US Military’s Blood Sport in Afghanistan
Posted on 28. Sep, 2010 by Anna Zimmerman in Politics, World
The Tapes showing a group of U.S. servicemen using Afghan civilians as props for their “sports” had people shout out cold-blooded murder. A source close to the investigation described the scenes as gruesome
Corporal Jeremy Morlock sat obliging during interrogation for his alleged involvement in the killing of three Afghan civilian men. Morlock together with other US soldiers are all charged with murder. A probe into the case has found that these US servicemen had engaged in killing of Afghan civilians for fun.
The investigator had ask Morlock if the civilian he took away from home and killed was indeed armed or pose as a threat to which the young soldier answere “No”. The young serviceman described how he, under the command of his sergeant, Calvin R. Gibbs, brazenly took the life of an innocent Afghan man.
“So we met this guy by his compound, so Gibbs walked him out, set him in place, was like standing here, kinda next to a wall … so we had a clean line of sight for this guy and, you know, he pulled out one of his grenades, an American grenade, popped it, throws the grenade and [says]: ‘Alright, wax this guy. Kill this guy, kill this guy, ” Morlock told the investigator.
The series of “unofficial activities” committed by these US servicemen has the charging papers from the US military investigation team paint a picture of hash-smoking, stoned-dead rogue mercenaries carrying out murders of Afghan civilians for fun and sport.
Michael Waddington, Morlocks defense lawyer, admitted his client killed for sport but believed he only did so because he was suffering from brain-damaged from prior IED attacks. He also said Morlock was using prescription drugs and smoking hashish and was in fear of his commanding officer, Gibbs.
Calvin R. Gibbs, the teamleader, is also accused killing Afghan civilians and was found to have kept leg bones and fingers as souvenirs. Waddington said Gibb was the “ringleader” behind all the activities. Gibbs’ attorney, however, was not available for any comment.
Corporal Emmitt Quintal confirmed to CNN that they were all afraid of Gibbs and that the whole deployment was using drugs on “bad days, stressful days, days when we needed to escape.” Quintal who is charged with drug abuse relayed how they, under Gibb’s order, beat up a man from the barracks.
Adam Kelly, another soldier under Gibbs, testified also against their staff sergeant. He said Gibbs is equipped with stash of guns and other items that could easily be planted on murder victims. ”If Gibbs knew I was sitting here in front of this camera right now, there is no doubt in my mind that he would [expletive], that he would take me out,” he said.
Pretrial hearings for the charged soldiers are schedule over the next several weeks.
The Pentagon was not available for comment but has sent CNN a statement saying:
“Disclosure of the video recordings to the public at this juncture is troubling because it could adversely affect the fair and just administration of the military justice process,”