Did Somebody say Moral Victory?
http://cogitoergosum.co.cc/2010/09/28/did-somebody-say-moral-victory/
Did Somebody say Moral Victory?
September 27, 2010, 5:10 pm
Soldier Describes Murder of Afghan for Sport in Leaked Tape
By ROBERT MACKEY
A leaked interrogation tape broadcast by ABC News on Monday.Updated |
6:41 p.m. On Monday, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in western
Washington, Specialist Jeremy N. Morlock, one of five American
soldiers accused by Army investigators of taking part in the murders
of three Afghan civilians this year, appeared at a hearing to
determine the formal charges against him.
Specialist Morlock was accused by the Army of taking part in all three
killings during his deployment in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, as
The Lede noted in a prior post on the killings. Other soldiers in the
unit told investigators that the accused ringleader, Staff Sgt. Calvin
Gibbs, collected fingers and other body parts from Afghan corpses
after the killings and said that he had gotten away with similar
killings in Iraq.
As Reuters reported:
Morlock, from Wasilla, Alaska, is the first to be brought before a
military court for a so-called Article 32 hearing, in which
prosecutors and defense lawyers present evidence to an investigating
officer who will determine whether the defendant should be formally
tried in a court-martial.
If found guilty of all the charges against him, Morlock, could face
the death penalty.
The news agency added, “Four of the soldiers have been charged with
keeping body parts, including finger bones, a skull, leg bones and a
human tooth.”
Before Monday’s hearing, ABC News broadcast what the network said was
a portion of a leaked interrogation tape of Specialist Morlock
describing one killing to Army investigators.
United States Army
Jeremy MorlockMatthew Cole and Brian Ross of ABC reported that
Specialist Morlock also said that Sergeant Gibbs carried a Russian
grenade to place next to the body of one dead Afghan to make it seem
as if he was about to attack the American soldiers.
Hal Bernton of The Seattle Times, who has been following the
investigation closely, reported on Monday that Specialist Morlock’s
lawyer argues that his client’s confession could not be trusted
because he was on several prescription drugs at the time. Before
Monday’s hearing began, Mr. Bernton wrote:
In May, when Morlock was questioned about alleged war crimes, his
prescription drugs included two antidepressants, one potent muscle
relaxer, two sleep medications and a pain reliever infused with
codeine, according to a list provided by his defense attorney.
In two interviews with investigators, the 22-year-old Alaskan made a
series of stunning allegations that implicated him and four other
soldiers in what Army prosecutors assert were premeditated plans to
murder three Afghan civilians.
These statements now form a central part of the Army’s case against
the five soldiers.
In a hearing scheduled for Monday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord,
Morlock’s civilian defense attorney, Michael Waddington, is expected
to argue that his client’s statements should be discounted because
they were given while Morlock was under the influence of some of these
drugs.
“We pulled at least 10 prescriptions out of his bag. They were giving
these out like candy,” Waddington said. “His memory of events is very
foggy.” Other lawyers who have reviewed the statements, one of which
was on videotape, said Morlock sometimes sounded confused and the
information he provided was sometimes contradictory.
Last week, my colleague William Yardley reported that a senior defense
counsel at Lewis-McChord said in an e-mail that the military had
photographs taken by the men, showing some of them posing with the
corpses of the three Afghans they had killed, “as a kind of morbid
sport.”
On Monday, CNN also broadcast a report featuring portions of
Specialist Morlock’s interrogation, and part of another soldier’s
description of what he said was frequent drug use by the soldiers in
the unit charged with the killings.
As The Lede explained earlier this month, the soldiers accused of
murder have claimed that they are innocent and intend to fight the
charges.
In addition to the five soldiers accused in the killings, seven others
members of the brigade have been accused of other crimes, including
drug use and trying to impede the Army’s investigation.
Nicholas Riccardi of The Los Angeles Times reported from the base, “Of
the 18 witnesses listed for Monday’s hearing, 14 invoked their 5th
amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid testifying,
including the lieutenant of the platoon.”
On Monday, The Associated Press reported:
The case raised serious questions about the Army’s handling of it.
Specialist Adam Winfield, who is charged in the final killing, sent
troubling Facebook messages home to his parents in Florida after the
first killing. He wrote that he was being threatened to keep his mouth
shut about it and that he didn’t know what to do.
His father made nearly half a dozen calls to military officials that
day, and he said he warned them about the ongoing plot and the threats
against his son.
Also on Monday, the BBC reported:
Three Australian former special forces soldiers have been charged over
an operation in Afghanistan in which six civilians died and four were
injured.
The ex-commandos conducted a night-time raid in February 2009 on a
residential compound in Uruzgan province, where a Taliban leader was
said to be hiding. It is alleged they attacked the wrong house. Five
of the dead were children.
The charges include manslaughter and dangerous conduct.
Recently, Britain’s Channel 4 News visited Fort Hood, in Texas, to
report on how the United States Army is trying to deal with the mental
health problems caused by repeated deployments to Afghanistan and
Iraq.
85 Readers’ Comments
.1.Lowell D. Thompson
Chicago
September 27th, 2010
5:51 pm
Somebody once said the first casualty of war is truth. But according
to this story, it looks like it’s a toss up between morality and
sanity. …
Recommended by 48 Readers
.2.WillT26
Durham
September 27th, 2010
5:51 pm
The evidence is clear so the men must be found…..not guilty!
This is America and in America the more guilty you are the more likely
you are to go free. Let me think- it will probably be based on
‘inadmissable evidence’ or ‘prosecutorial misconduct’ or my favorite-
‘they only confessed because of a plea deal which allows them to walk
away.’
Ain’t justice great! Now if only they had robbed a liquor store
instead of murdering people….
Recommended by 33 Readers
.3.DC
NH
September 27th, 2010
5:52 pmUseless destruction of young American lives and psyches.
Useless destruction of Iraqi and Afghan lives. Useless war only
serving to make a few sub-humans rich. Now Petraeus says efforts have
begun to launch talks between Karzai and the Taliban. Right back where
we started, minus billions of dollars and over a million lives. George
W., Cheney and the rest of you, are you happy now, with your blood
money? Do you really rest well at night surrounded by so many ghosts
whose needless deaths rest on your shoulders? And the most amazing
thing is, we are STILL THERE. STILL THERE!
Recommended by 135 Readers
.4.Tom
Montreal
September 27th, 2010
5:52 pm
Start a war, give license to use violence and that is what you get:
clealy, some of these soldiers would perfectly fit in Saddam’s death
squads.
Every government knows the real consequences of the decision to go to
war.
