I am an Infantry Staff Sergeant by trade, I spent my life in uniform serving this nation during two wars, the Vietnam War era, and the First Gulf War, I also served on the Korean DMZ, while it was considered a hazardous duty assignment. I am not as experienced in combat as the soldiers that have spent the past decade in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But I know the difference between a command influenced act, like what happened at Abu Graib where Major General Miller brought dog teams from Gitmo to Abu Graib and had his men show the guards there use these animals to intimidate inmates being interrogated. How LTG Sanchez knew about it, and Brigadier General Karpinski was the low officer on the totem pole that was help accountable for this was crime. How only enlisted personnel were court martialed and sent to prison for violating the UCMJ.
What happened in Afghanistan by the enlisted soldiers of the 2nd Battalion 1st Infantry Regiment 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division was nothing similar as to what occurred at Abu Graib, from the evidence that has been seen, the highest rank involved is a Lieutenant from the platoon, a Staff Sergeant named Gibbs and a handful of Spec 4s, in all 5 men are charged with murder and other assorted related charges. In the platoon they are assigned to there are 18 men in all charged with drug use, in an Article 32 hearing, 14 of the men invoked their right to the 5th Amendment as to not incriminate themselves, including the Lieutenant.
This is not good, if they are afraid of incriminating themselves, that tells me they have committed crimes, if nothing more than illegal drug use it is alleged that they were using hash laced with opium every 3-4 days to help them cope. Other than the 5 men involved in the actual murders there is no indication the other men even knew about the murders, yes they knew about the deaths because of the weapon fire and grenades, but they were told they were "bad guys".
If the story about SSG Gibbs making the soldiers "made men" like his own little mafia squad, the only one accountable at the top of the military chain of command is SSG Gibbs, not the battalion Commander, not the Company Commander nor the 1SG. It surely would then not go above them.
These are criminals nothing more and nothing less, these are men who decided to commit a crime using the war to cover them up, it is alleged they took body parts, took photographs with the dead men and kept these trophies.
These crimes are in violation of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice and they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent the law allows, this will not be swept under the rug. What also makes this ugly is the fact that SP4 Winfield contacted his father a retired Army soldier, who knew what to do he called Fort Lewis and reported the murder in February, they told him the unit was overseas and not at Fort Lewis so he would have to contact the unit in Afghanistan, which is something civilians in the US can not do, so he called the Pentagon, these calls are documented on their phone bill as well as the facebook message their son sent in February, seeking help in reporting SSG Gibbs, yet the Army did nothing.
Sp4 Winfield should be made a government witness to ensure these men can be convicted if others i the unit knew about the murders and their testimony can be obtained by dropping their drug charges then it should be done, the murder charges are more important than a drug conviction, wether the men should then be retained in the Army after the court martials is doubtful they should be given a less than honorable discharge and put out of the military with a bar from ever re-enlisting.
Why does this case bother me so bad? I feel this personally, 30 years ago I was assigned to this same Battalion/Regiment when it was the 2/1 Infantry of the 9th Infantry Division at Fort Lewis. I made SGT and SSG while assigned to this unit. A unit I was extremely proud of and my assignment there, these men have tarnished this unit and the only way to even begin to redeem the honor is for these men to be held accountable.
As an NCO, It was part of my job to ensure my soldiers knew the rules of engagement, the Geneva Convention, and the UCMJ, it was not to turn them into "made men" they were not petty thugs to be trained to my standards for mayhem, they were Army soldiers to be trained if we were deployed in a tactical mission. SSG Gibbs failed these men, he is a stain to NCO's everywhere, he should be reduced to PV1 and if not sentenced to death, then life in Leavenworth is the only other acceptable sentence.
He does not deserve a reduced sentence on appeal, this was not a fog of war incident as the Haditha mess has been described, it appears from these stories and interviews they searched out men just walking in the area or village and decided to blow them away regardless of who they were. They did not attempt to plant weapons to claim they were Taliban, nothing just blow them away and take some photos and cut off some fingers.
Where is the honor in that? There is none, they are nothing but criminals.
I wrote this because I am tired of seeing people compare this to other crimes or torture that was sponsored by the White House, or the approved abuse at Abu Graib, etc, this was just 5 soldiers who did the wrong thing period, nothing more and nothing less.
They did it in a unit I am proud of and that honor will not be restored until these men are convicted of their crimes, there is a entire Battalion of good soldiers who went to Afghanistan and did their duty for a year, and now the 18 men of this Company have shamed them and stained their service, the only way to clean it up, is to do the right thing and hold them accountable under the UCMJ. I hope the Military Judge at the General Court Martial the highest level of court in the military throws the book at them as hard as he can.
Court Hears of U.S. Unit Killing Afghan Civilians at Random
The testimony, in a hearing to determine whether one of those soldiers, Specialist Jeremy N. Morlock, would face a court-martial and a possible death sentence, came the same day that a videotape in the case was leaked showing Specialist Morlock talking to investigators about the killings in gruesome detail with no apparent emotion.
Top Army officials worry that the case against Specialist Morlock and four other soldiers accused in the killings of three Afghan civilians will undermine efforts to build relationships with Afghans in the war against the Taliban.
The soldiers are accused of possessing dismembered body parts, including fingers and a skull, and collecting photographs of dead Afghans. Some images show soldiers posing with the dead. As many as 70 images are believed to be in evidence.
Some of the soldiers have said in court documents that they were forced to participate in the killings by a supervisor, Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, who is also accused in the killings. All five defendants have said they are not guilty.