Soldier found guilty of murdering Afghans

[ScreamingMeemie]

Source: CNN

A five-person military panel convicted Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs Thursday of all charges against him, including the murders of three Afghan civilians.

He faces a maximum sentence of life in military prison.

The verdict was delivered in a drafty military courtroom near Tacoma, a world away from the tiny, sun-baked Afghan villages he is accused of terrorizing as the leader of what prosecutors call a rogue group of soldiers that targeted civilians.

The panel of three officers and two enlisted soldiers started deliberating shortly before 10 a.m. (1 p.m. ET) and returned its verdict around 3 p.m. (6 p.m. ET).

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/10/justice/soldier-murder--rial/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[Nuclear Unicorn]

1. A disgrace and dishonor to the overwhelming majority of good soldiers

I had the privilege of hanging out with my husband's buddies when we were first dating. They were all good guys. Mostly, just big, playful, rough-housers. In other words, BROTHERS.

They deserve better than to have bastards like this in their ranks.

[ScreamingMeemie]

2. I totally agree.

I am glad he did not get away with it.

[bahrbearian]

5. What about Bush?

[xchrom]

3. Recommend

[gratuitous]

4. We were able to try Sgt. Gibbs?

Huh. I thought we didn't do that for terrorists anymore. Just have a drone lob a missile into his general vicinity and boom! no more terrorist, and everything's jake again. I wonder what the difference might have been in this instance? Hmmmmm.

[24601]

10. You mean someone can be tried successfully in other than a

federal civilian court? Don't let Obama & Holder know or the Gitmo toads might actually get tried. If KSM ever got tried by a commission or court martial, we lose this as an election issue. We can't let justice trump politics!

[gratuitous]

13. That's another issue, but . . .

Isn't it nice for Sgt. Gibbs that he faced a trial by his comrades and brothers in arms? I wonder what the verdict and sentence might have been had he been tried by the community where he committed his crime?

[24601]

14. Having actually conducted a Court Martial, without any reservation

it's precisely where I'd want to be if I were innocent and absolutely where I'd NOT want to if I were guilty.

There's a reason that judges routinely change venues. No doubt Oklahoma City would have been very eager to try McVeigh - which is why his trial was moved.

[Dont call me Shirley]

6. Headline should read: Bush-Cheney Guilty Of Killing Afghans

[krispos42]

7. Army sergeant found guilty in staged murders of three Afghan civilians

Source: Los Angeles Times

Army sergeant found guilty in staged murders of three Afghan civilians

Calvin Gibbs is convicted as the ringleader of a rogue 'kill team,' as well as for keeping body parts as trophies and organizing the gang beating of a fellow soldier over the 5th Stryker Brigade's use of hashish.

By Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times
November 11, 2011

Reporting from Seattle— An Army sergeant so sharp he looked like a recruiting poster — who had skulls tattooed on his leg said to represent the people he'd killed in Iraq — was convicted of three counts of premeditated murder Thursday in the most gruesome war crimes case to emerge from the war in Afghanistan.

Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, 26, was also found guilty of keeping decomposing fingers, leg bones and a tooth as trophies from corpses, and organizing the gang beating of a fellow soldier he feared would report the rampant hashish use in what Army officials say was an "out of control" platoon.

The five-member military jury deliberated about four hours before convicting Gibbs, who led a team from what was then the 5th Stryker Brigade. Gibbs, from Billings, Mont., was sentenced to life in prison, but will be eligible for parole after 10 years.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gibbs-verdict-20111111,0,379525.story

---

Wow.

[harmonicon]

8. What does this have to do with joe Paterno?

Nothing? Oh, then this is clearly not an important story.... US soldiers running criminal gangs which take joy in murder in foreign countries? Clearly not important.

[Kurmudgeon]

9. An incredible lack of over sight here. I expect there have been many Mai Lai's in Iraq

The US has forgotten the past and repeated it.

[krispos42]

12. Damn,I didn't realize it was a dupe.

Dateline was 11/11. :dunce:

[Blue_Tires]

11. what the shit?

Gibbs said he killed one of the men, but he claimed it was in self-defense. However, the staff sergeant admitted to ripping and cutting off fingers of all three men he was charged with killing. He kept the body parts, he said, to give to soldiers he favored or to intimidate soldiers he disliked.

"I was numb to the situation," Gibbs told the court about why he had taken the body parts. "I wasn't thinking; it's sickening. I am embarrassed."

Gibbs also admitted to posing for photos with bodies against military regulations.
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I don't know which side of the debate psychologists/philosophers will come down on, whether Sgt. Gibbs was a decent human turned monster by war, or if the war was simply an opportunity to let his latent dark side roam unchecked...Either way, I hope he gets some help...