The U.S. Military Producing Psychopaths

U.S. Soldier Opens Fire On Civilians In Afghanistan

"BALANDI, Afghanistan — An American soldier opened fire on villagers near his base in southern Afghanistan Sunday and killed 16 civilians, according to President Hamid Karzai, who called it an "assassination" and furiously demanded an explanation from Washington. Nine children and three women were among the dead.

The killing spree deepened a crisis between U.S. forces and their Afghan hosts over Americans burning Muslim holy books on a base in Afghanistan last month. The Quran burnings sparked weeks of violent protests and attacks that left some 30 dead. Six U.S. service members have been killed by their Afghan colleagues since the burnings came to light, and the violence had just started to calm down.

"This is an assassination, an intentional killing of innocent civilians and cannot be forgiven," Karzai said in a statement. He said he has repeatedly demanded the U.S. stop killing Afghan civilians.

President Barack Obama phoned Afghan President Hamid Karzai to express his shock and sadness at the killing and wounding of Afghan civilians. He offered condolences to the grieving families of those killed and to the people of Afghanistan.

In a statement released by the White House, Obama called the attack "tragic and shocking" and not representative of "the exceptional character of our military and the respect that the United States has for the people of Afghanistan." He vowed "to get the facts as quickly as possible and to hold accountable anyone responsible."..."

"The gunman went into three houses and opened fire, said a resident of Alkozai, Abdul Baqi, citing accounts from his neighbors.

"When it was happening in the middle of the night, we were inside our houses. I heard gunshots and then silence and then gunshots again," Baqi said.

One villager said eleven of those killed were members of his family, many of them women and children.

An AP photographer saw 15 bodies in the two villages caught up in the shooting. Some of the bodies had been burned, while others were covered with blankets. A young boy partially wrapped in a blanket was in the back of a minibus, dried blood crusted on his face and pooled in his ear. His loose-fitting brown pants were partly burned, revealing a leg charred by fire.

An AP photo showed the bloodstained corner of a house next to a large black area that was charred by fire. The charred area appeared to be remnants of blankets and possibly bodies that had been set on fire.

Villagers packed inside the minibus looked on with concern as a woman spoke to reporters. She pulled back a blanket to reveal the body of a smaller child wearing what appeared to be red pajamas. A third dead child lay in a pile of green blankets in the bed of a truck

A U.S. official in Washington said the American, an Army staff sergeant, was believed to have acted alone and that initial reports indicated he returned to the base after the shooting and turned himself in.

However Karzai's statement left some confusion on the point. He spoke of a single U.S. gunman, but in another part of the statement referred to "American forces" entering the houses.

It also said the president spoke by phone to one of the five people wounded in the attack, a 15-year-old named Rafiullah, who was shot in the leg. The statement said the teenager told Karzai that American soldiers entered his house in the middle of the night, woke up his family and began shooting them...."

"U.S. forces have been implicated before in other violence in the same area.

Four soldiers from a Stryker brigade out of Lewis-McChord, Washington, have been sent to prison in connection with the 2010 killing of three unarmed men during patrols in Kandahar province's Maiwand district, which is just northwest of Panjwai. They were accused of forming a "kill team" that murdered Afghan civilians for sport – slaughtering victims with grenades and powerful machine guns during patrols, then dropping weapons near their bodies to make them appear to have been combatants."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/11/afghanistan-shootings-us-s...
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" Karzai said in a statement. He said he has repeatedly demanded the U.S. stop killing Afghan civilians."

Let us admit this is in no way an isolated incident. Whatever statements for the purpose of propaganda foreign leaders might make, there is more abundant and better evidence that the US is exceptional at propaganda and has been keeping their public well insulated from the reality of what happens in these foreign conflicts.

Soldiers are used. They are not trained, respected by their government and sent to fight causes of the morally higher ground. They are simply used as pawns in a profitable game of destruction which only profits the elite, never the countrymen and certainly never the opponent. Being an effective pawn of this game means being broken in mind and spirit in order to become someone who can no longer rely on a working conscience or even a memory that will retain everything the war machine will do. Victims killing victims.

"Obama called the attack "tragic and shocking" and not representative of "the exceptional character of our military and the respect that the United States has for the people of Afghanistan."

Please be advised that the following video is very disturbing.

"US soldiers 'killed Afghan civilians for sport and collected fingers as trophies'"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/09/us-soldiers-afghan-civi...

"US Airstrikes Kill Scores Of Civilians In Afghanistan"
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/92242

"IRAQ: US troops regularly kill civilians, says PM"
http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/33741

"Marines in deadly Afghan valley grapple with civilian casualty allegations, hampering effort"
http://uruknet.info/?p=m72225&fb=1

The "exceptional charecter" of the military leaves much to be desired.

I consider it nothing short of a miracle when a soldier makes it home and still remains sane and still has a working conscience. Many young people are broken by the military and this is why when some say "support our troops", my only prayer can be that they come home safe, sane and without spiritual baggage that will haunt them the rest of their days.

There are no divinely condoned wars taking place on Earth. There are no "freedoms" being fought for, rescued or secured by US military. We might pray for the safety of everyone dragged into this evil, but lets never "support" the war.

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AdminPermalink Reply by Prodigal Son on March 25, 2012 at 4:23pm

Lawyer says Afghan killings suspect Staff Sgt. Bales remembers little

"FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan – The lawyer for the Army staff sergeant accused of slaughtering 16 Afghan civilians in a nighttime shooting rampage met his client for the first time Monday and said the solider has a sketchy memory of the massacre.

Lawyer John Henry Browne said Robert Bales remembers some details from before and after the killings, but very little during the time the military believes on a killing spree through two Afghan villages.

"He has some memory of some things that happened that night. He has some memories of before the incident and he has some memories of after the incident. In between, very little," Browne told The Associated Press by telephone from Fort Leavenworth, where Bales is being held..."

Why would he remember little to nothing? The military blames alcohol. I am more inclined to think that this explains it: