Cpl. Jeremy Morlock with Staff Sgt. David Bram
MARCH 27, 2011 10:00 PM ET
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.
Bravo Company had been stationed in the area since summer, struggling, with little success, to root out the Taliban and establish an American presence in one of the most violent and lawless regions of the country. On the morning of January 15th, the company's 3rd Platoon – part of the 5th Stryker Brigade, based out of Tacoma, Washington – left the mini-metropolis of tents and trailers at Forward Operating Base Ramrod in a convoy of armored Stryker troop carriers. The massive, eight-wheeled trucks surged across wide, vacant stretches of desert, until they came to La Mohammad Kalay, an isolated farming village tucked away behind a few poppy fields.
To provide perimeter security, the soldiers parked the Strykers at the outskirts of the settlement, which was nothing more than a warren of mud-and-straw compounds. Then they set out on foot. Local villagers were suspected of supporting the Taliban, providing a safe haven for strikes against U.S. troops. But as the soldiers of 3rd Platoon walked through the alleys of La Mohammad Kalay, they saw no armed fighters, no evidence of enemy positions. Instead, they were greeted by a frustratingly familiar sight: destitute Afghan farmers living without electricity or running water; bearded men with poor teeth in tattered traditional clothes; young kids eager for candy and money. It was impossible to tell which, if any, of the villagers were sympathetic to the Taliban. The insurgents, for their part, preferred to stay hidden from American troops, striking from a distance with IEDs.
While the officers of 3rd Platoon peeled off to talk to a village elder inside a compound, two soldiers walked away from the unit until they reached the far edge of the village. There, in a nearby poppy field, they began looking for someone to kill. "The general consensus was, if we are going to do something that fucking crazy, no one wanted anybody around to witness it," one of the men later told Army investigators.
The poppy plants were still low to the ground at that time of year. The two soldiers, Cpl. Jeremy Morlock and Pfc. Andrew Holmes, saw a young farmer who was working by himself among the spiky shoots. Off in the distance, a few other soldiers stood sentry. But the farmer was the only Afghan in sight. With no one around to witness, the timing was right. And just like that, they picked him for execution.
He was a smooth-faced kid, about 15 years old. Not much younger than they were: Morlock was 21, Holmes was 19. His name, they would later learn, was Gul Mudin, a common name in Afghanistan. He was wearing a little cap and a Western-style green jacket. He held nothing in his hand that could be interpreted as a weapon, not even a shovel. The expression on his face was welcoming. "He was not a threat," Morlock later confessed.
COMMENTS
Alan Miller
This kind of sh-t happens in every war. I don't think anyone is really surprised to read this article.
Brian Galyean
Jose Quiles
When we create excuses for war crimes then we become part of the problem.
Imagine if we had used the same arguments for Naz1 Germany.
Nurul Choudhury
I hope, given the same circumstances I would do the right thing, but I cannot know that. The greatest blame goes to those in charge, if you turn a blind eye, there thing will happen and we will LOOSE.
Gregory Harris
Doris Enow
Gwendolyn Alù
The fact that we allowed our government to lower its standards when accepting people in the service only serves to exacerbate the bad situation and bad goes to worse. These soldiers have lost their humanity. They've stopped seeing Afghanies as people, people who only want an end to 40 years of war, hardship and misery. I don't care if this is what happens in war. I expect better from my people. They represent us to the outside world, often times in places where they will never meet another American other than an American soldier. The fact that this wasn't investigated from the outset is shameful. That it was covered up actively by the Pentagon is worse. Every person involved in this cover up should be dishonorably discharged at the very least. This has to go all the way up the chain of command without exception. Either we are country of laws or we aren't. And start pulling out of Iraq and Afghanistan now. I recognize the possibility of a power vacuum and that Al-Qaeda will probably again but we are making things worse and paying for it at the same time. What on earth are we going to do with the people who come back to out communities after committing these terrible crimes. I'd be interested to know what became of those men who were involved in the massacre at My Lai in 68'? What kind of fathers, husbands and members of their communities were they? Can they be redeemed as human beings?
Unless we, or another member of NATO is being directly invaded, I don't want to see the US involved in one more foreign war, certainly not involving ground troops. We just don't have a good track record.
Doris Enow
Patrick Quinn
William Blow
Frances Aiello
Allen Whitt
Cathy Cobb Edwins
David Rookie Fehlman
Joanna Hirsch
Jeff Phillips II
Cathy Cobb Edwins
David Schappert
AND, they don't read!
Tutta Labella
Georgina Lee
Sameer Tripathi
These soldiers are an affront o humanity and they should be treated like the rabid dogs that they are.
Michael Saveme Silverman
Carrie Kristin
Basically, it's an issue of hate and failure of empathy. If we want the world to be a better place, we can try to reduce those flaws in ourselves, and push for laws and legislation that minimize opportunities for these flaws to rear their ugly heads (war being a prime example). But at the same time, regarding anyone who generalizes in negative ways about Americans after reading this piece, that strikes me as hate and a failure of empathy too, much milder than what these people did but leading down the same road. Let's focus on the solution instead - fixing ourselves and pushing our politicians to make better legislation and policy.
Evgeny Filatov
Rory Ryan
Jeroen Okhuijsen
Dave Natale
John Elliott
Ramon Lao
Simon Johnston
The comparison that more and more people are making to Nazism is perfectly appropriate for this portion of American society, and their representatives in America's armed forces - and the evangelical 'pastors' who encourage them from the rear.
