US Soldier Found Guilty in Afghan Thrill-Killings

[BSB]

US soldier found guilty in Afghan thrill-killings

The Associated Press
9:59 PM EST November 10, 2011

A U.S. Army soldier convicted of exhorting his bored underlings to slaughter three Afghan civilians for sport will be eligible for parole after serving 10 years in prison.

Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs was convicted of murder, conspiracy and other charges at his court martial Thursday. The jury had the choice of sentencing him to life with or without the possibility of parole, and they chose the former.

Gibbs was the highest ranking of five soldiers charged in the deaths of the unarmed men during patrols in Kandahar province early last year. At his seven-day court martial at Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle, the 26-year-old acknowledged cutting fingers off corpses to keep as war trophies.

But he insisted he wasn't involved in the first or third killings, and in the second he merely returned fire.

Prosecutors said Gibbs and his co-defendants knew the victims posed no danger, but dropped weapons by their dead bodies to make them appear to have been combatants.

Three of the co-defendants pleaded guilty, and two of them testified against him, portraying him as an imposing, bloodthirsty leader who in one instance played with a victim's corpse and moved the mouth like a puppet. Gibbs' lawyer insisted they conspired to blame him for what they had done and told the five jurors the case represented "the ultimate betrayal of an infantryman."

'Savage'
The jury deliberated for about four hours before convicting him. The sentencing hearing began immediately after the verdict was announced, with a prosecutor, Maj. Andre LeBlanc, asking for the maximum, life without parole. He told jurors that Gibbs was supposed to protect the Afghan people, but instead caused many to lose trust in Americans, hurting the mission. LeBlanc noted that Gibbs repeatedly called the Afghans "savages."

"Ladies and gentlemen, there is the savage -- Staff Sgt. Gibbs is the savage," he said.
Gibbs' lawyer, Phil Stackhouse, asked for leniency -- life with parole, instead of without it -- and noted that Gibbs could be eligible for parole after 10 years if they allowed it

[BSB]

MORE AT: http://news.mobile.msn.com/en-us/articles.aspx?afid=1&aid=45248143

[BSB]

While I'm opposed to the death penalty, in this case this soldier should have faced a firing squad.

Under certain circumstances the military should reintroduce death by firing squad. The repudiation of the offense needs to be collectively levied.


BSB

[Michael Tee]

LMFAO.  You can sure see how seriously the military takes such offences - - eligible for parole in TEN YEARS for the premeditated murder of three innocent and unarmed civilians.  Yeah, they really threw the book at him, didn't they?

If Gibbs and his buddies hadn't threatened the life of one of their own, none of this would have ever seen the light of day.  You're looking at the tip of the iceberg, and even there, in the full light of day, it's a fucking joke.

I look forward to the day when The World's Only Terrorist Superpower, as it is obliged to do by binding international treaty, puts Bush and Cheney on trial for the crime of torture, which Cheney has already openly confessed to.  But as you can see, I am not holding my breath.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Eligible for parole does not mean he will get paroled. Let's hope he gets at least 20 years.

Good that he will never become a cop, which seems to have happened far too often.

[BSB]

>> I am not olding my breath <<

Too bad, the world could use a brake from people like you. 


BSB

[Plane]

   Combat stinks , but this is ..........disgusting.

    What could prevent such idiocy, such egregious cruelty?

     Are we already doing what can be done?

[Michael Tee]

<<Eligible for parole does not mean he will get paroled. Let's hope he gets at least 20 years.>>

LOL.  Yeah, that'll happen.

If anything changes, it'll be the sentence, it'll be appealed DOWNWARDS to advance the eligibility date.

<<Good that he will never become a cop, which seems to have happened far too often.>>

I think if he gets a Presidential pardon, like Lt. Calley did, he'd be eligible to become a cop, too.  A heavily armed cop, with a private finger collection.  Betcha Herm the Perv would pardon him if he were President.  It's at about that point that I'd seriously want to reconsider taking advantage of my Second Amendment rights, were I unfortunate enough to be a U.S. citizen.

[Plane]

...............I'd seriously want to reconsider taking advantage of my Second Amendment rights, were I unfortunate enough to be a U.S. citizen.

Ah ,..... now you get it.

[Michael Tee]

I was speaking in pure hypotheticals, plane.

 Your remark ("Ahhh . . . now you get it.") seems to indicate that you believe the police force is already an armed menace that requires an armed self-defence.

[Plane]

I was speaking in pure hypotheticals, plane.

 Your remark ("Ahhh . . . now you get it.") seems to indicate that you believe the police force is already an armed menace that requires an armed self-defence.

Of course I do.

Do you have unrealistic expectations of the Police?

A very strong majority of police are decent, and a very strong majority of soldiers are too.
A very strong majority of the public is also decent .
Of these three which should be helpless against the other two?

[Michael Tee]

Maybe before we get any further into a discussion about the need for an armed defence to our police forces, you could explain the difference to me again between a minimal-government,  small-c conservative and an anarchist?

[BSB]

As usual Blowhard and plane have taken the discussion off in some unrecognizable direction. Blowhard is talking about Nixon, Vietnam, what a surprise, blah blah ect. etc., and plane, who knows?

BSB

[Michael Tee]

plane, far as you know, is anyone in here talking about Nixon or Vietnam, apart from our disturbed friend?

[Xavier_Onassis]

Vietnam does not seem to be the topic here.