The Kill Team Photos - NSFW - Re: US soldiers/Afganistan - RSmag

[grandpaflo]

The Kill Team Photos - NSFW - Re: US soldiers/Afganistan More war crime images the Pentagon doesn't want you to see

WARNING: NSFW http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/photos/the-kill-team-photos-20110327

"During the first five months of last year, a platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan went on a shooting spree, killing at least four unarmed civilians and mutilating several of the corpses. The “kill team” – members of the 5th Stryker Brigade stationed near Kandahar – took scores of photos chronicling their kills and their time in Afghanistan. Even before the war crimes became public, the Pentagon went to extraordinary measures to suppress the photos, launching a massive effort to find every file and pull the pictures out of circulation before they could touch off a scandal on the scale of Abu Ghraib.

The images – more than 150 of which have been obtained by Rolling Stone – portray a front-line culture among U.S. troops in which killing innocent civilians is seen as a cause for celebration. “Most people within the unit disliked the Afghan people,” one of the soldiers told Army investigators. “Everyone would say they’re savages.” Many of the photos depict explicit images of violent deaths that have yet to be identified by the Pentagon. Among the soldiers, the collection was treated like a war memento. It was passed from man to man on thumb drives and hard drives, the gruesome images of corpses and war atrocities filed alongside clips of TV shows, UFC fights and films such as Iron Man 2. One soldier kept a complete set, which he made available to anyone who asked."

Get the full story: The Kill Team
http://www.rollingstone.com/kill-team

 

[HAL9000]

I'm sure a lot of that is true and it's truly disturbing, it's the reason I don't automatically respect military personnel the way other people do.

 

[HAL9000]

Also. Why "Monarchy" as a tag?

 

[Macamus Prime]

There is also the story of Michael Needham. http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2009/20090212-1.htm

It is claimed that he was driven mad, due to the same type of shit he saw done by the Lethal Warriors in Al Dora, Iraq.

It is claimed he was also set up to die on a few occasions. And, held back by his superiors in receiving medical treatment.

He eventually killed his girlfriend and then himself.

 

[randomrogue]

Have these guys been convicted of killing civilians or did they just take tasteless photos after a gunfight?

 

[Genx87]

Have these guys been convicted of killing civilians or did they just take tasteless photos after a gunfight?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Morlock

 

[Lemon law]

Sad truly sad. And somewhat inevitable, there are always some military units that go rogue
in all armies of the world made up of humans.

I was quite impressed by the Rolling Stone reporter who was ever so careful to not make any statements that could not be absolutely proved by the existing evidence.

But I did see human nature in action, as our military acted to try to cover the story up, even after the cat was out of the bag.

Now there is nothing left but the crying, and watch the international reputation of the US military get dragged into the mud. And even sadder, at least in the USA, will be watching the vast bulk of our military who would never get engaged with behavior like that get blamed for the actions of a tiny minority.

 

[NeoV]

The cover-up just makes us look worse - with this many people having copies of these pictures, did they really think they could contain this?

That said - the people involved in these crimes should be punished to the furthest extent of the law, and not some BS military trial.

 

[amdhunter]

But, but...it's all in the name of freedom so it's OK. Without these troops America would be blowned up by now and the Mooslims would make the White house brown.

 

[momeNt]

But, but...it's all in the name of freedom so it's OK. Without these troops America would be blowned up by now and the Mooslims would make the White house brown.

Nobody said that things wouldn't get ugly when doing god's work.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

But, but...it's all in the name of freedom so it's OK. Without these troops America would be blowned up by now and the Mooslims would make the White house brown.

This was Afghanistan which protected and encouraged those who attacked us in fact. Now Iraq is another issue and should never have happened, but if you think people would be content to sit around and let Al Qaeda plot and execute other acts of terrorism then you haven't a very good grasp of human nature. The problem wasn't that we took action but we misunderstood the cultural, social and political dynamics going in, labering under the false assumption that Afghanistan was a primitive implementation of Western national structure. There is in fact no cohesive nation within the borders of Afghanistan. We still force our conceptual framework onto the Afghans even in these forums, placing a strong emphasis on the artificial central government forced upon them. The joke among many natives is how Karzai is the President of Kabul. The idea of a central republic ruling the country is a farce unneeded and unwanted to them.

