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Subscribe to RSSVillagers who witnessed a massacre in southern Afghanistan that killed 17 civilians, including children, describe a chilling scene of screaming, gunfire and barking dogs in which a woman cried that her husband had been shot.
In one of the few published interviews with witnesses to the massacre, a 14-year-old boy told McClatchy newspaper reporter Jon Stephenson that sounds of gunfire woke him in the early morning hours of March 11. The boy said saw a man with a weapon walk into a shed next to his house and shoot a cow.
“I told the women inside our room: ‘Let’s run! Let’s get out of here,’” Rafiullah, who goes by one name, told the reporter.
Military prosecutors allege that Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, accused of a deadly rampage which left 17 Afghan civilians dead, came in two waves, with Bales returning to his base after the first attack and then slipping out again. NBC's John Yang reports.
Another apparent witness, Haji Mohammad Naim, said he awoke to barking dogs.
“Then there was shooting, and the dogs stopped barking,” said Naim, reported to be in his 50s.
A short time later, according to Stephenson's report, several frightened women and children entered Naim's yard in search of shelter. Moments later, a woman and young girl emerged, the woman screaming, "My husband has been martyred."
Naim said he was expecting a squad of soldiers but saw only one man, who he said started shooting at him.
U.S. officials have charged Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales with 17 counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder for the killings. The 38-year-old father of two, who was deployed three times to Iraq before going to Afghanistan, is in a solitary cell in the military prison at Leavenworth, Kansas, while he awaits trial.
The defense attorney for Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the soldier charged Friday with 17 counts of murder, has said the military lacks much of the physical evidence necessary to establish a solid case against his client. But prosecutors say there is ample evidence: surveillance video, shell casings and more. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.
Since the massacre, few independent accounts of the shooting have been reported. Other witnesses have said they saw more than one soldier that night.
An 8-year-old Afghan boy who was wounded, Noorbinak, told Australian reporter Yalda Hakim that a man first shot his father’s dog and then shot his father and dragged his mother by her hair. He said one man entered the room and others were standing in the yard holding lights.
The brother of a victim was quoted as also also seeing other soldiers.
Emma Scanlan, an attorney with the law firm John Henry Browne and Associates that is defending Bales, told msnbc.com on Thursday that the Army has denied defense attorneys access to hospitalized witnesses in Afghanistan and stopped them from accompanying crimes scene investigators to the villages.
“The defense investigation has been blocked at every turn and we have no idea what has been said or promised to these witnesses,” Scanlan said. “It is important to remember that the information we do have indicates that no one who was allegedly in the villages at the time of the shooting can identify our client.”
Army officials have emphasized that Bales acted alone. The case remains in a sort of legal limbo over the question of Bales’s mental capacity. Browne has told his client not to take part in the Army’s “sanity board,” in which he is questioned by psychologists, calling it a “fishing expedition.”
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F*ck Afghanistan, it's government, it's citizens, and every dirty toothless rat that lives there. These people cheer when a raghead blows up a Jewish or Christian school. They demand death when someone burns their cult book.
Now that they got a taste of their own medicine, they want sympathy. Screw these people, cut off all their aid and keep them in the sewers of the 3rd world where they belong.
The irony is palpable with this one.
Your malice is blatant yet you curse your enemies hatred.
What stupid ranting, what have they done to you ? I'm sure you don't know the difference between an Indian, Pakstani, Afghan, or Arab. You go pick a fight then get upset that they shoot back ? What a friggin ignorant bully.
America has a rogue government that has misled them into waging four wars for over ten years while foistering a 'feel-good' socialist economy that has recently imploded. Unable to differentiate the rogue government from one that is authorized by the US Constitution, the American people blindly believe the propaganda that everything their government does is legitimate and for the good of the nation. Even when their rogue government blatantly lies to them: Iraqi WMD as the basis for war; Osama in the hands of the Taliban as the basis for invasion of Afghanistan; overt and coverty assassination of foreign leaders and even vocal disloyal Americans living abroad; bailing out WallSt FatCats with taxpayers' money; using inflation to steal wealth from the working class to fund wars and socialism.
When reality conflicts with their illusions, the American people lash out at the world, the foreigners, or the victims. But never at their rogue government.
While I don't condone what this soldier did, I don't think our media pouring over every excruciating detail whenever a detail comes up for the world to see is helping anything either. If you're going to do this, why don't you do that with all the other atrocities of the war and be fair.
Unbelieveable, well said. How about reporting on the THOUSANDS of EVIL acts done by the Taliban and their supporters?
