Soldier found guilty of murdering Afghans

[__lunabelle]

A military court-martial Thursday found Army Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs guilty of murdering three Afghan civilians, illegally cutting off pieces of their corpses to keep as "souvenirs" and planting weapons to make the men appear as if they were Taliban fighters killed in legitimate firefights

Comments

[screamingintune]

oh my. :/ He sounds like a Charles Manson type, the charismatic serial killer with followers.

[intrikate88]

Exactly. I was kind of surprised to not see the words 'serial killer' mentioned in this article. Even if you do it in Afghanistan, it's still the same thing.

[screamingintune]

yeah and the fact that he's taking trophies? Sounds like a serial killer who found a good outlet for what he's doing, I don't think you can blame this on being typical military behavior at all.

[intrikate88]

Exactly. Military culture has its issues, but this sounds much more like a case of someone who found an opportunity to kill without a strong possibility of dire consequences.

[tmlforsyth]

Maybe there is still an unspoken culture in the Infantry, but I remember lots of classes on battlefield conduct and ethics about appropriate use of force and any form of souvenir collection was also condemned.

Such soldiers are a disgrace to the uniform and they should have added treason and fratricide as charges, since any atrocity committed in uniform is an act of betrayal and dishonor to that soldier's nation, and it endangers other soldiers' lives.

Today, my trophy will be some free meals at restaurants for Veteran's Day :)

[intrikate88]

I agree completely. And I am glad that there are many classes on ethics.

Happy Veteran's Day, sir. :)

[redstar826]

I hope your meals taste delicious :)

(ps, thanks for the reminder that I need to call my father and wish him a happy Veteran's Day)

[echoandsway]

Agreed.