Anna Tomczak
Michael Gaw
Graham Hamer
Currently, no matter what atrocities Israel is responsible for, and no matter how much territory it steals from the Palistinians, Americans support them with weapons, money and politically.
Time Americans started thinking about what effect they have on the opinions of the rest of the world. They are fast becoming the pariahs of the planet.
Sandy Liu
PS. Jeremy Morlock only received 24 years in prison....how is that allowed?! That insect should get life in solitary!!!
Sandy Liu
PS. Jeremy Morlock only received 24 years in prison....how is that allowed?! That insect should get life in solitary!!!
Frank Adam Brenner
Jehan Mir
In the recent history,U.S. soldiers had machine-gunned 300 of helpless civilians, under the railway bridge at No Gun Ri. on July 26th,1950. Twelve (12) ex-U.S.. soldiers supported these facts and the claims made by South Korean survivors surrounding the massacre. Another had 100 died in a preceding air attack.
The attack is similar to another massacre carried out later by U.S. troops in My Lai, Vietnam on March 16th 1968 when U.S. soldiers went on a rampage, raping, looting and killing as many as 400 unarmed Vietnamese civilians. Lt. Kelly was the incharge of this massacre and was pardoned by late President Richard Nixon.
Karma is finally catching up with US.
Keith Tarrant
If we accept what these troops did as "okay", we become accomplices in bringing dishonor to the entire US military by accepting accepting cold blooded war criminals as acceptable US soldiers.
We dishonor our all troops by setting their minimum standard for behavior at the criminal level.
Every group of a few hundred thousand men is going to have some bad apples. Honor depends on disowning and fairly punishing these bad apples when they are discovered.
Our national honor depends on disowning and fairly punishing the war criminals within our troops.
Frank Adam Brenner
Lisa Reynolds Davies
James Hamilton
Kyle MacCallum
As an American citizen that supports our troops to the fullest I find this incredibly disturbing and disheartening and would not expect this from soldiers in our army.
To many people on this page however, you are more ignorant than you claim us Americans to be. As soon as anything involving our soldiers comes up in the news the ignorant stereotypical American remarks come flying out from all directions regardless of wether or not it has ANYTHING to do with the actual event.
It WAS NOT Mcdonalds and Ipads that caused this.
This DOES NOT represent the entire army, or rather the so called "army of murderers" some of you refer to all troops as.
This is the product of an inhumane and brutal choice made by these disgusting invdividuals.
As an American I am appalled by this just as much as you non- Americans.
Now is not the time to be throwing out ridiculous anti-America remarks that frankly, don't even make sense.
Honestly, do you think we Americans support this atrocity? We are not a nation of war mongering fat redneck murderers. We are a "melting pot" of all races, religions, and cultures, and for non-Americans to spew such venom against a whole nation for a disgusting act of brutality (one that I would gladly see these soldiers put to death for) that was not done by our citizens is beyond ignorant.
SEPERATE NOTE TO Francisco Boni Neto: Saying you feel compelled to commit terrorist acts against innocent lives for the actions of these soldiers makes you no better than them. Your Ignorance astounds me. Grow up.
back on point,
we need to set our differences and stereotypical hatreds aside and get past our petty bitterness and put these murdering psycopaths down like the dogs they are!
Michael Franco
Richard Pearce
And do NOT dismiss this as only something that threatens Afghan and Iraqi civilians. Soldiers who participated in events like this, either as perpetrators or in covering up return to civilian life, and become your (and your children's) bosses, police, judges, and politicians.
To protect your families, the American public needs to demand that not only those who participated directly be prosecuted, but message sent loud and clear across the military that it is the responsibility of everyone in the chain of command to see that such things are dealt with speedily. This means not just individual prosecutions, but a message ofgroup responsibility like retiring the colour of the brigade in disgrace.
The message also needs to be sent to the civilians who are charged with overseeing the military that they too have failed the American public.
As a Canadian, let me point you to the 'Somalia Affair' as a case study in what SHOULD have happened, and a jumping off point in deciding what NEEDS to happen because those actions were not undertaken.
Todd Keller
We will NEVER 'win the hearts and minds' of these people. We need to leave and direct these billions of dollars towards education, healthcare, aid to unemployment etc.
Just absolutely so disappointed in our country. Idiotic.
Ortho Stice
Gail Cerridwen
Derek Stout
Not all American soldiers are there to protect and serve. Not all Muslims want to cut off your head.
Francisco Boni Neto
Gail Cerridwen
M.j. Reynolds
Alex Bayne
Fredick Martinez
Michael Rosenberg
Rudy Haugeneder
Felix Rodriguez
Kerry Butcher
Joel Kent Melville
Christopher Larkins
Jae Barclay
End the war in Afghanistan now.
Chuck Cirino
Blake Sundstrom
Mike Yarbrough
Nelson Eguizabal
Aaron Stephens
Allison Tans
Sammi Law
Manthan Bhatt
Adrian Zupp
This relates to my latest blog post: WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER.
adrianzupp.blogspot.com/2011/03/war-is-not-answer.html
Amy Robinson Buddie
Larry McCombs
Andy Clifford
Angela Lo Rosso
Lisa Kasper
Sajid Anwar
Robert James Hogge