Army Braces For Worst As Trophy Photos of Murdered Afghan Civilians Leak

Who killed the Afghan civilians? Not the Taliban -- US forces. Twelve men are on trial in Seattle for going rogue psycho and "staging" fake enemy attacks in order to justify attacking civilians.

That is older news -- they're already being prosecuted -- but now Der Spiegel has published the photos.

Some of the activities of the self-styled "kill team" are already public, with 12 men currently on trial in Seattle for their role in the killing of three civilians.

Five of the soldiers are on trial for pre-meditated murder, after they staged killings to make it look like they were defending themselves from Taliban attacks.

Other charges include the mutilation of corpses, the possession of images of human casualties and drug abuse.

All of the soldiers have denied the charges. They face the death penalty or life in prison if convicted.

The case has already created shock around the world, particularly with the revelations that the men cut "trophies" from the bodies of the people they killed.

An investigation by Der Spiegel has unearthed approximately 4,000 photos and videos taken by the men.

The magazine, which is planning to publish only three images, said that in addition to the crimes the men were on trial for there are "also entire collections of pictures of other victims that some of the defendants were keeping".

The US military has strived to keep the pictures out of the public domain fearing it could inflame feelings at a time when anti-Americanism in Afghanistan is already running high.

The frustrating thing is that the Taliban-lovin' Pashtun, confronted with shoe-on-the-other-foot demonstrations of psychopathic murder, will never put 2 and 2 together and realize "Wait a minute! This is what we're doing! This is wrong!"

Obama Ghraib? Drudge's new headline makes a point I didn't consider -- this is Obama's Abu Ghraib.

I hate politicizing stuff like this, but I'll do it defensively: The claim was made that Abu Ghraib was chargeable to Rumsfield, Cheney, and Bush, that it went "straight to the top," that it was their cowboy mismanagement that encouraged it or caused it.

Well. What about this "kill team" then? We seem to have a very, very, very distracted president. Maybe if he spent more time watching Afghanistan than practicing his drive he could have averted this.

It took me a fair amount of searching to discover when these crimes took place -- under Bush or under Obama? Since most media reports don't provide this basic information, I began to suspect that it occurred under Obama.

Suspicion confirmed.

When and where did these crimes take place? They are alleged to have happened earlier this year [the article was written in September of 2010], while the 5th Stryker Brigade was stationed at Forward Operating Base Ramrod, west of Kandahar. The region is one of the most dangerous in Afghanistan.

How did they come to light?
The investigation was launched after a soldier from the 5th Stryker Brigade informed his superiors that some of the accused were smoking marijuana. The informant was allegedly attacked and threatened with death as a result. Staff Sgt Gibbs reportedly showed the fingers collected from Afghan corpses to the whistle-blower to stop him talking.

My point is not that this is Obama's fault but rather that it as much Obama's fault as Abu Ghraib was Bush's -- that is, not really either man's fault.

But if the leftist media is going to claim outrages are always chargeable to top leadership, then they have to explain why that rule applies to Bush but not to Obama.

Although, in fairness -- Obama's lazy and spends most of his time watching basketball games and playing golf. So he probably really didn't have anything to do with it, as it has barely anything to do with any major event that occurs in the country or the world.

posted by Ace at 11:29 AM

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