months later, two more Afghans were dead.

And much to Christopher Winfield's horror, his son Adam was among the five Fort Lewis-based soldiers charged in the killings.

The elder Winfield told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview that his son did not kill the unarmed man and would never have been in the situation if the Army had investigated the warnings he says he passed along to Fort Lewis.

.....

Winfield is charged with murder in the final killing, and his attorney, Eric Montalvo, insists he was ordered to shoot after Gibbs hit the civilian with a grenade. Winfield deliberately shot high and missed, he said.

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This article goes on to describe the chilling communications between Spec. Adam Winfield, 21, of Cape Coral, FL and his parents, in which the soldier expresses a need for assistance as he feared for his safety.

The first indication for Christopher Winfield and his wife, Emma, that something was amiss came Jan. 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. The couple gave the AP copies of the Facebook messages, Internet chats and their phone records.

Winfield, 22, of Cape Coral, Fla., didn't immediately provide more details, and over the next month he had little contact with his parents. They said they checked constantly to see if he was online.

On Feb. 14, he told his parents what happened in a lengthy Internet chat: Members of his unit on patrol had killed "some innocent guy about my age just farming." He said he did not witness the killing.

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.

"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 added that he didn't know whom 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 wrote 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. Morlock added that Gibbs devised "scenarios" for Winfield's death, one of which involved Gibbs dropping heavy weights on him as he was working out.

Gibbs accosted Winfield as he was on his way to speak with a chaplain and warned him to keep quiet, Montalvo said.

.....

Apparently, other soldiers were threatened to keep quiet about what they knew:

One soldier, Pfc. Justin A. 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."

More about the expressed desperation in the communications between soldier Adam Winfield and his parents about what he'd witnessed:

Winfield asked his parents to call an Army hotline because he didn't want anyone to overhear him using the phone.

His father, a Marine veteran, was shocked, and made five calls to military officials that day, his phone records show.

He said he left a message on a Defense Department hotline and called four numbers at Fort Lewis. He said he spoke with an on-duty sergeant and left a message at an Army Criminal Investigations Division office before reaching the base's command center.

In that call, an official told him that if his son wasn't willing to come forward while deployed, there was nothing the base could do, Winfield recalled in interviews with the AP and in a sworn statement to Army investigators.

The official suggested the soldier keep his head down until his deployment ended and investigators could look into his claims, he said.

The elder Winfield told AP he regrets not writing down the identities of those he spoke with. He said he did not give any of them Gibbs' name, but did identify his son. He said one of his son's sergeants had been involved in a civilian's murder and was planning more.

His son soon expressed concern about what would happen if Army officials stateside began making inquiries, and asked his dad to back off. The elder Winfield said he complied.

A week later (about February 22), the second killing occurred. On May 2, the third killing took place.

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 fall.

According to the Charge Sheet above, in addition to the first article in this post, on or about May 5, Morlock and Gibbs are accused of severely beating and spitting in the face of another individual who is possibly fellow soldier Adam Winfield. This occurred three days after the third Afghan murder on May 2.



September 9, 2010:

Twelve American soldiers face trial over an 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 other soldiers are accused of covering up the killings as well as a violent assault on a new recruit who exposed the murders when he reported other abuses, including members of the unit smoking hashish stolen from civilians.

September 9, 2010: Army: 12 soldiers killed Afghans, mutiliated corpses

WASHINGTON - Twelve U.S. soldiers face a variety of charges in what military authorities believe was a conspiracy to murder Afghan civilians and cover it up, along with charges they used hashish, mutilated corpses and kept grisly souvenirs.

.....

Authorities allege Gibbs kept finger bones, leg bones and a tooth from Afghan corpses. Another soldier, Spc. Michael Gagnon II, allegedly kept a skull from a corpse, according to charging documents. Several soldiers are charged with taking pictures of the corpses, and one - Spc. Corey Moore - with stabbing a corpse.

Staff Sgt. Robert Stevens is charged with lying to investigators about the deaths, saying the civilians posed a threat.

Other soldiers are charged with assaulting Afghan civilians by shooting at them, and several soldiers face charges of failing to properly account for and dispose of weapons.

Eight of the soldiers also are charged with using hashish and beating a junior soldier in an attempt to stop him from reporting them for misconduct, including hashish use.

Gibbs is also charged with telling another soldier to lie about the incidents including the platoon's involvement in illegal drug use. He is alleged to have told Spc. Adam Winfield, "I'm going to send you home by dropping a tow bar on you," if Winfield revealed information to investigators.

.....

Stevens and Pfc. Ashton Moore are charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon, and Sgt. Darren Jones is charged with conspiracy to commit assault and battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon.

Cpl. Emmitt R. Quintal, Staff Sgt. David Bram, Spc. Adam Kelly and Spc. Corey Moore are charged with conspiracy to commit assault and battery.

Stevens is charged with wrongfully and wantonly engaging in conduct likely to cause death or bodily harm to other soldiers, and Jones, Quintal, Bram, Kelley and Corey Moore are charged with unlawfully striking another soldier.

(all bold type added)


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After the jirga was over, one of the tribal elders came over and we chatted for a while over a glass of green tea. "Last month," he said, "some American officers called us to a hotel in Jalalabad for a meeting. One of them asked me, 'Why do you hate us?' I replied, 'Because you blow down our doors, enter our houses, pull our women by the hair and kick our children. We cannot accept this. We will fight back, and we will break your teeth, and when your teeth are broken you will leave, just as the British left before you. It is just a matter of time.'"

What did he say to that? “He turned to his friend and said, 'If the old men are like this, what will the younger ones be like?' In truth, all the Americans here know that their game is over. It is just their politicians who deny this."

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