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== Soldiers took photos of murdered civilians ==
== Soldiers took photos of murdered civilians ==
[[Der Spiegel]] published three photos of US soldiers posing with the dead bodies of defenseless victims they killed. One of the photos shows Spc. Jeremy Morlock next to one of them. He appears to be smiling and raising the head of a corpse by the hair.<ref>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014555608_photos21m.html?syndication=rss</ref> Senior officials at Nato's International Security Assistance Force in Kabul have compared the pictures published to the images of US soldiers abusing prisoners in [[Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse|Abu Ghraib]] in Iraq.<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/21/us-army-kill-team-afghanistan-posed-pictures-murdered-civilians</ref>
''[[Der Spiegel]]'' published three photos of U.S. soldiers posing with the dead bodies of defenseless victims they killed. One of the photos shows Spc. Jeremy Morlock next to one of them. He appears to be smiling and raising the head of a corpse by the hair.<ref>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014555608_photos21m.html?syndication=rss</ref> Senior officials at Nato's International Security Assistance Force in Kabul have compared the pictures published to the images of U.S. soldiers abusing prisoners in [[Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse|Abu Ghraib]] in Iraq.<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/21/us-army-kill-team-afghanistan-posed-pictures-murdered-civilians</ref>


==Attempts to alert officials==
==Attempts to alert officials==

Revision as of 06:16, 21 March 2011

FOB Ramrod kill team refers to events involving the killing of civilians allegedly perpetrated by members of the 3rd Platoon, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division while deployed in Afghanistan in 2010 at Forward Operating Base Ramrod. During the summer of 2010, the US Military indicted five members of the platoon of the formation of a "kill team" which staged three separate murders of Afghan civilians in Kandahar province. In addition, seven soldiers were also indicted with crimes including hashish use, impeding an investigation and attacking a whistle blowing private who alerted MP's during an initially unrelated investigation into hashish use by members of the 3rd Platoon. The alleged ringleader was Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] [11][12][13]

Killings

  • On January 15, 2010, Gul Mudin was killed “by means of throwing a fragmentary grenade at him and shooting him with a rifle,” an action carried out by Spc. Jeremy Morlock and Pfc. Andrew Holmes under the direction of Gibbs. Morlock allegedly told Holmes, 19 and on his first tour of duty, that the killing was carried out for fun.
  • On February 22, Gibbs and Spc. Michael S. Wagnon allegedly shot the second victim, Marach Agha, and placed a Kalashnikov next to the body to justify the killing. Spc. Jeremy Morlock is also charged in this killing.
  • On May 2, Mullah Adadhdad was killed after being shot and attacked with a grenade that Ssg. Gibbs, allegedly threw. Spc. Jeremy Morlock was charged in the killings. As well as, Spc. Adam C. Winfield

Soldiers took photos of murdered civilians

Der Spiegel published three photos of U.S. soldiers posing with the dead bodies of defenseless victims they killed. One of the photos shows Spc. Jeremy Morlock next to one of them. He appears to be smiling and raising the head of a corpse by the hair.[14] Senior officials at Nato's International Security Assistance Force in Kabul have compared the pictures published to the images of U.S. soldiers abusing prisoners in Abu Ghraib in Iraq.[15]

Attempts to alert officials

Spc. Adam C. Winfield

Christopher Winfield, the father of platoon member Spc. Adam C. Winfield, attempted to alert the Army of the kill team's existence after his son explained the situation from Afghanistan via a Facebook chat after the first killing.[10] In response to the news from his son, Winfield called the Army inspector general's 24-hour hotline, the office of Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), and a sergeant at Joint Base Lewis-McChord who told him to call the Army's criminal investigations division. He then contacted the Fort Lewis command center and spoke to a sergeant on duty who agreed that Spc. Winfield was in potential danger but he had to report the crime to his superiors before the Army could take action.[16]

