Murders In Afghanistan

Five U.S. soldiers have been charged with killing Afghan civilians for sport. Shame, dishonor, and depravity rear their ugly heads:

In videotaped and written statements to Army investigators, Spec. Jeremy N. Morlock, 22, a member of the 5th Stryker Combat Brigade, admitted his involvement in the killings, which took place in Kandahar province between January and May. Morlock sought to shift blame for the plot to his squad’s staff sergeant, Calvin R. Gibbs, who he said planted the idea with their unit of killing innocent Afghans for sport. . . .

Morlock, Gibbs and three other U.S. soldiers have been charged with murder in the deaths of the three Afghan civilians. In some of the grisliest allegations against American military personnel since the 2001 invasion of Iraq, they and other soldiers from their platoon also face charges of using hashish, dismembering and photographing corpses, and possessing human bones.

via Army soldier says staff sergeant plotted Afghans’ killings.

No, this is not just war. No, it is not representative of our military or justified by the vocation of the soldier. No, it can’t be justified by the fear of civilians wearing suicide vests. According to everything I’ve read about it, this was active murder for its own sake.