Consequently we find ourselves in a land fighting factions without a whole lot of support from a people who consider our actions as a curiosity at best and downright unwanted interference by many. Faced with another Southeast Asia scenario, some soldiers will come to see the people as part of the problem and act as they have.

The problem is not mooslems in the White House, but idiots and foolish people who have not the wit nor sense to put out the effort needed to understand just how things are. This applies not just to the soldiers there, but to the general public in the US as you have effectively demonstrated.

 

[airdata]

In March 2011, U.S. Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock pled guilty to three counts of premeditated murder. He told the court that he had helped to kill unarmed native Afghans in faked combat situations.

It's a weird situation.

Sending people overseas to fight a nation-less enemy... exposing them to the horrors of war...No offense to the military folks. but for the most part they aren't thinkers. If they were thinkers, they wouldn't have joined the military.

These are people that jump when told to jump. I'm sure after you kill so many people it becomes a sort of game. Alot of this generation are already decensitized by the internet, ultra violent movies and games ( no I'm not condemning them : D ). The type of person you can send to kill random people probably has little morals.. How many soldiers over there associate arab/muslim with terrorist?


And this is just US soldiers. There's also thousands of "contractors" over there who get to do the dirty work we'd rather soldiers not be caught doing. There's reports of these guys raping, killing, whatever else you can think of.

 

[Genx87]

It's a weird situation.

Sending people overseas to fight a nation-less enemy... exposing them to the horrors of war...No offense to the military folks. but for the most part they aren't thinkers. If they were thinkers, they wouldn't have joined the military.

These are people that jump when told to jump. I'm sure after you kill so many people it becomes a sort of game. Alot of this generation are already decensitized by the internet, ultra violent movies and games ( no I'm not condemning them : D ). The type of person you can send to kill random people probably has little morals.. How many soldiers over there associate arab/muslim with terrorist?


And this is just US soldiers. There's also thousands of "contractors" over there who get to do the dirty work we'd rather soldiers not be caught doing. There's reports of these guys raping, killing, whatever else you can think of.

Why do you believe joining the military doesnt make somebody a thinker?

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Why do you believe joining the military doesnt make somebody a thinker?

A disproportionate number of blacks and minorities are in the military. Since that's the case and those who don't think join, he's claiming that blacks and Hispanics are stupid. In other words he's a white supremacist. Shocking I tell you!

 

[Lemon law]

Its easy for us to say, safe and sound without a fear of instant death. But it gets a little easier to understand when people get placed in combat, and can't even see the enemy that is killing them. For US combat troops its often roadside bombs, with the enemy long gone when they unavoidably trigger the Bomb. And then when they lash out and kill the very people they are supposed to protect, we can't understand their total fear. We label it POST TRAUMATIC STRESS when they come home and engage in all kinds of socially damaging behaviors, but we never call it for what it is when its happening. We never label it as EXTREME CURRENT TRAUMATIC STRESS AND RATIONAL FEAR, that sometime results in Psychotic behavior. Human beings can only stand so much. And because the mid and top level of our army are personally safe in saying, CAN DO, we can occupy Afghanistan with only a fraction of the troops needed. Then proceed to spread our army troops way too thin to ensure the safety of our own troops.

Those CAN DO folks ain't the ones who are being killed or having their arms and legs blown off.

For the Afghan people its even worse, drone attacks, they have to worry about being killed by drug runners, have their property be stolen by their very government, and since Afghan courts only function by bribes, their lives totally suck and function by a total fear of the unknown.

 

[SilthDraeth]

What Lemon said. You know why Vietnamese where called goons? To distance them from normal humans.

*editing to state, I am not in anyway justifying what they did, and they need to be held accountable, but just stating this is the price America will keep paying as long as we keep engaging in wars against other nations*

It is a sad state of affairs, and people snap. The war just winds people tighter and tighter until they break, or become numb, or they die. Some people can unwind and be ok, other people not so much.

This is a culture that will throw women and children at US troops with bombs strapped to them. Something the USA military would never do. Not saying some sick freaks in the USA wouldn't think up such a thing, but on a whole, no we don't send in suicide bombers.

