The Reasons Why They Hate Us

Afghan insurgents don't "hate us for our freedoms" and it's not really things like assclown pastors burning Qurans, but as Peter Daou flags down it's things like "US soldiers killing Afghans for sport and taking fingers as trophies" that might really push Afghans over the edge into endless retaliatory violence.

In one of the most grisly war crimes investigations to date, 12 American soldiers face charges over a secret "kill team" that allegedly murdered Afghan civilians for sport and collected bits of their fingers as war souvenirs.

Five of the soldiers have been charged with killing three Afghan civilians in January, February and May of this year. Seven of their comrades are accused of helping them cover up the murders and beating up another U.S. soldier -- an alleged whistle-blower fresh out of basic training who reported his platoon mates for smoking hashish stolen from Afghans.

All of the accused are based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, and served a year with a Stryker infantry brigade in southern Afghanistan. Their unit -- B Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division -- saw heavy combat in Afghanistan and suffered many casualties.

On Wednesday, The Seattle Times published excerpts of U.S. military documents outlining charges against the soldiers, and several other news agencies have reported on the case. The charges include premeditated murder, aggravated assault, obstructing justice and possessing human body parts, and carry penalties of up to life in prison or the death penalty.

The documents say that the most senior ranking defendant, Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, 25, of Billings, Mont., was found in possession of "finger bones, leg bones and a tooth taken from Afghan corpses," according to Al-Jazeera.

I mean, I know war is hell and all that, but this is outright insanity, inhuman butchery on a truly frightening scale.  Years after Abu Ghraib and we're still doing this?  This stuff happened this year, folks.

No wonder we're losing large chunks of Afghanistan back to the Taliban.  I'll tell you what, if a "kill team" from a foreign country came through here gunning down Americans and taking bones as trophies, exactly how would Americans react?

Do you blame the Afghan people for taking up violence?  This has been going on for years and it's proof it will continue until we leave Afghanistan for good, folks.  COIN tactics and "clear, control, hold" strategy aside, this is a complete Charlie Foxtrot.

Bring them home and for God's sakes get them the help they need to cope with nine years of this idiocy.