U.S. Special Forces Soldiers Dug Bullets Out of Their Victims’ Bodies After a Botched Night Raid, Washed the Wounds with Alcohol, Then Lied to Superiors About What Happened
April 5th, 2010Via: Times Online:
US special forces soldiers dug bullets out of their victims’ bodies in the bloody aftermath of a botched night raid, then washed the wounds with alcohol before lying to their superiors about what happened, Afghan investigators have told The Times.
Two pregnant women, a teenage girl, a police officer and his brother were shot on February 12 when US and Afghan special forces stormed their home in Khataba village, outside Gardez in eastern Afghanistan. The precise composition of the force has never been made public.
The claims were made as Nato admitted responsibility for all the deaths for the first time last night. It had initially claimed that the women had been dead for several hours when the assault force discovered their bodies.
“Despite earlier reports we have determined that the women were accidentally killed as a result of the joint force firing at the men,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Todd Breasseale, a Nato spokesman. The coalition continued to deny that there had been a cover-up and said that its legal investigation, which is ongoing, had found no evidence of inappropriate conduct.
the women were accidentally killed as a result of the joint force firing at the men
that’s right. the US special (sic) forces just accidentally happended to be in Afghanistan, and accidentally broke into people’s homes in the middle of the night, and were accidentally shooting at people in the dark. yes, it’s all just an unfortunate accident!
(gosh, i wonder if this qualifies for the “coincidence” category?)
found no evidence of inappropriate conduct.
NO! do NOT look! you might FIND something!
In both Iraq and Afghanistan, we have killed so many innocent civilians through “collateral damage” and “accidental” incidents that it would be nearly impossible to find anyone whose family or friends have not been impacted. And do we still believe that a $2,500 payment to the family will wipe the slate clean? What if this was done to Americans here at home? Would $2,500 and an apology make it all accepable? So much for winning the hearts and minds of the people. Building a few schools and handling out candybars isn’t going to cut it. The hate we have created will seethe for many generations. And as time goes on, we will reap what we have sown.
What does this conduct by elite troops in the field imply about the overall conduct of our military units serving in Afghanistan ?
Is lying the new black ?
On a more sinister level, this conduct is not cogent with adequate command and control in theater. I can only imagine conditions of outright degeneracy that must go on at the squad level.
” We must fight them over there, before we have to fight them over here ” Yup ! aha ! Just one problem: the folks doing the fighting using these methods will soon be coming home, here. Will we end up with that pithy statement above being a dystopian prophecy ? Personally, I think we will … I also think that we deserve it completely.
cybele
From the NY Times piece on the same story:
“NATO military officials had suggested that the women were actually stabbed to death — or had died by some other means — hours before the raid, an explanation that implied that family members or others at the home might have killed them.”
(source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/world/asia/06afghan.html?hp)
Holy shit. Not only did we kill them, but we attempted to lay the blame on their own families. And I guess the really sleazy part (hard to pick a winner in that category!) is the fact that the “good guys” over at NATO thought that that explanation would fly — no doubt because we’ve been so brainwashed into thinking that the Afghans are nothing but psychotic savages bent on killing anyone and everyone they can get their hands on; so really, it’s perfectly okay that we’re still over their, after all, if we don’t civilize them, who will?
MAN are we the evil empire.
The scary part is a lot of these troops coming home are going to end up doing civilian police work here in the U.S. Prepare for a new wave of “justified shootings by police.”
@tochigi
Well Said Sir!
@Larry Glick
Prepare for a new wave of “justified shootings
byof police.”FTFY