So the Bush administration should be held accountable for everything
that happened.
What a disgrace…
Recommended by 107 Readers
.5.Anonymous
New York
September 27th, 2010
5:52 pm
This is beyond awful.
I apologize to the Afghans.
Recommended by 69 Readers
.6.rykart
usa
September 27th, 2010
5:52 pm
The troops are filth. That’s about the most diplomatic thing you can
say.
Recommended by 37 Readers
.7.marvinhjeglin
hemet, californa
September 27th, 2010
5:56 pm
these problems are endemic to war. butchering the enemy is what you
are trained to do. it happens, though counter productive to the
professed mission. Afghanistan and Iraq have damaged these
individuals, tens of thousands of soldiers and their families, and
bankrupted the country. Viet Nam is history, so do not pay any
attention to the fact these same problems appeared there. get out now.
use the money saved for infra structure and schools here.
Recommended by 42 Readers
.8.Pacifica
Orange County, CA
September 27th, 2010
5:57 pm
Horrible. For what it’s worth, one of the accused, Spc. Jeremy
Morlock, has associated with the Palins. Hmm, what does Sarah say
about family members “paling around” with him?
June 8th, 2010 6:21 PM
Solider accused of murder in Afghanistan crossed paths with the Palin
family
By John Cook / Yahoo! News
http://www.michaelmoore.com…
Recommended by 30 Readers
.9.wendyruth
boise ID
September 27th, 2010
6:23 pm
So let me get this straight. This guy may get off of the murders he
committed because he was so drugged up that he isn’t responsible, but
a decorated military nurse is fired because of her sexual preference?
Do I have this straight? What kind of country have we become?
Recommended by 106 Readers
.10.no more
no where
September 27th, 2010
6:23 pm
anyone who blames the infantryman should be given a sentence of
compulsory service.
Recommended by 7 Readers
.11.Rage Baby
NYC
September 27th, 2010
6:24 pm
Really? His name is Morlock? From beyond the grave, H. G. Wells is
smirking.
Recommended by 9 Readers
.12.SM
California
September 27th, 2010
6:24 pm
It is sad to see this sort of thing happening because it is clear that
the military brass look the other way when such horrible events occur.
It is also sad to see that our government is sending our young troops
into harms way and helping them become less and less human; and more
and more like the terrorists they are supposedly fighting. If this
confession is any measure of how the fight on terror is going, Osama
Bin Laden is winning because we are becoming more and more like him
and his mindless followers.
Recommended by 24 Readers .13.owen
bronx
September 27th, 2010
6:25 pmi’m sure bush, cheney and company sleep well, as well as sadam
and bin laden. Evil men cannot see their evil.
Recommended by 29 Readers
.14.Liz
Seattle
September 27th, 2010
6:25 pm
No, our troops are not filth. But in this case some filth certainly
penetrated their ranks. I am glad this story has made headlines and
garnered the outrage that it deserves.
Last time I checked, being on drugs was no defense for committing
murder. It is also not a valid excuse for endangering your fellow
soldiers (the ones who don’t pull innocent people out of their homes
and murder them in front of their families) by inciting the radicals
in the middle east to seek revenge.
Recommended by 27 Readers
.15.ashraf chowdhury
new york
September 27th, 2010
6:25 pm
HOW WE CRITICIZE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION IN THIRD WORLD AND COMMUNIST
COUNTRIES ?
ABU-GARIB ALL OVER AGAIN? IS IT THE WAY OF WINNING AFGHAN WAR?
THOSE AFGHANS ARE HUMAN BEING TOO??
Recommended by 19 Readers
.16.Now-now
Minneapolis, MN
September 27th, 2010
6:26 pm
That’s what war is: an ugly, brutal, vicious, massacre orgy that robs
the participants of both their humanity and their souls. Karma … does
come back to bite and collect retributions. America was spared the
wrath of cosmic karma with Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and then Vietnam
and central America death squads because we had good people that saw
evil, reject it and condemn it. We now have blind patriotism, lapel
flags and 2 parties that are identical except in names. The end ain’t
gonna be pretty folks.
Recommended by 22 Readers
.17.THL
Vancouver, Canada
September 27th, 2010
6:26 pm
Keep in mind this is just the tip of the iceberg. Thousands upon
thousands of civilians have been murdered “for sport” or as
“collateral damage” in these aweful wars.
Recommended by 38 Readers
.18.Mark
Los Angeles
September 27th, 2010
6:26 pm
What those soldiers did is terrible, but not terribly surprising given
the conditions they were placed in. Subject young men to the stresses
that they were under in Afghanistan, and you have a recipe for
disaster. I don’t condone what they did, what I am saying is that a
lot of people would snap under the same circumstances. It is easy to
sit back here at home and spew out righteous indignation over what
those soldiers did. If I were on a jury, I might find them not guilty
by reason of temporary insanity.
Recommended by 8 Readers
.19.flyfysher
Westminster, Colorado
September 27th, 2010
6:27 pm
Frightening to think these soldiers are examples of the Army’s former
recruiting slogan to be all you can be.
Recommended by 18 Readers
.20.Max
Chicago
September 27th, 2010
6:27 pm
These troops are not bad apples–there is a pattern of moral
callousness and ethical unprofessionalism among most troops in most
armies, the most extreme versions of which result in cases like this.
Usually they’re swept under the rug, but this one has been publicized
so now it needs to move forward. Politicizing it, however, is a cheap
tactic on the part of liberals. Right-wing culture may have played
into the murderers’ worldview, but it did so with McVeigh and the
Unabomber as well. Michael Moore will only cause a backlash by trying
to link Palin with war crimes in such a tenuous, irresponsible way.
Recommended by 2 Readers .21.Bill Randle
The Big Apple
September 27th, 2010
6:27 pm
I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
Recommended by 6 Readers
.22.GGS
Ojai, CA
September 27th, 2010
6:27 pm
I’m going to suggest that everybody…everybody, read Mark Twain’s “War
Prayer,” because it is the only fit description of what we Americans
asked of our God when we went into this contrived war against Islam,
in the holy name of oil and gas. This is what war is. Did someone
think otherwise?
Recommended by 23 Readers
.23.NY Nice Guy
My Mind
September 27th, 2010
6:27 pm
I was in Army infantry training at Ft. Benning back in ’93. I’ll never
forget our Ranger Drill Sergeant (what a world of valor; half the
cadre were Rangers and/or Special Forces combat vets), after one of
the handful of rudimentary sessions on the Geneva Convention, asking,
rhetorically and in a lower tone of voice, something along the lines
of, “But if you’re reconnoitering behind enemy lines, what are you
going to do, take a prisoner? Tie him to a tree? Or abort your
mission?”