I am talking about the child brides hacked to pieces or set on fire or the acid thrown into the faces of the little girls trying to go to school. I am talking about the hangings of little kids and the cutting off of heads and the dope dealing and corruption. Yes, lets talk about the murders of the Afghan people by the Taliban. Lets talk about the IEDs used to kill entire families packed into one vehicle.
I know, I know...not as juciy when one of ours goes nuts...
I actually am quite supprised that there are not lots more of this going on. At some point the troops know where the dirt bags live and when you keep losing people and can do nothing against it because of POLITICAL CORRECTNESS, some people just say "screw it" and I am taking as many of them with me as I can.
unbelievable:
......cause two wrong aint make no right.
No use. Give up trying, man. Fess up. Repent. And go and sin no more.
Wars again prove that are nothing but horror and waste of human life all with the purpose of making wealthier the arms dealers. The American empire should realize that with these atrocities it is despised and is bankrupting itself just like other superpowers. The American leaders are to arrogant to admit it because it means profit for them and their lobbyists.
Hmmm? Sometimes wars free the Earth from NAZIs and Imperialists. Personally, I think we should fight wars like we did in the Second World War. Fight the enemy and if he hides behind his wife and kids...well, sucks to be them. The objective is to win, occupy with enough troops to keep the peace and build a new society. We haven't had any problems with Germany or Japan, so I think that way of fighting war is the correct way to do it.
The world trade center massacre was a fvcking chilling scene...not this lame ass shlt. F'ck u MSNBC for trying to make our Soldiers look bad. There's a war going on, people snap, sh't happens.
You're disgusting. I mean that with all fervency I can convey on an internet comment. You're a terrible human.
Wolfe - you sound like a stupid peasant. Did the Afghans crashed the world trade center ? Lay off the profanities - doesn't sound macho, just ignorance.
The soldiers acted as criminal savages, and their outrageous actions are now part of the USA's ugly history of military occupation. It is not the fault of the press wolfe. You really are a peasant.
Yeah, man. Like they is lucky we aint nuke them already. Everything is legit cause we now can f-ing everything cause of 911, including a few massacres. F-ing MSNBC is trying to make "our Soldiers look bad," our country look sick, and them government evil. There's four wars going on, people get high, tripout, and the fan hits the sh't. Everything happens.
Just saying.....................
That kind of mercenary soldiers are an embarrassment and not heroes. To begin with these brainwashed idiots knew the dangers and still choose to enlist trapped by the promise of money. The Afghan civilians are indeed innocent victims of a brutal war that is too long and painful. That some American soldiers end up death or crippled with a chopped leg or arm that is their responsibility.
Now why would anyone shoot a defenseless cow??? That's just wrong!!! Eff the rest of them, they are Taliban supporters and should be considered targets!!
youwish,
What makes you such an expert? Chances are that these people were unwilling VICTIMS of the Taliban, rather than supporters.
There are youtube videos of US soldiers in Afghanistan beating farm animals to death with baseball bats while drunk laughing it up. youwish3578139 is without empathy for the children murdered by the American psychopaths.
Right!!! Get over it! Animals are defenseless little things, troops should be prosecuted for that !! You must be a sick individual to sit there and watch animals being beaten to death!! Eff The whole region, time to withdraw and let Iran handle it!! What's your MOS tough guy?? Prior Service?? I say you're just an angry Pakistani, your comments mean nothing!!
Yet, no one finds the scene chilling when a bomb explodes in the markets.
...and bombs in markets have what exactly to do with this article?
One atrocity, such as suicide bombers blowing up innocent people, does not invalidate another atrocity, such as murdering innocent citizens and animals . Each incident is equally abhorable.
You need to stop projecting there, pal, maybe you don't find a market bombing chilling, but most of us do.
They need to bring back the draft,so americans wake up to this long war. I'm sure things would change. I signed up in 1968 army combat veitnam.This war machine we have must cool down.
NO They Don't!Once was enough with that Military Enslavement.ENOUGH!
"The Selective Service System wants you to know that the requirement to register for the military draft did not go away with the end of the Vietnam War. Under the law, virtually all male U.S. citizens, and male aliens living in the U.S., who are ages 18 through 25, are required to register with Selective Service."
In addition, men who fail to register with Selective Service before turning age 26, even if not prosecuted, will become ineligible for:
Google "
Register for the Draft: It's Still the Law" to read the entire article.
Yep, as soon as I turned 18, to the post office and registered!! Neededed for college and beyond, part of FAFSA.
Not willing short their chance to mass murder, the several Americans killed the farm animals and then killed the families. @Jrto77 you are an ignorant savage. The US will cover this up as they always do when guilty of war crimes.
These actions are by any other name are called "casualties of war." This was indeed a tragedy of epic proportions.
