We are now learning about a rogue “kill team” operating in the Kandahar Province of Afghanistan.
A couple of young soldiers (late teens and early 20’s) decided to kill a 15-year-old Afghan boy who was working in a field. After summoning the boy to come closer, they tossed a grenade over a wall….then proceeded to shoot him.
Afterwards, they took pictures of their trophy kill – even while the dead boy’s father watched. One of the soldiers even cut off the boy’s pinky finger to keep as a souvenir.
The local Afghans protested after witnesses came forth. And even though the story raised suspicion among military officers on the scene, no formal investigation ensued. No discipline for the murderers.
The “kill team” continued to murder innocent Afghan civilians, often placing weapons in the corpse’s hands after each incident to make it look like a justified killing.
How does something like this happen? What causes young military soldiers to “go rogue?” How does somebody have that much disregard for another human life?
As in Vietnam, we take young people, train them to kill, ship them half way around the world, then plunk them in a hostile environment where the enemy cannot even be identified.
Locals who look harmless, may in fact have no intention of hurting U.S. personnel. On the other hand, they may be hardened Taliban fighters. How can you tell?
Do we teach basic ethics and morality to our soldiers?
Do we screen incoming recruits psychologically, so that misfits are excluded from the ranks? Or do we applaud those with a lust for blood and savagery, thinking they would make better killing machines?
And when somebody goes off the path and commits a crime like this, do our military leaders (NCO’s and Officers) take swift, decisive action? Or do they cover it up, fearing that they too might get a lousy fitness report if news were to get out.
Just like the My Lai massacre in 1968 where hundreds of civilians were tortured and murdered (mostly women and children), the military chain of command failed to do it’s job. When the real story came out, there was denial all the way up that chain and in the end, the only punishment given was to the 2nd Lieutenant leading the platoon.
Nobody can tell me that the leaders on the ground did not know what was happening – both in Vietnam and in Afghanistan.
In these cases, it takes somebody with moral courage and fortitude to stand up and say, “This is wrong!”
Meanwhile, you wonder how many atrocities like this are actually occurring on a regular basis…and just never come to light.
And you understand why so many people in other parts of the world hate the “Ugly Americans.” We can do so much good – and it can all be wiped from the minds by a senseless act of deranged bravado like this.
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