US soldier in court over alleged Afghan killing spree

Source: AFP

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Washington (AFP) - The alleged head of a rogue US army unit accused of murdering Afghan civilians for sport appeared in court, as more gruesome details of a killing spree emerged.

Facing a pre-trial hearing, Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs is accused of leading the attacks in southern Afghanistan earlier this year involving around a dozen soldiers in all, in which the victims' bodies were allegedly mutilated.

If proved in a full court martial, the crimes would be among the worst committed by US forces in Afghanistan, and could deal a blow to efforts to win over the support of ordinary Afghans in the war-torn country.

Gibbs, appearing for the first time in court, sat quietly between two defense attorneys as investigating officer Colonel Thomas Molloy read the charges.

Read more: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/101110/world/afghanistan_unrest_us_prosecute_military

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Reporting from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. —
The alleged ringleader of what authorities say was a rogue U.S. Army platoon in Afghanistan goaded his comrades into killing innocent Afghan civilians and threatened to kill a fellow soldier if he told anyone about drug use in the platoon, an Army investigator testified Tuesday.

Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, facing three counts of murder in one of the most serious war crimes cases of the war in Afghanistan, produced a collection of severed fingers from Afghan corpses and, along with co-defendant Cpl. Jeremy Morlock, used them to intimidate Pfc. Justin Stoner, who already had been stomped and beaten by half a dozen members of his unit, Army investigator Anderson Wagner said his interviews revealed.

"After the assault, he claimed that he had his life threatened by Staff Sgt. Gibbs and Cpl. Morlock, when they produced severed fingers and told him if he didn't want to end up like this guy, that he better keep his mouth shut," Wagner testified.

Morlock, when he was brought in for questioning, was initially "scared for his own safety," Wagner said, but eventually revealed that the platoon's misdeeds had gone far beyond hashish smoking and the beating.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-ft-lewis-trial-20101110,0,5546509.story