War crime perpetrated by members of the US occupation army would be the correct description.
Whether you kill one person or a 1000, unless it is accidental in self defence your a monster. There is no excuse to travel across the world to shoot a person you have never met for a person you barely know. That goes with both sides.
Numerous Wehrmacht soldiers were tried and many executed for precisely the same atrocities allegedly committed by this Staff Sgt. gone ''postal'' e.g., Oradour and Malmedy massacres (the victims were mostly civilians in the former and the combatants IN UNIFORM in the latter), etc. PTSD?
On a positive note, Calvin Gibbs, Jeremy Morelock, Sgt. Wuertich,et.al, did NOT escape justice and are currently serving many years behind bars for their ''contributions'' to the war effort by going ''on safari'' to murder any Afghans they encountered, be they men, women, children.
Gee isn't amazing how the illustrious Head Idiots, of the Military are stopping people from talking to witnesses!
Amazing what IDIOTS will do TO HIDE SOMETHING.I SMELL COVER UP!
I bet you're right. They are trying so hard to sell the public on the one shooter theory (hmmm...why does that sound familiar? 1963?) The comments from these witnesses still does not mean there was only one person. It could be that the others were outside or in other houses at the time.
The biggest problem is that everyone knows that the government covers up so many things. It's hard for people to take their version of events at face value.
War is hell. This is isolated unlike the warlords who do this everyday. We are doing the best we can. Need to just get out as it's hopeless. People don't mind massacres as long as it's them doing it to each other. As
an American I'm tired of guilt trips.
I love the defenders of soldiers that go homicidal. "It's war, they snapped, these things happen." They are heroes, blah, blah. Yet we don't consider that Afghans have been the VICTIMS of war for over 40 years because of the Soviets, Pakis, Saudis and the USA.
So if we excuse the murderous actions of scores (maybe hundreds) of soldiers because they have been in a war atmosphere for a decade (even though they are trained and paid to do so), shouldn't we excuse Afghans since they involuntarily are apart of wars they they never even started?
Uh No!
Maybe the Pentagon should put their model makers to work again and build a replica of the massacre scene.
The Pentagon just released a model of the compound that supposedly housed Bin Laden, maybe they can start a collectable collection.
Ideas for other collectables:
1) The Jessica Lynch rescue complete with hospital beds and bed pans. I understand the Iraqi doctors gave Jessica the best traction bed apparatus they had and the Seals and Rangers shredded it "rescuing" her.
2) Pat Tillman's "friendly fire" kill zone. Complete with the site where they burnt his uniform. Yep, they burnt his uniform as it provided embarrasing evidence. No collectible would be complete without a genuine, made in China, replica Congressional Medal Of Honor.
3) Saddam Hussein's atomic bong. Yep, put that in your pipe and smoke it.
4) Abu Ghraib, complete with prison bars, underwear and frat party togas. Don't forget the puppet strings leading to the higher ups that never paid for their crimes, only the little fish got fried.
5) more to come, stay tuned
Don't leak it if you have evidence that their was a crew of soldiers because, if you do, you'll be charged under the espionage act and lose your livelihood. Look away.....
Hello, anybody home? That is just absolutely nothing by the atrocities done to our people in America. Stop harping about this crap over there. Who cares? Did you forget 9/11 - "journalist"? The Cole, "journalist"?
Need more information,"journalist"? You are despicable to make any big deal from this little stuff happening in their back yard. Think of our people here and concentrate of what we can do to protect our country. I don't give a rat's arss about anything over there.
You want to protect Americans????
Get Americans out of there; win win!
THINK! What was your mindset when you read this horror story? It is eight paragraphs into this account before it is made clear who the victims were and who the killers. Did you decide at once that it was horrible, or that it was justified, as soon as you started to read? Did you hold off your anger until you knew which side was yours? Did you change your mind later? If it had been Afghans killing American civilians, would you have thought of the same justifications? Friends, know yourself.
So, after rehashing this story for a month, it comes out that nobody among the survivors actually agrees whether it was one person, a handful of people or a whole company of US Marines riding in tanks and APC's that supposedly perpetrated this killing. There are conflicting reports from a number of 'eye witnesses' as well as reports from some of the men who were conveniently 'away from the village' that night and still 'saw everything'. The reason the US is in Afghanistan is to secure our portion of the opium trade. There IS NO OTHER REASON. The Taliban are not going away, since they are supported and protected by both Pakistan and Iran. Just leave Afghanistan to the drug lords and save US lives by getting US troops out of harms way!
Exterminate the vermin and repopulate with humans. What is curently inhabiting the area, and has for centuries, is sub-human.