Hard choices. I know, I know, these kids were under no such
circumstances, really. But still, that’s the mindset drilled into you,
no matter what the brass say in front of the cameras.
The moment a person willingly accepts training to kill someone else,
he’s capable of anything else. That’s just the facts which limousine
liberals don’t understand (except when it comes to not paying taxes on
their illegal immigrant nannies and so forth, of course).
Recommended by 8 Readers
.24.mark Knox
Holyoke, MA
September 27th, 2010
6:28 pm
Greg Mortenson found a way to gain the hearts of the Afghans with very
little money and using indigenous labor, building schools. Why CNN,
ABC and FOX and everyone else focuses on the insanity of war and
destroying life… As terrible as this story is, I blame the media
conglomerates as much as anybody. This story just adds more fuel to
the fire over there, endangering more lives, and it is nothing new or
revealing – we’ve hear it all before, how many times before!
Now, how many stories do we hear about the Mortensons, the volunteers,
the human organizations … shame on CNN, ABC, …! Shame on this
continued tabloid mentality of war coverage.
Recommended by 11 Readers
25.Marina
ann arbor
September 27th, 2010
6:28 pm
Lets see- we brainwash very young men to be skillfully trained to kill
and think that is ok, and then send them to useless wars as fodder for
our elitist greed, and they crack and commit immoral acts, and then we
act like we are surprised- as if these very young killers sent to hell
should be the upstanding “heros” our 1940′s advertisements made them
out to be. Very enlightened way to run a country….
Recommended by 35 Readers
26.Doug4321Newark, NJSeptember 27th, 20106:29 pm
The military must reign in unlawful hostilities whenever they occur,
no matter who perpetrates them. Still, we ask a great deal of our
soldiers – to kill the enemy when ordered. It has to be expected that
these orders gravely affect a person’s soul and can render the soldier
dead to feelings for others. The death of compassion is compounded by
the atrocities that the enemy perpetrates on the soldier and his
comrades. Short and simple, we want our soldiers to be coldblooded
killers, and, when you reduce someone to that, it is not suprising
that atrocities like this follow.
Recommended by 5 Readers
27.TobyGASeptember 27th, 20106:33 pm
This guy is very normal; if you’re shocked, you’re out of touch with
US culture or naive… psychopathy is the norm… the immoral, deluded
norm.
Recommended by 14 Readers
28.DianeLouiseScottsdale, Az.September 27th, 20106:48 pm
Thank you Mr. Bush for starting up this totally needless war that has
gone on interminably, accomplished nothing, lost our country billions
of dollars, destroyed thousands of lives – and your motivation? Trying
to show up your old man and prove that General Schwarzkopf was wrong
when he said we had to back out of that hell hole because we had
accomplished our goals and could do nothing more. No, W. had to
override all common-sense advice and go off on his own. Thank you all
who voted for him ~ the mess we’re now in – at home and abroad lays on
the shoulders of this dimwit.
Recommended by 15 Readers
29.joespenthouseel paso, txSeptember 27th, 20106:48 pm
Rykart-If you have never served in a combat situation i suggest you
shut your mouth-S..t Happens,why not hold the right persons who are
really accountable to trial. I suffer with PTSD and i think the only
reason i haven’t lost it or lost it during my war time was because the
Grace of GOD!
Recommended by 0 Readers
30.Wilb PorterNL, CanadaSeptember 27th, 20106:50 pm
I suspect that this kind of thing is much more common than we expect.
If you teach people to kill and then brainwash them that your country
ia always right, they will do just about anything to live up to your
expectations including treating others as less than human. Maybe we
ought to reconsider this idea about ‘ supporting the troops.”
Recommended by 4 Readers
31.EDRNYSeptember 27th, 20106:50 pm
It’s amazing how the anti-Americans come crawling out to post their
hatred on the Times comment section.
Look, whenever you have many thousands of soldiers (or any group, for
that matter) together in one place, you always will get a tiny
percentage who are downright sick and evil individuals. But why must
these putrid America-haters paint a broad brush against the entire US
army? Why? I’ve already answered the question. It’s because living in
our own midst, in our own country, are America- hating ingrates.
Recommended by 0 Readers
32.GGSOjai, CASeptember 27th, 20106:50 pm
Ummm, NY Nice Guy? I could have been one of your Infantry training
cadre, had I not chosen a different career path in ’75, after six
years in. I ed your post before I finished reading it…my mistake. This
is a poor time and the wrong forum for a cheap and unworthy attempt at
a political shot.
Recommended by 3 Readers
33.MollaceToledo, OhioSeptember 27th, 20106:50 pm
There is nothing good about any of this and nothing good will come of
it regardless of the outcome. How will these young men ever fit into
society again? Killing innocent civilians is as horrific as sending
our volunteer troups into repeated deployments without any
acknowledgment or help for the strain they have to be under. Every bit
of this disgusting war amounts to depraved indifference to life any
way you look at it, I don’t care what side you are on. Thou shalt not
kill. No qualifiers.
Recommended by 17 Readers
34.EX-MarinePortland,OrSeptember 27th, 20106:51 pm
Yea. This stuff happens, on rare occasion. I’m surprised that it
doesn’t happen more often. We get frustrated with being messed with by
an enemy who blends well into the population and you don’t know who to
trust anymore. It happens when we shoot a thousand bullets for every
one bullet fired by the enemy. Unlike our thousand bullets that one
enemy bullet or IED always finds its target.
Recommended by 1 Reader
35.Barbara MichelToronto Ontario CanadaSeptember 27th, 20106:51 pm
I would be very interested to hear what psychiatrists or pyschologists
or chaplins have to say about the way certain soldiers are changed and
affected by the brutality of war. If you see a buddy in pieces after
stepping on an LED or if you see a child blown apart by a bomb, it
must affect you emotionally, especially if this happens several times.
I think some soldiers may be able to deal with looking at violence
like this; others may not and may turn to illegal drugs for
consolation as certain soldiers did in Vietnam. Finally, many soldiers
have been deployed several times. Again it would be worthwhile to hear
what medical professionals have to say about the mental health of
those currently in the military who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan
or both.
Recommended by 1 Reader
36.Keone MichaelsKauai, HawaiiSeptember 27th, 20106:51 pm
Remember the professional American soldiers in Iraq that schemed and
then raped and killed a young woman and her family? Yep our fine
military has a lot to be proud of? This is what you get when you
professionalize war and killing. End of the volunteer army and this
behavior became routine.
