Soldiers in Afghan killings operated openly: report

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Soldiers in Afghan killings operated openly: report

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The magazine also posted online a video clip showing US soldiers gunning down two Afghans.

01 April,2011 08:40 pm

A group of US Army soldiers accused of killing unarmed Afghan civilians in cold blood did not act clandestinely as the Pentagon has implied but in plain view of their combat unit, Rolling Stone magazine reported.The magazine said a review of Army investigative files showed the civilian killings were common knowledge among the soldiers’ unit of the 5th Stryker Brigade, contrary to the impression left by the Armys criminal case that they were operating without the awareness of their commanders.The article said questions were raised about the units behavior within days of the first killing in January 2010, but the issue was dropped after the soldiers were interviewed again about the incident and told consistent stories.“It was cut and dry to us at the time,” the magazine quoted Lieutenant Colonel David Abrahams, the battalions second in command, as saying.The article appeared with a pair of photos previously published by the German magazine Der Spiegel showing two soldiers charged in the January killing posed separately with the bloodied corpse of their young Afghan victim, whose head they are holding up by the hair.One of those soldiers, Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock, 23, was sentenced last week to 24 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to three counts of premeditated murder and apologized in court, saying, “I lost my moral compass.”Rolling Stone published several additional gruesome photos of unidentified casualties but said it was not known whether the bodies shown were of civilians or Taliban fighters, or whether they were killed by members of the same Army unit.The magazine also posted online a video clip showing US soldiers on foot patrol gunning down two Afghan men they encountered riding a motorbike, although it was unclear whether the two men were armed as the troops claim in the footage.A second video, titled Death Zone, consists of thermal imaging surveillance footage, set to rock music, of a nighttime air strike on two Afghan men suspected of planting an improvised explosive device.