The US Army’s Kill Team in Afghanistan

Rolling Stone has just published a gruesome expose of the actions of a unit in the US Army that engaged in a killing spree of Afghan civilians for sport, even severing body parts for personal trophies.  The article makes clear that this was not the conduct of a few bad apples; rather, it was born of a deep hatred for Afghans that led Jeremy Morlock, a corporal in the US Army and of the soldiers accused of these crimes to say to one of the investigators “None of us in the platoon – the platoon leader, the platoon sergeant – no one gives a fuck about these people.”  It is probably the case that the scenes described in this story are being repeated on a wide scale in Afghanistan.  If the reports in this story are true, the only conclusion one can reach is that the US Army has now become depraved to the point of barbarism, something I say with deep sorrow.  The article clearly shows that the actions of this “rogue” unit were well-known, and they saw no need to hide what they had done.  In short, the evidence is pretty damning that the Army was aware of the conduct, and did nothing to stop it, until it was forced to, and even when it did respond, it has failed to take any action against officers who either knew, or were recklessly indifferent, to the conduct of soldiers under their command.  Even someone like myself who is not a flag-waving American nationalist likes to believe that the US Army tries to live up to the ideals of the American Republic.  This story shows with clarity that it no longer has the capacity to do so.  I also think that it follows from this conclusion that we have no business in Afghanistan and should leave immediately.