Recommended by 5 Readers
37.Dave HPortland OrSeptember 27th, 20106:51 pm
From Wasilla Alaska huh? All of the finest Americans come from there I
hear.
Recommended by 5 Readers
38.Caleb EnglerSan Miguel de Allende, MexicoSeptember 27th, 20106:51
pm
Satan, laughing, spreads his wings.
Recommended by 4 Readers
39.DavidToledoSeptember 27th, 20106:51 pm
Rumsfeld said, “Stuff happens.”
Afghanistan should have been a police action to destroy Al Qaeda
bases, quickly capture or kill as many Al Qaeda as possible, and get
out, scaring the evil out of the Taliban in the process. We should
never have let them know the limits of our power by trying to run the
non-country for 8+ years.
And we had no sane reason to go into Iraq at all.
But when you do go into these places in force and for many years,
(very predictable) stuff happens.
Recommended by 11 Readers
40.trblmkrNJSeptember 27th, 20106:52 pm
Boy, Wasilla sure produces some winners!
Recommended by 11 Readers
41.enochberkeley, caSeptember 27th, 20106:52 pm
Any coincidence that he is from Wasilla, AK…
Recommended by 1 Reader
42.Concerned CitizenNJSeptember 27th, 20106:52 pm
Apparenly Wasilla has another proud son to call their own
Recommended by 1 Reader
43.VJNashvilleSeptember 27th, 20106:54 pm
Hashish smoking soldiers? That hashish had nothing to do with their
crimes, it just let them sleep at night, but no way they smoked it and
went out shooting.
Recommended by 3 Readers
44.Michael H.Dallas, TXSeptember 27th, 20106:54 pm
To condemn the U.S. military for the actions of a few is logically
fallacious. It’s the equivalent of painting the entire the Democractic
Party as sleazy, embezzling, immoral cretins because of the actions of
the Bell County, Calif clowns. It’s unfair and unserious.
Recommended by 0 Readers
45.TylerNYCSeptember 27th, 20107:01 pm
Most enlisted soldiers are fine upstanding people, but I know without
a doubt that there are psychopaths and very dangerous individuals who
should never be sent overseas to represent our country. I am sure that
the repeated deployments and pressure of being in a combat zone 24/7
contribute to the hopelessness and high suicide rate, but it does not
explain the seeming joy these guys got out of murdering civilians.
Recommended by 5 Readers
46.wezanderbangkokSeptember 27th, 20107:01 pm
Did they waterboard the confession out of him?
Recommended by 1 Reader
47.Baffled ObserverWashington StateSeptember 27th, 20107:02 pm
This is so horrible I don’t know what to say. When they were kids,
dreaming about who they would like to be when they grew up, is this
what these young men pictured?
And for God’s sake, their victims…is there no end to this?
We’ve had Vietnam all over again, My Lai massacre and all, and this
time at least, we should have known. A lot of us DID know, and voted
against doing it again, and lost. Now what?
More and more, I think about leaving this bloody country.
Recommended by 10 Readers
48.Bill DelamainSan FranciscoSeptember 27th, 20107:02 pm
Well I suppose it will be even harder to win the hearts and minds of
Afghans after the world see those videos…
Recommended by 5 Readers
49.JimVASeptember 27th, 20107:02 pm
We need to stop sending our mentally handicapped young people to war
and give them educational and job opportunities. We are so busy in
this country hating on each other and demonizing Islam. This is not
the America my father and I fought for.
Recommended by 18 Readers
50.GGSOjai, CASeptember 27th, 20107:45 pm
The military is one of several tools at the disposal of the
government. Another, though seldom-used tool at the government’s
disposal, is diplomacy. Using the military when diplomacy would be
better suited to the government’s stated intentions only puts the lie
to the government’s stated intentions. Military = wrong tool for the
job 99% of the time. Like using a hatchet to tune a piano, and being
surprised at the results. This soldier and his comrades are hatchets
wielded by an irresponsible government in the pursuit of something
other than what we have all been told. They have destroyed the piano
and are not going to stop until they have broken the hatchet as well.
Recommended by 2 Readers
51.MTNew York, NYSeptember 27th, 20107:45 pm
Anyone who tries to make a political statement out of this one
incident is moronic. It was exposed. Are all cops dirty because a
small percentage are? We hold our troops to a much higher standard
than most others, certainly our opponent which has no standards.
Sometimes they fail and fail miserably, as in this case. There are
tens of thousands of troops, each with hundreds of interactions a year
in theater. Do the math on how many actually degenerate to this level.
It’s quite small. I’d like to see some of the other professions like
law, journalism, teaching be subjected to anything close to the stress
and margin for error faced by these guys everyday. None could hack it.
Recommended by 1 Reader
52.rykartusaSeptember 27th, 20107:45 pm
I don’t excuse a poor kid from the ghetto who joins a gang and commits
murder or rape.
But I’m supposed to excuse people who willfully join the US armed
services, a terror outfit responsible for the deaths of millions of
innocent people?
Enlisting is the initial crime from which all the other crimes follow.
And don’t try to tell me the guy in this article is a military
failure. He is a military success story–the desired result of training
designed to create murderers and monsters.
Recommended by 10 Readers
53.Old MSgtSCSeptember 27th, 20107:45 pm
Let’s not get too carried away. These things happen in war, and aren’t
exactly uncommon among civilians in peacetime. Some folks do bad
things, and in this case (depending on what is brought out at trial) a
few may have broken military discipline. Recreational homicide isn’t
the right of anyone, least of all a trained military professional.
If they are guilty, throw the book (in this case the UCMJ) at them,
but don’t assume they are typical. Remember the soldier who turned
them in had the guts to do the right thing.
Recommended by 2 Readers
54.JamesNew York CitySeptember 27th, 20107:45 pm
To “no more” – These men weren’t there because of compulsory service.
They choose to join the Army. They were in Afghanistan because that’s
what the Army does. Don’t make excuses for these jerks.
Recommended by 8 Readers
55.army wifekailua, hawaiiSeptember 27th, 20107:45 pm
i hope the airing of this video doesn’t incite violence against our
deployed troops. the alleged mistakes of a few do not characterize the
entire military force.
and, doesn’t he seem drugged? i know the article mentions this, but he
seems to be on some kind of hypnotic. can we trust a confession from a
person on ambien or narcotic pain relievers?
if in fact he was under the influence and none of his story is true, i
hope the ny times, and any other media entity that airs this, take
responsibility for airing this inflammatory video and any retaliation
that may occur to our troops.
Recommended by 0 Readers
56.J.San RamonSeptember 27th, 20107:45 pm
How is this any different than the rest of the ungodly killing done
during these horrific wars started by choice by Bush and Cheney?