Officials became alerted after an unnamed soldier reported hashish use by Morlock and Gibbs, and after reporting the incident to a sergeant, was accused of "snitching" and physically assaulted. The assailants warned the private to stay silent, but the private contacted investigators, and informed them about hash and alcohol use by members of his company, further raising his suspicions that some of his fellow soldiers had slain civilians while on patrol.[17]

Victims

Mullah Allah Dad[18]

Marach Agha

Gul Muldin

Five of the Army soldiers face murder charges while seven others are charged with participating in a coverup.[19]

Staff Sergeant Robert Stevens

Robert Stevens an Army medic from Portland, Oregon was sentenced to nine months in prison as part of a plea deal to testify against 11 other Lewis-McChord based Stryker soldiers.[20] He pleaded guilty to four charges including shooting "in the direction of" two Afghan farmers for no reason and that he knew were not enemy fighters.[21][22]

Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs

Calvin Gibbs has been described as the ringleader of the FOB Ramrod kill team.

Pfc. Andrew Holmes

Andrew Holmes attorneys argued they were constrained in defending him by the Army’s decision to conceal photos of the man he allegedly shot in January.[23] The National Institute of Military Justice argued that the gruesome corpse photos should be made public.[24]

Spc. Corey Moore

Spc. Corey Moore of Redondo Beach, Calif., plead guilty that he kicked a witness and stabbed one of the corpse. He was sentenced to 60 days hard labor and a bad conduct discharge.[25]

Spc. Jeremy N. Morlock

Jeremy Morlock of Wasilla, Alaska will face a court-martial on murder charges. General Court-Martial Convening Authority made the decision to proceed with a trial against Morlock on three charges of premeditated murder, and one charge each of assault, conspiracy to commit premeditated murder, trying to impede an investigation, violating a general order and using a controlled substance. The Army is not seeking the death penalty in Morlock's case and he would face a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.[26] Morlock's civilian lawyer, Michael Waddington, has said the three slain Afghans—two killed by grenades and rifle fire, one by gunfire only—were victims of a "rogue platoon running around killing people," and that his client, while present, "did not cause the deaths of any of these individuals."[27]

Morlock submitted a plea deal to the army, offering to testify against as many as 10 other soldiers in return for a maximum sentence of 24 years in prison.[28][29]

Spc. Emmitt Quintal

Quintal was given a bad-conduct discharge and sentence to 90 days hard labor in a plea deal for frequently using drugs during his combat deployment, joining an assault on a comrade and keeping digital photos of Afghan casualties. He is also required to testify against others in the case.[30]

