U.S. Aid Workers Were Killed Execution-Style

(CBS)  The bodies of the 10 members of a medical team gunned down in Afghanistan earlier this week arrived in Kabul Sunday, where friends and family identified their remains.

CBS News Correspondent Mandy Clark reports early examinations suggest most were killed execution-style. However at least one was shot in the back, perhaps during an attempt to run away.

Also flown to the capital was the lone survivor of the attack, an Afghan driver who said he was spared because he was a Muslim and recited Islamic holy verses as he begged for his life. The International Assistance Mission, which organized the trip, said the driver had been a trusted employee with four years of service.

Police said they don't know if he is a witness or an accomplice in the killings, claimed by the Taliban which said the group had tried to convert Afghans to Christianity.

All of the bodies - six Americans, two Afghans, a German and a Briton - will be repatriated except for the team leader, Tom Little. He wanted to be buried here, where he had done his life's work as an eye doctor.

His wife Libby says it was a family decision made with his daughters. "He Made his life in Afghanistan," Libby Little said. "That's where he was called for and that's where he will be buried, in a Christian cemetery."

The Littles spent most of the last 35 years in Afghanistan -- through the Soviet invasion, the civil war and under the Taliban government.

"It's a war-torn country, devastated, always facing danger one way or another," Libby said. "Tom has been in tight spots before but it didn't deter his sense that this is what God made him for."

Little had invited Dr. Karen Woo to join him on the ill-fated trip to the Taliban dominated province of Nuristan to provide basic medical care.

Says her fiance Mark "Paddy" Smith, "All she wanted to do was help and a lot of he time she would, you know, forget about herself because there were other people that needed assistance and she just wanted to provide assistance."

Colorado dentist Thomas Grams was also part of the team. He had quit his dental practice to volunteer full-time giving free dental care to impoverished children.

Another team member was Glen Lapp from Lancaster, Pa. He was a nurse who helped victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the attack on the team, who like other aid workers traveled without private security.

Dirk Frans, director of the International Assistance Mission, explained, "We have a no arms policy because we believe that our security is much more in our contacts with the local community. Tom went there, and the team went there, on the invitation of the local community."

But today in Brunswick, N.Y., people came together to mourn his passing.

[elainejana3]

Why haven't we heard Obama comment on this at all. Six Americans shot to death, and silence from the president?!

[gahmer]

Why does our government allow Muslims in this country? According to the Quran, anybody not believing in Islam, should be killed. Yet, these people are building more Mosques, everywhere. How much longer do we have, before they start killing every American in sight. Yet, our government still allows more and more of these people, in our country.

[servorum]

It has been said that it is illegal to preach the gospel in 60% of the world.
Apparently, in much of the Muslim world it is unlawful to even believe the gospel, whether or not one actually preaches it.

[chattyone09]

In the Muslim world one must only be a Christian, or appear to be Christian to be an infidel, punishable by death unless you convert. Atheists seem to think because they don?t believe in any god they are exempt. Unless converted, you are still an infidel. America has always allowed the freedom to express religious beliefs whatever they may be. However, if the current anti-Christian/Jewish climate prevails in this country the remaining choice will only be Islam. Welcome! You are now entering the final phase of the Islamification of the US. Wake up America! There are no ?peace loving? American Muslims speaking out against these murders, bomings and other acts of violence against non-Muslims. Where is the imam from the (proposed) ground zero mosque? Why isn't he outraged?? The Muslim plan is not for religious freedom in the US, guaranteed!

[Dustin83v]

NATO compromised the security of Afghanistan. Rebels would not easily kill aid workers in the past. Karzai should order the Westerners out. NATO could suffer substantial casualties during this month, if they insist on hegemony.

[DidHeSayThat]

Mohammad was a known pedophile. What do you expect from these people?

[newsterI]

which said the group had tried to convert Afghans to Christianity."

Idiots shoulda minded their own business and stop trying to foist xtianity with it's documented history of violence, mass murders, witch burnings, torture, jailings and bloodshed off on the rest of the world.

GOOD, far as I'm concerned they got payback for what their religion handed out to so many over the last few centuries, and helps avenge 10 innocent people who were tortured and executed after having been tried as "witches," some for simply having a black cat around.
One of the 10 might be 16 year old Thomas Granger who was executed in 1642, Before Granger's execution following the laws set down in Leviticus 20:15
The xtian church and it's ilk wasnt above executing CHILDREN for their buybull beliefs!

[mecanik-2009]

After reading what Thomas Granger did I'm not so certain it wasn't the right thing to do. He confessed also. The court records indicated a mare, a cow, two goats, divers sheepe, two calves, and a turkey",
Turkey? Hmmmmm At any rate it would be hard to judge it differently.

[mecanik-2009]

Have these workers lived in a vacuum for these last few years? I think people get so focused on what they are doing they don't stop to look at the big picture. WE ARE AT WAR OVER THERE!! GET OUT!!

[ToolMangler1]

No good deed goes unpunished in the Mid east...

[rwsmith29456]

That Taliban is a very tolerant organization,