Recommended by 6 Readers
57.JackNew York CitySeptember 27th, 20107:59 pm
Things like this happen in war. But don’t paint the U.S. Army with a
broad brush. Just like MOST Muslims are NOT Terrorists, MOST U.S.
Soldiers are NOT Murderers.
“C-O-U-N-T-R-Y
Duty, Honor, Country unitil I die”
Recommended by 0 Readers
58.LynnWashington, DCSeptember 27th, 20107:59 pm
This story reminded me of an episode of Frontline from a few months
back: The Wounded Platoon. The program had described similar instances
committed by other soldiers.
http://www.pbs.org…
Recommended by 1 Reader
59.David in NYCNew York, NYSeptember 27th, 20107:59 pm
“Morlock, from Wasilla, Alaska”
Ah, yes, more of those “Real Americans” doing more of those “Real
American” things. Some of them slaughter wolves from helicopters, some
of them kill innocent civilians for body part souvenirs.
They have all the morals of pond scum. At least this one’s not
lecturing the rest of the country about it.
Recommended by 11 Readers
60.Sheila CaseyWashington DCSeptember 27th, 20107:59 pm
Five children killed when ex-special forces made a night time raid on
the wrong house. Just consider the mammoth amount of pain and terror
contained in that one sentence.
Imagine, if you have children, foreign commandos busting into your
house late at night as your family lies peacefully sleeping, and
before the event is over, your children are dead.
Later you find out that they goofed, they “had the wrong house.”
How they must hate us.
Recommended by 9 Readers
61.A long time agoCal.September 27th, 20107:59 pm
Good Morning Vietnam
Recommended by 4 Readers
62.MGNYCSeptember 27th, 20107:59 pm
To those posters who excuse this behavior as a part of war, would you
say the same of an Afghan, of Iraqi soldlier lining up and killing an
American civilian for sport?
Recommended by 10 Readers
63.Sonora docArizonaSeptember 27th, 20107:59 pm
Where are all those Fundamentalist generals who have been insisting to
their their underlings this is a war against Islam? Why haven’t we
heard anything from them about these ‘ungodly’ acts?? This miliitary
is a mess.
Recommended by 6 Readers
64.GDWHadley, NYSeptember 27th, 20107:59 pm
Responding to Rykart – these troops are not filth. They are human
beings, young men making multiple deployments. They are more than
stressed out, they are mentally damaged. The real responsible parties
are George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Barack Obama, who lack the political
courage to start up a draft that would prevent these multiple
deployments.
This kind of murder was commonplace in Vietnam, where the men sent
into combat knew we only had to survive for a year and then we could
go home and try to forget all about it. I can’t imagine the stress of
returning again and again into a combat zone.
One suggestion: If we want to stop getting into these idiotic, immoral
wars, all Congress would have to do is pass a law (ha ha) that would
require that all the appropriately aged children of the president,
vice president, secretary of defense, and every member of congress who
supports the decision to go to war would be required to enter the
military and be sent to the front lines. I guarantee if Bush and
Cheney would have had to send their children to Iraq, that was never
would have happened.
Recommended by 8 Readers
65.coysKosovoSeptember 27th, 20107:59 pm
Manny here would agree that one idiot does not represent the U.S.
Army. Most troops there do what their service requires and they are
not there on VACATION, “our” government sent those troops to sacrifice
their lives for “our safety.” Obama, Bush, all did it. At least Bush
never backed on it, whereas the current President is flip-floping year
in year out.
Republicans pass their bills no matter what dems say, Dems have no
balls to run a government.
Salute to our troops and my apologize to victim’s families
Recommended by 1 Reader
66.bill hubbardSeattleSeptember 27th, 20107:59 pm
Baffled Observer …
please, DO Leave ! why wait for tomorrow, bro’ … t’night’d be a good
time for you to Get out of Dodge; better’n waitin’ for t’morra. No
kiddin’, I’ll pay your airfare … just sign an agreement to never
return and the ticket is yours.
Recommended by 0 Readers
67.JimmytwoshoesTallahasseeSeptember 27th, 20107:59 pm
Some guys think they just have to kill somebody, and these guys are
not the only ones. I would guess every PTSD group has one or two that
has done this. My group at Tomah did, and those guys will suffer with
guilt until the day they die.
Recommended by 2 Readers
68.nee breslinnew mexicoSeptember 27th, 20107:59 pm
The military is doing a pathetic job of “debriefing” after deployment.
There is so much more that needs to be done, it’s a cruel joke that
they let these soldiers come “home” and released. Many of these
soldiers don’t know what home is anymore and need to be brought back
to a different reality that is home life.
Recommended by 2 Readers
69.RCPompano Beach FLSeptember 27th, 20107:59 pm
Preface. These men are criminals. I am in no way whatsoever condoning
their actions.
People! Why so shocked? This is nothing new in the history of
“Humanity”. It’s been going on since before our ancestors dropped down
from the trees in pre-history. Since the invention of writing, there
are countless accounts of barbarism in “war”… that make this situation
pale in comparison. Name your war, and the decade or century that it
was waged in. Terrible as it is, it’s the same old story.
Are you shocked because they are Americans? Does American nature
transcend human nature? Though you and I may feel that it should, the
reality is obvious… it doesn’t. Read your history! The battlefield
fosters a sense of “I can do whatever the hell I want to”. It’s been
that way since the first Alley Oop picked up a stick and clubbed
another Alley Oop in the head.
Do you think that because there are laser targeting rifles, laser
guided bombs, (smart-bombs), and super high-tech weaponry, that the
battlefield somehow became magically devoid of human nature? The only
differences between Ug the warrior caveman and modern warriors are the
camouflage fatigues… and a monumentally increased ability and
proficiency in to kill and commit atrocities.
Consider: The American military has a strict judicial system in place,
and penal code RE personnel committing human rights violations, i.e.
War crimes. There is accountability, and has been mentioned in the
article, if found guilty, they may pay the ultimate price… the death
penalty. Nevertheless, they seemingly committed these crimes… despite
the potential repercussions facing them. Imagine what combatants are
capable of when there is no potential accountability and no potential
repercussions. Say hello to the non-heroic, little spoken of, and very
dark reality that is can be war… and is war.
War is the atrocity. And it enables men to take that little step
backwards, or perhaps upwards, back up into the trees. As long as war
exists, these atrocities will occur. It hasn’t changed in multi-
millennia… and it’s not going to change anytime soon. Quite
disheartening.
