This story relates to a darker side of the U.S. military. Jeremy Morlock is only 22 years old. He is "part of the 5th Stryker Brigade based at Joint base Lewis-McChord in the US state of Washington. The Brigade was deployed to Afghanistan around Kandahar, an area with a large amount of fighting. He was tried for the murder of unarmed Afghan men and pleaded guilty. Lieutenant Colonel Kwasi Hawks asked him if the accused were shooting to kill or to simpy scare the Afghan civilians.Morlock said responded that "the plan was to kill people."
An awful crime like this seems like it would undoubtedly receive a life sentence with the possibility of parole. But Lt. Col. Hawks was bound by a plea bargain - Morlock has agreed to testify against his comrades.
Morlock also confessed to one count each of "illegal drug use, conspiracy and obstructing justice." Apparently they had begun plotting the barbarous actions in late 2009, and they intended to plant weapons on the dead Afghan's bodies to make the killings "appear justified."
Morlock told Hawks that they knew they were killing completely innocent people, and also said that Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs spearheaded the murder plot (Gibbs said the killings were justified.)
A German magazine Der Spiegel published photos of the US soldiers grinning over the corpses they had allegedly killed. There is a similar image on google images under the search term "Jeremy Murlock" that makes me sick to my stomach.
I think I could leave this post without questions, as I'm sure all of you have plenty to say on the subject. Nonetheless, consider whether Morlock's punishment is strict enough, and whether or not the US military should crack down a little harder on soldiers in training about such actions.
2 comments:
Based on Morlock's statements, I personally don't see any other side to this story. It just seems like a cruel and heartless act of individuals who had nothing but evil intent in their hearts. This story reminds me a lot of the Rape of Nanking, because it innocent people are unjustly abused and murdered in both instances. I think Morlock's punishment is very light when compared to the severity of his crime. I do think that military action to try to prevent these things from happening are helpful, but I think it's more necessary for us as a society to move on and learn from past mistakes so that history doesn't repeat itself. Unfortunately, I don't see society evolving in order to completely prevent future stories similar to this one.
I guess from reading his statements, it might seem like a heartless killing, but I think it might have to do something with his environment. He was deployed to "Kandahar, an area with a large amount of fighting". If it was a very violent area, one could guess that he had seen many of his friends die, and therefore felt resentment against all the Afghans. I think if you put someone in a violent environment, many times they will act violent.
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