The Kill Team

Rolling Stone:

Early last year, after six hard months soldiering in Afghanistan, a group of American infantrymen reached a momentous decision: It was finally time to kill a haji.

Among the men of Bravo Company, the notion of killing an Afghan civilian had been the subject of countless conversations, during lunchtime chats and late-night bull sessions. For weeks, they had weighed the ethics of bagging "savages" and debated the probability of getting caught. Some of them agonized over the idea; others were gung-ho from the start. But not long after the New Year, as winter descended on the arid plains of Kandahar Province, they agreed to stop talking and actually pull the trigger.

Read the whole story: Rolling Stone

Comments

[rjconerly]

01:00 AM on 05/01/2011

yep, that's it.. complain about REAL news and get yours from the daily show and some music mag....

[larry putman]

12:00 PM on 03/30/2011

Our media protected us from this story.

[baileywick]

03:35 PM on 04/14/2011

Aren't they just wonderful?

[POpgrssve]

09:38 PM on 03/29/2011

Buried on page 12. What we have here are the last remnants of a dying empire. Again, this should be front page. Speaks volumes, doesn't it?

[theaetetus]

07:31 PM on 03/29/2011

i wonder why this isn't all over the news? this is so super messed up.

[baileywick]

03:38 PM on 04/14/2011

Subscribe to Rolling Stone. Tabibi is the best journalist in the biz, and Rolling Stone is very cheap right now and needs subscribers. I got on about two years ago @ $20 a YEAR. And there's music, too.

[moutonnoir]

12:22 PM on 03/29/2011

these are the police of the near future..

be prepared to be brutalized­, dehumanize­d, then treated even worse for claiming the upstanding right wing authoritar­ians are out of line

[GuyCybershy]

03:17 PM on 03/29/2011

Good observation, and I'm afraid it is too late to do much about it. The public will happily surrender what is left of their freedom to whoever offers to keep order.

[baileywick]

03:39 PM on 04/14/2011

Blackwater in uniforms. Now they call themselves "Xe", pronounced Z. Stay alert.

[kandem]

11:40 AM on 03/29/2011

This sickens me, but sadly does not surprise me. I grew up in a military town and saw first hand the attitudes of many our our "hero's" in uniform.

[ge971]

09:55 AM on 03/29/2011

Seldom am I lost for words.

[Ziadp]

03:27 PM on 04/01/2011

Second....speechless...

[jcnycdude]

08:59 AM on 03/29/2011

All this and that pig governor says I can't be in a union. Thanks for keeping me free.

[Naville]

08:49 AM on 03/29/2011

I would assume they have been doing this for so long that they finally dared to document it.

This is the ultimate terrorism in action, and we complain about evil terrorists. The American Army is full of murders, fanatics, gangs and plain stupid Joes. They are needed because they can kill and take someone's life. Remember the cliches phrase from the U.S officials when making excuses "few bad apples", if those bad apples are tolerated enough to kill with impunity, then they have done their job and we might as well honor them with medals.

Those innocent poor victims had families, fathers,sisters, and brothers. They deserved a life no matter how destitute.
I wonder, always wonder how many incidents like this has happened over the past few years that we do not know whether covered up from the top or put out of sight by the perpetrators.
I have heard stories of poor Afghans pressured to take bribes in the amount of thousand dollars to forget about their murdered relatives. I have heard about clean up operations right after civilians were murdered, and sometimes weapons were planted near corpses to make them appear armed insurgents.
It is sickening that America claims moral superior military given what we know so far and what allegedly has happened in the past 10 years.

Another point to ponder over is, when these evil murders in the military are found guilty, which is very rare, they are given terms even car thieves would wish.

[KMAJ]

08:35 AM on 03/29/2011

The overwhelming majority of U.S. Soldiers find the acts of these individuals reprehensible.

Unfortunately, I see that the Soldier-spitters are crawling out from under their rocks to celebrate this opportunity to exploit the tarnished image of the Troops.

Let us remember that just as the acts of a few do not define a group as a whole. I know that not all Liberals hate the military, I know that the acts of a few religious extremists do not represent all muslims, as I would hope you know that these acts do not define all Soldiers.