Recommended by 7 Readers
70.JustWonderingNew YorkSeptember 27th, 20109:52 pm
While some are looking at this as just another bunch of progressives
vilifying the Army, America and our war effort (such as it is), we
also need to realize that 20 minutes after these guys finished their
killing, the word was out that another innocent victim was added to
the body count and that the American occupiers had mutilated the body.
Shortly after the killing, family, friends and neighbors of the
victims were happily joining and/or supporting the Taliban (or Al
Quaeda in Mesopotamia). All of these groups know full well that the
best recruiting ads they can get are when we prove their propaganda
true. Regardless of how much we do right, all we need to do is
something like this and years of effort go to waste.
We need to aggressively prosecute this and it needs to be public. We
need to shake up the command structure to make sure that they
understand and communicate down that this will not be tolerated. The
guys on the ground need to realize that this make a bad situation even
worse and more of them die as a result. We need to seriously set up a
training program that is designed to help our troops work with and
understand the people we’re “helping” and why doing it right makes
them safer. This kind of training is probably way more complicated
than most of the weapons systems they train on but way more important
for this kind of war.
We also need to take a hard look at the pharmacy they’re feeding these
kids to keep them in the field deployment after deployment. A NYT
Times Magazine article a while back described a Marine unit where
their platoon leader ticked off who was on meds and what kind. We all
know the one – Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft and Xanax. Just so they can stay
in the field. Bear in mind, if you know someone (a neighbor perhaps)
this kind of medication probably could preclude them from owning a
firearm. Yet, we send these guys out in the field in a profoundly
fragile state and wonder what happened when something like this
happens.
We also know that the military has a long and rich tradition of
covering up the truth – especially when they perceive it will put them
in a bad light or it serves their purposes – Pat Tilman comes to mind.
But just like in Vietnam, we’re right back to shooting the messenger.
If our military has any sort of strategy that includes winning “hearts
and minds” then this has to stop. No excuses, no tolerance, no half-
measures and no weaseling. The cost is too high – the lives of our men
and women, the lives of innocent citizens caught up in the next
attack, and the future of these countries where we’ve engaged our
troops.
Recommended by 1 Reader
71.The truly guilty, i.e. those at the top, will forever go
freeWashington, DCSeptember 27th, 20109:52 pmThese 19-22 year-olds
have been turned into monsters. The problem is, it’s not really a
surprise to the men who sent them into harm’s way that this would
happen. How many Vietnam veterans are willing to openly share their
experiences there, as still-pubescent young, as part of a killing
machine? Very few, and those who do reveal a horrible transformation,
endemic to this kind of war (unclear mission, unclear urgency, unclear
protocol) that inevitably yields this result, not in all soldiers, but
in a predictable percentage of them. To the powers that be, it is an
acceptable price. Is that what our liberty stands for?
Recommended by 1 Reader
72.garybCOSeptember 27th, 20109:52 pm
Really? The poor people who join the volunteer army and the career-
minded officers who lead them aren’t the most moral and intelligent
people? You mean if you take the poorest, most uneducated people, give
them weapons and send them to a foreign country they might not do a
very good job or reflect well on the USA? Why it’s treasonous to say
all those guys who chose military service over jail isn’t a hero!
Or maybe the draft was beneficial in providing quality people to fight
our wars, in addition to preventing war in the first place.
Recommended by 2 Readers
73.namecscPennsylvaniaSeptember 27th, 20109:52 pm
No soldier should EVER be charged with ‘murder’ for killing the enemy
or those associated with the enemy, even if mistaken. We send our
soldiers to do the job of killing in our country’s name, they are
trained and encouraged to do this job, and if occasionally they go a
little overboard, how dare anyone react with outrage, let alone
criminal charges — this is what we do and need to do. The last thing
the USA needs is soldiers fearful of doing the job they’re sent to do,
or putting themselves in harm’s way out of uncertainty. Don’t
disparage our armed forces over these isolated incidents.
Recommended by 0 Readers
74.RJFayetteville,NCSeptember 27th, 20109:52 pm
What about innocent until proven guilty.
What about trial by jury.
A lot of you folks seem to assume that this is the whole story, and
are willing to throw these young troops under the jail. I’m not.
Our armed forces are under a tremendous amount of stress, with
multiple deployments(a Ft Bragg soldier was just killed last week in
Afganistan on his 9th deployment) and no end in sight.
If this is true, the soldiers will be dealt with, until then, I offer
my prayers to the people involved, Afgani and American.
Recommended by 0 Readers
75.John SinNYCSeptember 27th, 20109:52 pm
Our army accepts recruits to fill quotas, so the military if you will
excuse the pun is an institution that requires bodies. Quite a few of
the recruits accepted into the military were not suitable candidates
for combat operations. We now see the result of the lack of
psychological screening that the military fails to perform. But of
course as many have pointed out these wars were almost pointless with
the exception of making the military industrial comples billions of
dollars while Americans became expendable cannon fodder. Now America
has been shamed by its soldiers who have taken the lives of innocent
civilians. NOT GOOD!
ed by 4 Readers
76.letxequalxNjSeptember 27th, 20109:52 pm
The young man in the video appeared under duress, out of uniform,
fidgeting and bouncing around, clearly without sleep and under the
influence of some kind of drug, perhaps the codeine mentioned in the
article, If the futures of four young men are on the line, I would be
more interest in hearing what he has to say with a clear head. Maybe
this is how they get confessions in Chicago but it is not how we
should treat our own servicemen.
Recommended by 0 Readers
77.JWGaithersburg, MDSeptember 27th, 20109:52 pm
@24 Blaming the media, (or Bush, or Obama or the Military Brass for
that matter) is a cop out. We are all culpable. The media outlets
depend on viewers (us) to sustain their business models. We vote with
our eyes by watching/reading the sensational news stories. Mortenson’s
story is inspirational, but the outrageous will trump the feel good
story every time.
Recommended by 0 Readers
78.michaelannbspringfield, MASeptember 27th, 20109:52 pm
I’m worried for Winfield. He tried to tell the Army what was happening
and I’ll be he pays one of the highest prices.
Recommended by 1 Reader
79.TonyOhioSeptember 27th, 20109:52 pm
The article describes a confession made on “tape”. Hey guys, nobody
does video on tape and haven’t since the last century. Perhaps the
confession was on a video. And to the reporter and all the folks at
his newspaper, welcome to the twenty-first century.
