US Troops Allegedly Took Afghan Fingers as Souvenirs

(Sept. 9) -- 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.

In the coming weeks, each accused soldier is expected to go before an Article 32 hearing -- the military's version of arraignment -- where authorities will review evidence and decide whether to go ahead with courts-martial.

According to previous court documents that detail investigators' interviews with the defendants' platoon mates, the idea of a "kill team" was first floated in December 2009 by Gibbs, who joked with his comrades about how easy it would be to "toss a grenade" at Afghan civilians and kill them. One soldier responded that it was a stupid idea, but another reportedly told investigators he thought Gibbs was "feeling out the platoon." Those documents were excerpted by The Guardian and The Associated Press.

Gibbs and most of his co-defendants have denied the charges against them.

But one of them, 22-year-old Spc. Jeremy Morlock of Wasilla, Alaska, reportedly admitted involvement in the January killing of Afghan civilian Gul Mudin. He told Army investigators that Gibbs handed him a grenade, which he then tossed over a low wall toward Mudin. Another soldier, Pvt. 1st Class Andrew Holmes, 19, of Boise, Idaho, also told investigators that Morlock ordered him to fire over the wall, but he was unsure whether he hit the Afghan man. Holmes said that Morlock threatened his life if he told anyone, the Times reported.

Morlock made extensive statements to investigators that his lawyer is now trying to get struck from the record, claiming that he was under the influence of prescription drugs taken for head injuries suffered in Afghanistan.