US soldier goes rogue kills 10 in Kandahar

[The Unknown General]

Not really surprised, seeing how American soldiers have been doing this before the war in the middle east.

[Atlassmurf]

Is it just one or more US soldiers? I've seen most newschannels reporting just 1, but Reuters gives eye-witness accounts saying there were more:

"Neighbors and relatives of the dead said they had seen a group of U.S. soldiers arrive at their village in Kandahar's Panjwayi district at about 2 a.m., enter homes and open fire.


A senior U.S. defense official in Washington rejected witness accounts that several apparently drunk soldiers were involved. "Based on the preliminary information we have this account is flatly wrong," the official said. "We believe one U.S. service member acted alone, not a group of U.S. soldiers."
An Afghan man who said his children were killed in the shooting spree accused soldiers of later burning the bodies.

They (Americans) poured chemicals over their dead bodies and burned them," Samad told Reuters at the scene.
Neighbors said they had awoken to crackling gunfire from American soldiers, who they described as laughing and drunk."They were all drunk and shooting all over the place," said neighbor Agha Lala, who visited one of the homes where killings took place.


Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...82A02V20120311

[The Unknown General]

Is it just one or more US soldiers? I've seen most newschannels reporting just 1, but Reuters gives eye-witness accounts saying there were more:

"Neighbors and relatives of the dead said they had seen a group of U.S. soldiers arrive at their village in Kandahar's Panjwayi district at about 2 a.m., enter homes and open fire.


A senior U.S. defense official in Washington rejected witness accounts that several apparently drunk soldiers were involved. "Based on the preliminary information we have this account is flatly wrong," the official said. "We believe one U.S. service member acted alone, not a group of U.S. soldiers."
An Afghan man who said his children were killed in the shooting spree accused soldiers of later burning the bodies.

They (Americans) poured chemicals over their dead bodies and burned them," Samad told Reuters at the scene.
Neighbors said they had awoken to crackling gunfire from American soldiers, who they described as laughing and drunk."They were all drunk and shooting all over the place," said neighbor Agha Lala, who visited one of the homes where killings took place.


Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...82A02V20120311

Whats better for them to admit? A crazed solider goes on a killing spree or a bunch of drunk soldiers go on a killing spree and laugh about it?

[white-wolf]

Winning Heart and Minds ....... over dead bodies.....

Although it is not a crime of USA, I fear that this butcher(s) of Panjwayi will have similar sentence that the butcher of Haditha, Frank Wuterich, gets.



maximum of three months confinement, two-thirds forfeiture of pay and a demotion to the rank of private.

That is the justice USA has been bringing to barbaric countries.

[Heathen Hammer]

Winning Heart and Minds ....... over dead bodies.....

Although it is not a crime of USA, I fear that this butcher(s) of Panjwayi will have similar sentence that the butcher of Haditha, Frank Wuterich, gets.



maximum of three months confinement, two-thirds forfeiture of pay and a demotion to the rank of private.

That is the justice USA has been bringing to barbaric countries.

He just killed non-americans, its not like he committed an actual crime like smoking weed or downloading music.

[The Unknown General]

We should just kill everyone in Africa and the Middle East, problem solved. I mean genocide is the best answer right? Obvious sarcasm aside, America should just leave, seeing how the Middle East was always a war zone.

[(s)AINT]

No point in being there. Bin laden is dead, killed in ANOTHER country. AQ is practically nonexistent. We do a better job of fighting them using intelligence and covert ops than having BCTs in Afghanistan.

Theres no valid reason to remain in that hole.

[YukonTrooper]

Get a load of this:

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/0...82A02J20120311

Wow.

Whats better for them to admit? A crazed solider goes on a killing spree or a bunch of drunk soldiers go on a killing spree and laugh about it?

I hope that's a joke. Option 2 would turn up the volume quite a bit.

[|Sith|Galvanized Iron]

Nothing new, US soldiers do this everyday, only difference is that this guy went murdering a little on his own initiative (or perhaps he didn't? Could be a cover up).

[(s)AINT]

What's the difference between a lone solider and a battalion of soldiers killing civilians?

[The Unknown General]

Wow.


I hope that's a joke. Option 2 would turn up the volume quite a bit.

Thats why there going to try to pin it on the lone crazed solider.

[white-wolf]

What's the difference between a lone solider and a battalion of soldiers killing civilians?

Simple, first one is murder, second one is "colleteral damage".

[Lord Mov]

No point in being there. Bin laden is dead, killed in ANOTHER country. AQ is practically nonexistent. We do a better job of fighting them using intelligence and covert ops than having BCTs in Afghanistan.

Theres no valid reason to remain in that hole.

I guess what's keeping them to an extent is pride. Just imagine what will happen to their reputation if upon exiting Taliban regains control. You can't control Afghanistan. Soviets tried with their massive army, they failed. NATO and US will have to face reality soon. And incidents like these are the biggest present for the Taliban. They just got hundreds of new recruits probably, got more financial support, and a weaker Afghan government.

[mrmouth]

By all means, lets not wait for more facts to come out before starting the knee-jerk idiocy.

Early accounts have the guy suffering a "nervous breakdown." If true, that would means something triggered a psychotic event (persisting abnormal condition of the mind). How that speaks to the character of millions of US military personnel who have served without incident, is beyond me.