Recommended by 0 Readers
80.Anthony DavisSeoul, South KoreaSeptember 27th, 20109:52 pm
If the soldier had been Muslim, some posts would be confirming how his
religion made him what he was. If the soldier had been black, few
would say openly, but many would assume the worst of his race. I am
not going to blame the Army or the kid’s hometown of Wasilla. A
psychopath is a psychopath. He should be tried as a traitor as his
actions have surely aided and abetted the cause of bin Laden by
fueling further hatred of America among the Afghanistan people.
Recommended by 0 Readers
81.MukulmdSeptember 27th, 20109:52 pm
This just shows that killing innocent people is not done by terrorist
but troops can and will do it. Terrorist do it for their perverted
reasons and troops can it as sport or fun.
In short human life is cheap and worthless when mind is bent out of
shape, what sorry state of conditions in this world.
Recommended by 1 Reader
82.rykartusaSeptember 27th, 20109:52 pm
Army wife post #55 shows no compassion for the Afghans murdered by our
lovely troops and has the audacity to imply that the Times is to blame
for reporting this latest in a long series of nauseating outrages by
our soldiers.
I’d say she makes it pretty obvious why American GIs are universally
reviled.
Recommended by 5 Readers
83.rykartusaSeptember 28th, 201012:01 am
All of these lame attempts to defend the troops are pretty hollow in
light of the fact that MANY troops have themselves come forward to
declare that atrocities against civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan are
part of the DAILY routine, (as they were during America’s genocide in
Indochina). Orders for the massacre of civilians often come from
military superiors. To chalk this up to some low level bad apples is a
lie.
And for those who wonder why this doesn’t happen more often–it DOES
happen more often. Obama doesn’t want you to know that, which is why
his justice dept is going after whistle blowers, not that psychopaths
committing these crimes. Just look at the Wikileaks case and the
“Collateral Murder” video. No charges against the criminals. Only the
whistle blower who leaked footage of this atrocity.
Recommended by 0 Readers
84.vjdSacramento, CASeptember 28th, 201012:12 am
The Military trains people to become killers. What do they expect? Is
it the fault of the soldier or of the government for creating the
means of death…..
Recommended by 0 Readers
85.Baffled ObserverWashington StateSeptember 28th, 201012:13 am
bill hubbard
Somehow, I didn’t get the intellectual content of your argument. Do
you mean that my revulsion against this incident, my rejection of
killing civilians for fun, makes you think I’m a poor US citizen? If
so, what kind of country do you want to have?
My ancestors fought in the American Revolution, and for this country
in every war since then. I don’t think the “love it or leave it”
nation you envision is at all what they had in mind.
Keep your airfare. Spend your money on a course in American history
and civics. I live five miles from the Canadian border. If and when I
decide to give up on the US, I’ll walk.
Recommended by 0 Readers
Thank you for your submission. Comments are moderated and generally
will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive. An email will be
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Your Submitted Comment
Display Name navanavonmilita
Location USA
Comment
I have an Idea
Since Afghanistan war is getting out of hand and since our soldiers
are tired of playing good soldiers, let president Barack Obama declare
the war as a victory of sorts.
Mr president, I urge you to do following for the good of the country,
for the good of America and for the good of the world peace. Before
our soldiers start murdering their own kind and create a situation,
sort of internal inferno that cannot be contained by US military,
oops, military-industrial complex, following items must receive a top
priority.
1. Declare a moral victory.
2. Leave Afghanistan, oops, allow the armed forces to leave
Afghanistan and also leave Iraq.
3. Leave the White House.
4. Leave the active politics and join the Navy to see the world
5. Leave the forwarding address so that your peacenik fans, such as
yours truely among millions of others, could send you pictures of
happy Americans enjoying their peace, oops, apple pies.
http://cogitoergosum.co.cc/
…and I am Sid Harth
Drug Use Cited in Unit Tied to Civilian Deaths
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
Published: September 27, 2010
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — Members of an American Army unit
consumed with drug use randomly chose Afghan civilians to kill and
then failed to report the abuses out of fear they would suffer
retaliation from their commander, according to testimony in military
court here on Monday.
United States Army
Corp. Jeremy Morlock
The Lede Blog: Soldier Describes Killing of Afghan in Tape (September
27, 2010) 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.
In one incident, Specialist Morlock recounted in the video, he
described Sergeant Gibbs identifying for no apparent reason an Afghan
civilian in a village, then directing Specialist Morlock and another
soldier to fire on the man after Sergeant Gibbs lobbed a grenade in
his direction.
“He kind of placed me and Winfield off over here 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
tells me and Winfield: ‘All right, wax this guy. Kill this guy, kill
this guy,’ ” Specialist Morlock said in the video.
Referring to the Afghan, the investigator asked: “Did you see him
present any weapons? Was he aggressive toward you at all?”
Specialist Morlock replied: “No, not at all. Nothing. He wasn’t a
threat.”
As Monday’s hearing was getting under way, CNN and ABC News broadcast
the video. In the CNN clip and the ABC clip, Specialist Morlock,
speaking in a near monotone, looks like a teenager recounting a story
to his parents.
CNN also broadcast video of the interview of a soldier who is not
accused in the killings but has been accused of lesser crimes, Cpl.
Emmitt R. Quintal.
When asked by an investigator when and how often members of the unit
used illegal drugs, Corporal Quintal, seated in camouflage fatigues,
said it occurred on “bad days, stressful days, days that we just
needed to escape.”
The interview with Specialist Morlock was conducted in Kandahar in
May, while he was en route to a medical evaluation for what his
lawyers said was possibly a traumatic brain injury suffered during his
deployment. They say he was taking medication prescribed by military
doctors for sleep deprivation, pain and muscle stress, though they
said they could not yet establish exactly when he had taken the
medication and how it might have affected him.
Specialist Morlock, who grew up in Wasilla, Alaska, appeared in court
on Monday but did not testify.
Michael Waddington, his lawyer, questioned Army investigators by phone
from their duty station in Afghanistan. Mr. Waddington repeatedly
asked whether they found Specialist Morlock to be under the influence
of medication in the interviews. Some investigators described
Specialist Morlock as tired and sometimes slouching, but they said he
was coherent and had a strong recollection of details.
The video, provided to defense lawyers to help them prepare their
cases, was not intended by the military to be made public.
“The disclosure of these video recordings is troubling because it
could adversely affect the military justice process,” said Col. Tom
Collins, an Army spokesman.
The power of images in the case was apparent last week, when the
commander of the Stryker brigade in which the soldiers serve ordered
photographic evidence to be strictly controlled by investigators at
Joint Base Lewis-McChord, with access limited to lawyers.
