Sgt Calvin Gibbs is accused, along with four other soldiers, of opening fire on Afghan civilians in unprovoked assaults between January and May in Kandahar province. Seven others are accused of dismembering bodies and removing bones.By: Shelldrake
The career of the alleged ringleader of a self-described "kill team" is now being scrutinised after he allegedly boasted to fellow soldiers of his exploits in Iraq, where he served two terms.
During interrogation, Sgt Gibbs revealed a tattoo on his left calf of a crossed pair of pistols framed by six skulls, which he told investigators was his way of keeping count of his victims, according to a report in the Washington Post, which cited army documents seen by the newspaper.
Sgt Gibbs allegedly told investigators that three of the skulls, coloured red, represented kills in Iraq, while the other three in blue were from Afghanistan.
Special agents from the US army's criminal investigations command are now re-examining an incident in 2004, when Sgt Gibbs and other soldiers allegedly fired on an Iraqi family in a car, killing two adults and a child.
The US army is understood to be searching for dozens of digital photos allegedly taken by soldiers showing their colleagues posing with Afghan civilian corpses. If released in public, they could create a worldwide furore similar to that sparked by the images of American guards mistreating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, and would undermine the US effort to win over the Afghan public.
The war crimes investigation is the most serious the US army has faced in Afghanistan during its nine-year presence.
01 October 2010
Self-described "Kill Team" Ringleader Linked to Iraqi Deaths
New details have emerged regarding Sgt Gibbs' "exploits" in Iraq that may lead to new murder charges against the US soldier who is currently accused of the sport murder of several Afghani civilians.
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Boy, we're getting pretty good at self-inflicted wounds, eh?
- Abu Ghraib
- Throwing puppies off cliffs
- Shooting Korans
- Flushing Korans
- Black site detainee centers
- Pat Tillman coverup
- Drone strikes killing random families
- Nisoor Square
- Haditha
and now this...
It doesn't matter that over half of them are bullshit. What matters is that the get reported at all, and then story takes on its own legs far before the damage control can go into effect.
It won't matter how much we prosecute these guys. The fact that we're talking about the investigation *before* they're being sentenced makes us look like we're only reacting to the news, instead of getting in front of it. Whether we are or not, it's all about how it looks, and the stories being told on barstools and from pulpits, rather than the truth being printed in a Pentagon report.
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