The idiocy on display in this thread is staggering.

[s.rwitt]

The idiocy on display in this thread is staggering.

TWC Afghanistan thread. Staggering ignorance is par for the course.

[Sisko]

I guess what's keeping them to an extent is pride. Just imagine what will happen to their reputation if upon exiting Taliban regains control. You can't control Afghanistan. Soviets tried with their massive army, they failed. NATO and US will have to face reality soon. And incidents like these are the biggest present for the Taliban. They just got hundreds of new recruits probably, got more financial support, and a weaker Afghan government.

Have to agree with this. Britain went into Afghanistan to assist the Americans get Bin Laden, and now that has been accomplished, albeit a number of years late. However, over the course of this campaign, the American's have taken it upon themselves to try and bring democracy to Afghanistan, this is something which ultimately I believe will fail and is a waste of time, money and more importantly, lives. And an incident like this will only push people into the arms of the Taliban insurgency.

The British tried to conquer Afghanistan a number of times in the 1800's, and we failed. We lost an entire army of 12,000 men in the first Anglo-Afghan war and moreso in the subsequent Ango-Afghan wars. The Soviets tried to bring them to heel in the 80's and were far more aggressive in their approach than the US/Britain have been today. And now today, Britain and America are floundering around like we are stuck in quicksand, and now we are trying to find a way out in a way that will save face.

America's goal to try and bring democracy to Afghanistan will fail. The American Administration do not understand that Afghanistan is a tribal society, and it has been for thousands of years. Afghanistan has evolved down a different path than countries in the Western world. They do not have the same view of law, governence, education, human rights etc. You cannot bring these things to Afghanistan through force of arms with an occupying army.

Karzai's government is corrupt to the core, and is weak. The only reason his government survives at the moment is because of the presence of ISAF Security Forces. Once we have pulled out, within a year the country will descend into chaos and the government will collapse, mark my words, and it will be like we were never there. And then the questions will be asked, what was it all for??

[Lord Mov]

By all means, lets not wait for more facts to come out before starting the knee-jerk idiocy.

Early accounts have the guy suffering a "nervous breakdown." If true, that would means something triggered a psychotic event (persisting abnormal condition of the mind). How that speaks to the character of millions of US military personnel who have served without incident, is beyond me.

The idiocy on display in this thread is staggering.

Condemning the incident is fully justified. I doubt anybody is saying that the entire US military has the character of murderers, but like it or not, there are bad seeds within the ranks whose mistakes do stain the reputation of the US forces, at least in Afghanistan.

Have to agree with this. Britain went into Afghanistan to assist the Americans get Bin Laden, and now that has been accomplished, albeit a number of years late. However, over the course of this campaign, the American's have taken it upon themselves to try and bring democracy to Afghanistan, this is something which ultimately I believe will fail and is a waste of time, money and more importantly, lives. And an incident like this will only push people into the arms of the Taliban insurgency.

The British tried to conquer Afghanistan a number of times in the 1800's, and we failed. We lost an entire army of 12,000 men in the first Anglo-Afghan war and moreso in the subsequent Ango-Afghan wars. The Soviets tried to bring them to heel in the 80's and were far more aggressive in their approach than the US/Britain have been today. And now today, Britain and America are floundering around like we are stuck in quicksand, and now we are trying to find a way out in a way that will save face.

America's goal to try and bring democracy to Afghanistan will fail. The American Administration do not understand that Afghanistan is a tribal society, and it has been for thousands of years. Afghanistan has evolved down a different path than countries in the Western world. They do not have the same view of law, governence, education, human rights etc. You cannot bring these things to Afghanistan through force of arms with an occupying army.

Karzai's government is corrupt to the core, and is weak. The only reason his government survives at the moment is because of the presence of ISAF Security Forces. Once we have pulled out, within a year the country will descend into chaos and the government will collapse, mark my words, and it will be like we were never there. And then the questions will be asked, what was it all for??

The goal of the Americans in Afghanistan is futile. Karzai is rather unpopular, and his government is indeed weak. Afghanistan is just not one of those places that a foreign power can come in, place a friendly centralised government, and expect a friendly state in return. I think slowly they are realising this and trying to exit Afghanistan in the way that will least damage their reputation. They are not going to get what they wanted from Afghanistan, it will still be unstable and most likely an unfriendly government. Mistakes like these just making much more harder to save face.

[Brick Top]

By all means, lets not wait for more facts to come out before starting the knee-jerk idiocy.

Early accounts have the guy suffering a "nervous breakdown." If true, that would means something triggered a psychotic event (persisting abnormal condition of the mind). How that speaks to the character of millions of US military personnel who have served without incident, is beyond me.

The idiocy on display in this thread is staggering.

I'm absolutely sure we will get nothing less than a complete, blow-by-blow, unadulterated version of events from the military investigators on this one, just so that we can make up our own minds on the matter.

I mean, the military is famous for transparency, openness and nurturing of independent opinion and thought.

[Captain Arrrgh!]

Anyone remember the muslim in the American military -himself a shrink- who went apepoop last year and opened up on unsuspecting people in the the US?

[Dr Zoidberg]

Anyone remember the muslim in the American military -himself a shrink- who went apepoop last year and opened up on unsuspecting people in the the US?

Yeah, what about him?