A memo circulated by a military defense lawyer the previous week
described an inadvertent release of photographs, including three that
show American soldiers holding up the heads of dead Afghans. It was
unclear whether all of the pictures showed soldiers in the cases,
though military prosecutors said Monday that Specialist Morlock was in
at least one image, apparently with a dead Afghan.
Photographic evidence could play an important role in the Army’s case,
as will statements from soldiers. No bodies have been recovered, and a
military investigator testified on Monday that the nature of the areas
where the crimes occurred, including religious views of residents and
potential danger to American soldiers, prevented them from conducting
crime scene investigations.
“To exhume a body would cause a lot of issues, even if it was for a
good purpose,” said Special Agent Anderson D. Wagner.
Mr. Wagner noted that at least two statements, from Specialist Morlock
and another soldier charged, Pfc. Adam C. Winfield, corroborated
elements of each other’s story. He also said there was little physical
evidence connecting the soldiers to the killings. “I don’t know the
final thing that killed those guys, whether it was a bullet or whose
grenade it was,” Mr. Wagner said.
The Army’s case is complicated by claims that it ignored warnings that
there was trouble in the unit. Private Winfield’s father has said he
repeatedly tried to alert military officials that his son had told him
through Facebook in February that a murder was committed by members of
his unit in January. The soldiers are accused of killings in January,
February and May.
Mr. Waddington said in an interview that his client was present where
the three crimes are said to have taken place, but that he had not
killed anyone.
Mr. Wagner, the investigator, said that during his interview in May,
Specialist Morlock had feared retaliation for talking.
Lawyers for Specialist Morlock told reporters during a break that the
case reflected a “failed policy” in Afghanistan, and that soldiers
like Specialist Morlock should never have been allowed to continue
with their unit given the medication they say he was on and the
alleged widespread use of drugs in the unit. Seven other soldiers in
the unit are accused of other crimes, including hashish possession.
It could be weeks before the military investigator presiding over the
hearing, Judge Thomas Molloy, determines how to charge Specialist
Morlock.
Elisabeth Bumiller contributed reporting from Washington.
U.S. and Afghan Forces Seize Biggest Drug Cache to Date
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
Published: May 23, 2009
KABUL, Afghanistan — American and Afghan forces seized what the
American military called the single largest drug cache to date in a
four-day operation that began Tuesday in the south of the country.
The seizure by Afghan Army commandos and American forces took place in
Marjeh, a town in Helmand Province, the American military said in a
statement on Saturday. In all, soldiers found more than 101 tons of
narcotics, including heroin, poppy seeds, opium and hashish. Large
amounts of heroin processing materials were also confiscated, the
military said.
Heroin is a major source of income for the Taliban in Afghanistan, and
the American military has said it would be a major focus of future
operations as more troops are moved into Afghanistan this summer under
President Obama’s plan.
The drugs were taken in a central market area in the town. A battle
ensued in which, according to the American military, 60 insurgents
were killed. An American military spokesman said the allies met a
surprising level of resistance, fighting the militants for four days
in gun battles and by aerial strikes.
The military said that commandos also found bomb-making materials,
including 30 tons of ammonium nitrate, pressure plate triggers,
military grade explosives and ammunition vests.
The spokesman for the American forces, Col. Greg Julian, said the
operation had “severely disrupted,” one of the main narcotics hubs in
southern Afghanistan.
The Other Front
Back in Kabul, Never at Peace
Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
STREET LIFE Refugees have streamed into Kabul, and many become
beggars, like this woman caring for her sick son.
Photographs and text by TYLER HICKS
Published: July 6, 2008
My first trip to Kabul was in 2001. I arrived as Northern Alliance
soldiers were fighting Taliban gunmen in and around the Afghan
capital. Those who resisted were killed, and those captured were more
likely to be executed than taken prisoner. There was a power vacuum in
Kabul, a brief moment when one set of rulers fled and the next had not
yet taken over. This can be a liberating time for a photographer.
There were no clear rules, no central authority that might restrict
you from taking pictures. I’ve returned to Afghanistan nearly every
year since then.
Reach of War
Go to Complete Coverage
Multimedia
Audio Slide Show
Photographer’s Journal: Kabul in Transition TODAY, at first glance,
Kabul’s dusty stalls and kebab joints, with their bearded men and
covered women, look much the same — in at least one important way — as
they did when the Taliban were forced to flee. Ordinary people seem
stoic under the circumstances, which are better than they were in 2001
but still deeply uncertain. Generations of conflict have numbed the
senses. From the Russian occupation during the 1980s, through the
years of Taliban rule in the 1990s, and now the intensifying coalition
war against the Taliban insurgency, violence has become ingrained in
their lives. After a recent period being embedded with the United
States Marines in southern Afghanistan, I stopped in Kabul to wander
the streets and take photos of a city forever in transition. The
Western presence was something not tolerated during Taliban rule, so
there have been some changes.
A new shopping mall, with escalators in a city where constant
electricity is a luxury, offers Western-style clothes, gold jewelry, a
cafe. A fast-food establishment, mimicking American chains, offers
fried chicken and fries instead of lamb kebab and rice.
Meanwhile, refugees and internally displaced civilians, left homeless
by decades of war, have created a beggar society, with the sick and
disabled desperate for food and work. The cost of housing in urban
Kabul is very high compared to the countryside, and many people live
in crumbling buildings and makeshift tents.
There is also, on a hill overlooking the city, an Olympic-size pool
built by the Soviets in the 1980s. It is said that the Taliban forced
criminals off the platforms to their deaths at the bottom of the pool.
Now, as then, it contains little or no water.
With unemployment at about 40 percent, a large number of idle men have
little to do. Snooker clubs, where men play and smoke cigarettes, are
popular. So are small video arcades. Most popular are the Indian and
Pakistani movies that dominate the theaters; there, for the price of a
ticket, viewers can watch increasingly revealing scenes of women.
Drug addicts crowd into a dilapidated section of the old city, smoking
hashish and shooting heroin. Drug addiction is on the rise in
Afghanistan, fed in part by a flow of refugees from Pakistan, who find
no work but can buy the drugs cheaply. War or no war, West or no West,
Afghanistan remains the world’s largest producer of opium, an industry
that the Taliban continue to profit from.
The newly resurgent Taliban continue to push for greater influence,
and not just in the remote regions near the Pakistan border. A recent
assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai during a military
parade in Kabul killed three people. Then the Taliban freed 1,200
inmates in a brazen attack on a prison in the southern city of
Kandahar.
The Taliban, clearly, are still strong in Afghanistan. So war, as it
has been for generations, is never far away.
…and I am Sid Harth
Conflict, Hot Off The Presses, News, Views and Reviews, Terrorism
28/09/2010
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