U.S. Soldiers Charged in Afghan Civilian Murders

(CBS)  Updated at 8:24 p.m. ET

Gen. David Petraeus has said the United States can't succeed in Afghanistan without winning the hearts and minds of Afghan civilians.

Now, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports, there's a disturbing development in a story first reported in May involving U.S. soldiers accused of killing civilians in cold blood.

Twelve soldiers have been charged in the case. If the charges are proven, this was the platoon from hell.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Afghanistan
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Five American soldiers accused of murdering Afghan civilians just because they could, seven more involved in the cover-up; plus mutilating corpses, taking pot shots at Afghan civilians, smoking hashish, and beating up a private who blew the whistle.

They may have done more harm to the American cause in Afghanistan than any equivalent number of Taliban could hope to cause.

"This is the kind of thing that hurts us enormously," says Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow on foreign policy at the Brookings Institution. "It will have a disproportionate effect, just like Abu Ghraib did. Just like any such incident. Just like the Quran burning would in Florida."

The soldiers were operating in the Taliban heartland near Kandahar where they were supposed to be winning hearts and minds. According to court documents, it began when Sgt. Calvin Gibbs joked about how easy it would be "toss a grenade at someone and kill them."

It turned into a conspiracy when five soldiers allegedly formed a "kill team" and on separate occasions murdered three Afghan civilians, apparently chosen at random.

Defense attorneys intend to fight the charges -- but whatever the outcome of the court case the damage in Afghanistan has already been done.

Charges against the soldiers:

Winfield Charge Sheet
Quintal Charge Sheet
Corey Moore Charge Sheet
Ashton Moore Charge Sheet
Wagnon Charge Sheet
Stevens Charge Sheet
Kelly Charge Sheet
Holmes Charge Sheet
Bram Charge Sheet
Morlock Charge Sheet
Jones Charge Sheet

[ashkenazidor]

it pisses me that you are taking this "lightly"... you are not criticizing this enough. Because, if this was an israeli soldier ( which will probably never be) you would all say " screw israel the murderers" and stuff like that...

and these people were not even armed and no terrorists were hiding behind them... this pisses me off that on every little thing people go and say " screw israel" even if we did not do anything and no one here is saying things like this to america... i dont think that they should, but it shows you the mindset of the world against israel...

[PatriotMike2]

Last I checked they are innocent until proven guilty. As for CBS' little remark that 'regardless of the truth the damage has been done', this just goes to prove what a sad, demented little species humans are. Forget the truth of the matter, what matters is that it was alleged!! Pathetic.

[tankmansquare]

They say ignorance is bliss, and there are times when I wish I didn't remember things so well. It would be nice if I could bury my head in the sand and pretend this is just a nightmare, unfortunately I awake each day to find more of America's best coming home maimed either mentally or physically or both.

I see more civilians being deliberately targeted by either Special Forces assassination teams, or more recently by an Army squad that simply wanted to take out civilians. There are five I believe, under investigation. In Iraq, there was an Airborne unit involved in raping a young girl in front of her family, then killing them all, and another unit that went berserk and wiped out an entire block because an IED killed one of their fellow Marines. Even the "friendly fire" killing of Pat Tillman comes into question.

When you add all this up like Abu Grebe, Gitmo, the torture memos, Extraordinary Rendition, preemptive strikes, assassination teams targeting Americans or anyone designated as an unlawful enemy combatant, killing unarmed civilians by attack helicopter or UAV, is it any wonder that soldiers would return with PTSD and end up in prison on violent charges? So what does the government do to correct this? They go after the whistle blowers like Wikileaks! We had the Nuremburg code after WWII to prevent this type of behavior by any nation ever happening again. We even executed Japanese war criminals for water boarding American POW?s, yet we think it?s ok for us to do it now.

Things have gotten so bad, that it's as if they want to turn the whole world into a war zone. Even here at home, the police seem to have gotten more violent. The practice of breaking down doors and barging into homes in Iraq and shooting people and intimidating families, seems to have been taken up by SWAT Teams here in America. Tasering old people in their own home seems to be OK. Shooting handcuffed "suspects" in the back while they are face down, seems to be nothing more that justifiable homicide. The Patriot Act has turned America into a war zone, and we too are becoming more destabilized in the process.

[newerdeal]

The preacher from Florida making it hard for the troops is still the top story.

This story is a big reason they hate us ! ! !

We need to bring our over worked stressed out troops home before more of this happens ! ! !

[deoppressoliber1964]

Nice job of objective reporting CBS. no wonder you're going down as Obama.

Liberal scumbags.

[newerdeal]

The preacher from Florida making it hard for the troops is still the top story.

This story is a big reason they hate us ! ! !

We need to bring our over worked stressed out troops home before more of this happens ! ! !

[Chapeltepec]

CBS and Mr. Martin, let's get the facts first before you and the biased media and the snarky left-wing bloggers hang them high. If they are guilty then they should receive appropriate punishment. If not, then you have already railroaded them as we have seen before in Iraq.Your credibility and that of the media is not the best we have ever seen!

[Chapeltepec]

Also, the operative phrase in Mr. Martin's story is "if they are guilty", "if they are guilty"! You wrote it Mr. Martin now you and CBS follow the words you just wrote!

[wyodutch]

Hoooaaahhh! Ain't our wars great!!??
.
Here's some more happy-face news from the Glorious War to Save the fatherland From Muslim Hordes:
.
"In a breathtaking case of your tax dollars not at work, twin sisters managed to bilk the Pentagon out of $20.5 million in fraudulent shipping costs - including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to a Texas Army base.

The company also billed and was paid $455,009 to ship three machine screws costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq, and $293,451 to ship an 89-cent split washer to Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, records show.

The owners of C&D Distributors in Lexington, S.C. - the Corley sisters - exploited a flaw in an automated Defense Department purchasing system: Shipments to combat areas or U.S. bases were labeled "priority" and usually paid automatically, said a Pentagon investigator.

Bloomberg News
.

[spaceatoms]

And they didn't charge the banks of bank robbery in the bailout, but yet they charge the soldiers of murder in a war. There is no doubt that we have the correct administration in office, the next thing will be to charge the police officer for speeding during a police chase.

[endurorob_5]

Are you kidding me? If they killed civilians just for kicks then they need to be charged. And quite honestly if they are convicted they need to be turned over to the Afgahns.