Spc. Michael Wagnon

Spc. Adam Winfield

See also

Sources

  1. ^ "Army charges 3 more in Afghan civilian killings". CNN. 2010-06-16. Retrieved 2010-09-15. Pfc. Andrew Holmes, 19, from Boise, Idaho, and Spc. Adam Winfield, 21, from Cape Coral, Florida, each face one count of murder under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Holmes is accused of killing Afghan civilian Gul Mudin in January with a grenade and rifle. Winfield is accused of killing civilian Mullah Adahdad in May in a similar manner.
  2. ^ "US troops charged in Afghan deaths". Hurriyet Daily News. 2010-06-17. Retrieved 2010-09-15. The charging sheets, with the names of the accusers and officers involved blanked out, say Morlock and Gibbs shot Agha and used fragmentary grenades and their rifles to kill Mudin and Adahdad. Holmes is accused of throwing a grenade at and shooting Mudin, Winfield of doing the same to Adahdad, and Wagnon of shooting Agha.
  3. ^ Barbara Starr (2010-09-10). "Army: 12 soldiers killed Afghans, mutilated corpses". CNN. Retrieved 2010-09-15. 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.
  4. ^ Martha Kang (2010-09-09). "Army: Lewis-McChord soldiers kept killed civilians' body parts". Komo News. Retrieved 2010-09-15. Gibbs is also accused of instructing a soldier to "lie to CID investigators when questioned about (his) platoon's involvement in drug use and the unlawful killings of Afghan non-combatants," the document said. Investigators said Gibbs also threatened the soldier by saying, "I'm going to send you home by dropping a tow bar on you." Holmes and Winfield have been charged with wrongful use of hashish.
  5. ^ "Additional charges filed in Afghan civilians' deaths". Seattle Times. 2010-08-24. Retrieved 2010-09-15.
  6. ^ Mike Archibold (2010-08-26). "12 soldiers face 74 charges". The Olympian. Retrieved 2010-09-15.
  7. ^ "US soldiers 'plotted to slay Afghans'". The Australian. 2010-08-27. Retrieved 2010-09-15. Sergeant Gibbs formed a "kill team" to randomly execute Afghan civilians while on patrol, the documents said. Sergeant Gibbs has denied any involvement in the killings. The three who were killed were shot. Two were also hit with grenades in one of the most serious war-crimes cases to emerge from the Afghan war.
  8. ^ Hal Bernton (2010-08-24). "Stryker soldiers allegedly plotted to kill Afghan civilians". Seattle Times. Retrieved 2010-09-15. Last December, Army Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs began joking with other soldiers about how easy it would be to "toss a grenade" at Afghan civilians and kill them, according to statements made by fellow platoon members to military investigators.
  9. ^ "U.S. soldiers accused of murders". National Post. 2010-09-10. Retrieved 2010-09-16. CNN reported he is alleged to have told Specialist Adam Winfield, 'I'm going to send you home by dropping a tow bar on you,' if he revealed information to investigators.
  10. ^ a b "Twelve U.S. soldiers face trial after Afghan civilians 'were killed for sport and their fingers collected as trophies'". Daily Mail. 2010-09-10. Retrieved 2010-09-16. 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.
  11. ^ Lynn Herrmann (2010-09-10). "US Army 'kill team' allegedly murdered Afghan innocents for sport". Digital Journal. Retrieved 2010-09-17. The charges appear to be some of the most serious war crimes to have emerged in the Afghan occupation, an occupation that President Obama recently referred to as a "tough slog."
  12. ^ Hal Bernton (2010-09-08). "Stryker soldiers allegedly took corpses' fingers". Seattle Times. Retrieved 2010-09-17. As part of one of the widest-ranging U.S. war-crime cases to emerge from the conflict in Afghanistan, charging documents released Wednesday allege soldiers took finger bones and other body parts cut from Afghan corpses.
  13. ^ Marc Hujer (2010-09-13). "Did US Soldiers Target Afghan Civilians? War Crime Allegations Threaten to Harm America's Image". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 2010-09-17. If the claims made in the indictment are true, the crimes committed by the kill team went beyond the killing of Afghan civilians. In fact, the men allegedly devised "scenarios" for the killings, a kind of script that included plausible pretexts for the murders. Gibbs is believed to have been the planner, while the younger team members did the shooting. The men apparently treated killing as a sport.
  14. ^ http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014555608_photos21m.html?syndication=rss
  15. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/21/us-army-kill-team-afghanistan-posed-pictures-murdered-civilians
  16. ^ Whitlock, Craig (September 18, 2010). "Members of U.S. platoon in Afghanistan accused of killing civilians for sport". Washington Post.
  17. ^ Anderson, Jon (2010-09-13). "Allegations swirl around Lewis-McChord platoon". Arny Times. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
  18. ^ http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2025091,00.html
  19. ^ http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/11/15/afghanistan.coverup.case/
  20. ^ http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2013568480_stevens02m.html
  21. ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1334927/U-S-soldier-jailed-shooting-unarmed-Afghan-farmers.html
  22. ^ http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/2/headlines/us_soldier_sentenced_for_shooting_afghans
  23. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/14/AR2010121404247.html
  24. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/21/AR2010122104078.html
  25. ^ http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014381082_courtmartial03m.html
  26. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/afghanistan/2010-10-15-soldier-afghanistan-killings_N.htm
  27. ^ http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-52236020101016
  28. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/26/AR2011012607737.html
  29. ^ http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014048976_warcrime27.html
  30. ^ http://www.theolympian.com/2011/01/06/1496347/after-plea-soldier-out-of-army.html
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