[Hello-o-o-o-o]

09:53 AM on 03/29/2011

Don't let the "soldier-spitters" get to you kid. As an old combat veteran myself I know the feeling.
These kinds of people are the ones that have to stereo-type everyone and everything. Thier meaningless diatribes will soon pass. History will be the true judge of every soldiers actions.

[KMAJ]

10:23 AM on 03/29/2011

I know better than to believe that these hateful anti-military types are the norm. It really doesn't bother me since I take into consideration the source.

But just as I would never let a fellow Soldier get away with bigotry, I will call these haters out when I see them.

[donklinestiver]

01:09 PM on 04/28/2011

There will allways be bad people in and out of uniform and staying sane while facing a litany of horors still have faith in basic humanity of man. There are good and average units good leaders want in the airborne unit and other elite units.

[Dan Dolan]

09:54 AM on 03/29/2011

Listen, I understand where you are coming from, but the REALITY is that about 5% of military forces are bad apples. There are bad apples amongst all humans. While we know it does not mean that all soldiers are bad, these atrocities NEED to be reported and accounted for. Do you not understand the importance of that?

As you said, it doesn't define all soldiers. Most of people that I am very thankful for. Especially giving the kind of service to this country that all of you do.

[Bonez1]

08:24 AM on 03/29/2011

i am on page 4 of this terrible terrible story...it just sickens me that we are back home and supporting these murders...no wonder there are many Middle Easterners who are suspicious of the US or downright hate us...

just imagine, these guys coming home to civilian lives and having no excitement decides to go on a spree back home...for people to think it is only the war causing these mindless criminal acts, think again...guys like these will continue to be violent against the innocents esp when they no longer are the "big guys with guns" back home...

this is really disgusting me and makes me want to throw up just thinking about what they have done or are doing...of course, things like this can happen in any wars but it isn't so in your face as this article is telling us and how prevalent it was among all the men in different platoons.

so sad for those loved ones that have to suffer their loss...i am ashamed of these guys..they are no better than animals,,,just vicious animals that need to be caged up.

[Dan Dolan]

09:57 AM on 03/29/2011

I guess you are too young to remember the NIGHTLY reports on the Evening News during the many years of the Viet Nam War. We saw graphic pictures/video of these types of atrocities every night for years. It makes most people sick.

[WasteNJ]

12:13 PM on 03/30/2011

That's probably why nothing similar to that Vietnam footage was ever broadcast from Iraq or Afghanistan for the nightly news. The news networks were in full cheerleader mode with cruise missile footage on a loop, like we can fight a war by remote control from Virginia.

[MaliceCooper]

06:56 AM on 03/29/2011

America the Gruesome !

[BestGuest]

06:55 AM on 03/29/2011

What an indescribably sinking feeling.
Imagine all the horrors being conducted by the occupation forces that have not yet been reported…..

[GeorgieGirl9]

09:14 AM on 03/29/2011

Or you can celebrate all of the victories of the 99.99% of the soldiers in our 2 wars.

[Dan Dolan]

09:59 AM on 03/29/2011

While being REALISTIC and being aware that these ATROCITIES do occur and it is IMPORTANT for us to witness.

[BestGuest]

07:08 AM on 03/31/2011

Never!

[SuperKK]

06:24 AM on 03/29/2011

What we are doing in Libya is no different. It sounds cleaner, because we can talk about freedom, liberty, UN sanctions, international coalitions, and all these other creations of our propaganda. But at its core, this is unilateral aggression by the advanced nations of the West against a defenseless third world country. Given the numbers involved, it is far worse than what these soldiers did in Afghanistan.

[BrianPK80]

06:44 AM on 03/29/2011

Instability in the Middle East poses too great a threat to the West's pet colony of Israel.

[Naville]

09:02 AM on 03/29/2011

But who will do that kind of narrative and angle of reporting while the U.S media self-censor about Israel.

If Burma had the same influence Israel has politically, socially and financially on the U.S, Burma would have been a beacon of Democracy and an ally.

[allperils]

12:08 PM on 05/18/2011

Stability in the Middle East is NOT good for the US.

Instability in the Middle East is GOOD for the US.

That's how your sick nation create division among them and steal their resources.

[greetings101]

05:44 AM on 03/29/2011

this is extremely sickening. if you haven't read the article please do so.

[nybirdcalls]

06:32 AM on 03/29/2011

I just couldn't bring myself to read through the whole report... stopped reading after the 4th or 5th para.....