Vietnam did the same thing. And to cope, the troops stopped thinking of them as human, it made it easier to shoot women and children that had bombs on them, made it easier to cope if they were blowing up zipperheads and gooks, and not little children.

Saddest story I ever heard was from a Vietnam vet, and I am sure there are sadder...

He was driving a mail truck, and as coming up on a fairly decent bridge, few hundred feet, and right as he was approaching with the mail truck, a woman with a baby in a basket started driving across the other side. So he stopped. But then something clicked and he knew what was going on, because similar things had happened before, so he punched the gas... and right as he took off, mortars started falling where his truck had been...

He said he had to stop a few miles further down the road to wipe the woman and baby off the windshield.

War is terrible, but it is even worse when you fight a nation that will throw their women and children at you with bombs strapped to their chests.

 

[Genx87]

A disproportionate number of blacks and minorities are in the military. Since that's the case and those who don't think join, he's claiming that blacks and Hispanics are stupid. In other words he's a white supremacist. Shocking I tell you!

 

[airdata]

Why do you believe joining the military doesnt make somebody a thinker?

Because most that do are the type of people who don't over analyze a situation or look past the BS. Same with police. They do as told, and often times don't stop to question right or wrong.

Taliban is not synonymous with al qeada.. but guess what? I bet there's plenty a serviceman that thinks they're one in the same.

 

[irishScott]

Because most that do are the type of people who don't over analyze a situation or look past the BS. Same with police. They do as told, and often times don't stop to question right or wrong.

Taliban is not synonymous with al qeada.. but guess what? I bet there's plenty a serviceman that thinks they're one in the same.

Well when they're both trying to kill you in the same place, I can see how the lines could blur a little.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

The pictures really don't back up most of the allegations they are making. Maybe this stuff did happen, but the pictures aren't really evidence of such. For example, they show a picture of the soldiers posing with smiling children with a caption that says they shot and ran over them.

 

[Lemon law]

Funny thing, as I viewed the Rolling Stone photo's of the kill team in action, I didn't see a single Black or Hispanic US soldier engaging in inappropriate behavior. Only good ole grade A white US soldiers were featured. But point granted, when we get to see the whole 4000 strong set of photo's, then we may see some Blacks and Hispanics too.

 

[Genx87]

Because most that do are the type of people who don't over analyze a situation or look past the BS. Same with police. They do as told, and often times don't stop to question right or wrong.

Taliban is not synonymous with al qeada.. but guess what? I bet there's plenty a serviceman that thinks they're one in the same.

You realize how a military works right? Commanders send orders down the order of command and subordinates are expected to follow said orders? But that doesnt really have anything to do with "thinking". You can be a thinker and still follow orders.

You are really generalizing anyways when saying they dont think about orders being right or wrong. Somebody must had thought what happened in this story was wrong because they informed people higher up it happened. These guys went rogue. It doesnt mean the entire military acts like this. And certainly doesnt prove only non-thinkers join the military.

 

[Broheim]

Because most that do are the type of people who don't over analyze a situation or look past the BS. Same with police. They do as told, and often times don't stop to question right or wrong.

Taliban is not synonymous with al qeada.. but guess what? I bet there's plenty a serviceman that thinks they're one in the same.

"over analyzing a situation or looking past the BS" gets you killed, it's as simple as that.

there's a reason why the military operates as it does but unless you've actually been a part of it I very much doubt you'll understand.

edit: any half decent soldier will know right from wrong and the rules of engagement in every situation, we're hardwired during training to do so.

 

[Genx87]

Funny thing, as I viewed the Rolling Stone photo's of the kill team in action, I didn't see a single Black or Hispanic US soldier engaging in inappropriate behavior. Only good ole grade A white US soldiers were featured. But point granted, when we get to see the whole 4000 strong set of photo's, then we may see some Blacks and Hispanics too.

That is because it is genetically ingrained into white people to kill brown people. It is science.

 

[EagleKeeper]

That is because it is genetically ingrained into white people to kill brown people. It is science.

Clarified:
Ingrained to kill people who are different - it makes no difference which color is initiating.