Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs of the U.S. army was the highest ranking of five soldiers charged in the deaths of unarmed men during patrols in Kandahar Province of Afghanistan early last year. In addition to numerous mutilations of the corpses, the 26-year-old acknowledged cutting fingers off corpses and yanking out a victim’s tooth to keep as war trophies. But he insisted he wasn’t involved in the first or third killings, and in the second he merely returned fire. Prosecutors said Gibbs and his co-defendants knew the victims posed no danger, but dropped weapons by their dead bodies to make them appear to have been combatants. Many other soldiers in the platoon were convicted in assisting with the murders, but some claimed they would have been killed themselves if they had refused. The prosecutor told jurors that Gibbs was supposed to protect the Afghan people, but instead caused many to lose trust in Americans, hurting the mission.
It appears to be a reoccurring theme within the news of soldiers violating others’ human rights, and this is usually in the form of torture and murder. When the first great civilizations arose, there were no such things as human rights. This idea is relatively new, and it took many attempts in order to become a clearly defined principle. Though human rights has been acknowledged, that doesn’t mean everyone believes in its message. This obvious negative response was done by a soldier who was sent there to help the civilians, but instead turned out to be a blood thirsty monster who killed innocent people for sport. This has shed some negative light on America and as a result the rest of the world cannot help but judge harshly. Human rights are given to everyone, and it is shocking when someone completely ignores this fact of life.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/jury-convicts-highest-ranking-us-soldier-on-all-charges-in-thrill-killings-of-afghan-civilians/2011/11/10/gIQAjaNj9M_story.html
5 comments:
i think that he got that way if wanting to murder and torture people because of what he has experienced while being in the army. Always fighting and killing the enemy has become a way of life for him. not that i a am defending him but i am trying to make sense of this senseless act that has taken place. It is very said and my only hope is that they give him adequate punishment and not lessen up because he has served in the army.
I dont understand why soldiers treat the people of these countries like they are not human. They are human and they want to feel safe
This story is very shocking especially to hear that corpses were being mutilated. On one hand people may say that war drove him insane and it turned him into a killing machine but others may say how can a human being ever do something so cruel to another human being. Also I found it interesting that these soldiers had killed innocent people and made it look like they were armed. I kind of feel like war may have drove this soldier on a killing spree but it was really uncalled for. After seeing what these soldiers did it’s very hard for surrounding territories to have trust in our nations decisions.
For a soldier fighting for our rights to go and infringe the rights of others is ridiculous. We hold soldiers as heros and to then find out they are killing not for rights but for recreation. Even if the soldier shot the victim for firing, there would be no reason to cut off fingers or pull out teeth. This man is sick and twisted and should not be serving our country.
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