US soldier kills innocents in kahndahar province, drop weapons and outcome.

Alright, so I was watching the reports on this, and it seems the afghan people were saying that it was more than one person. But that could be translation error.

The first interview I watched they were translating what the afghans said, they were using words like "they" came in, or first "they" came in, then the "others"came in and stomped his head. As I said this could be translation error also.
I can't yet find that interview on the internet yet.

I will try to get that interview up here, also there is alot of precedent for the US military covering up the fact to downplay the events, such as the "Pat Tillman incident". In this case though, there is no american families fighting to get the story out.

I am not sure if it was one or more soldiers, but I believe that there is a possibility that it was more than one, but that is conjecture. If anyone finds evidence of this please post it here.

Another point that should be considered, is, the proximity of the village to the american base, it would seem likely to me that there would be some alarm amoung the base if there was shots heard, or seen on infrared or drone runs. Also it brings into question the Staff Sargeant on duty, he would be the one responsible for the soldiers staying on base.

This is a european news coverage, which is different that the american coverage in some small ways.




The translations vary very widely also between american networks and european networks.
They had the same lady from this video, who says, "they detain us and threten to send the dogs after us"
today on CNN as "They killed our families those dogs"

Another thing to consider in the previous actions, and the history of "Drop weapons" also makes it harder for soldiers, especially who join young, to differentiate between the innocent civilians and the others.
When you turn a blind eye to this practice, it really sends the signal that civilian lives aren't important at all.
Here's a vid about the "drops"if you havent seen it.




When I find more information, I will add it here.

As a Final thought, I would try to think of the "positive" results that the recent events in the middle east may have on military goals. Considering it it a election year, it has to be considered that it would benefit the current POTUS to have a high tension in the middle east, because, just like G.dubya, people would not want to change POTUS in the middle of a crisis if one were to occur.

Obviously that is just a personal thought. Feel free to corect me if you feel it might be means to another end.

So some more evidence that it wasn't a single soldier, but a group of soldiers.
The villagers are saying they say a group of soldiers drive up to the village at 2am, and get out.
Nato, and US military says it was one soldier, who walked a mile to get to the village.

If it were multiple soldiers that open up an entire can of worms.
I don't wish to speculate on those until I have more data points.

Here is a video from a news coverage, stating that the villagers say it was a group, and the military representatives report it differently. Also, the group democray now makes statements.




More to come...

Okay so more reports of villagers satements differing from the MSM reports.

Afghan officials say Western forces shot dead 16 civilians including nine children in southern Kandahar province on Sunday in a rampage that witnesses said was carried out by American soldiers who were laughing and appeared drunk.

Only one U.S. soldier appeared to have been involved in the shootings, a U.S. official in Washington said, but that is not what witnesses were saying

Conflicting statements between reports and the villagers -source for above

“When shooting was heard our dog started running. They killed him and came inside the house and put everyone in a room, shot them and then set everything on fire. Among those killed were four boys and four girls.”

source for above

Some witnesses said more than one soldier was involved, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai in a statement cited only one shooter in what he called "an assassination," adding that nine of the dead were children, and three were women.

source for above


Well, it starting to stack up...
I will add more as it comes out

More sources, It is really starting to look like there were more than one soldier involved, There is alot of reasons why they would try to make a singular person responsible.

Some residents said they believed there were multiple attackers, given the carnage.

"One man can't kill so many people. There must have been many people involved," Bacha Agha of Balandi village told The Associated Press. "If the government says this is just one person's act we will not accept it. ... After killing those people they also burned the bodies."

In a statement, Afghan President Hamid Karzai left open the possibility of more than one shooter. He initially spoke of a single U.S. gunman, then referred to "American forces" entering houses. The statement quoted a 15-year-old survivor named Rafiullah, who was shot in the leg, as telling Karzai in a phone call that "soldiers" broke into his house, woke up his family and began shooting them.

source


Here is a Reuters report, a little more credible for those doubters.

Afghan officials also gave varying accounts of the number of shooters involved. Karzai's office released a statement quoting a villager as saying "American soldiers woke my family up and shot them in the face."

"They (Americans) poured chemicals over their dead bodies and burned them," Samad told Reuters at the scene.

Neighbors said they had awoken to crackling gunfire from American soldiers, who they described as laughing and drunk.

"They were all drunk and shooting all over the place," said neighbor Agha Lala, who visited one of the homes where killings took place.

Reuters at scene - source


I believe they are trying to minimize the negative PR, by making it a lone gunman.
It is hard to believe that they are dismissing eye witness testimony in a multiple murder case.
I think it should be only a matter of time until the real story gets out.

I have alot of questions, and concerns.
More to come as I find it.

Alright so more Witness testimony, two seperate witnesses this time in a single report.

.Only one U.S. soldier appeared to have been involved in the shootings, a U.S. official in Washington said, but that is not what witnesses were saying.

Agha, 20, said American soldiers who had opened fire in the early hours entered the family home and waited in silence for what seemed an eternity. He lay on the floor, pretending to be dead.

"The Americans stayed in our house for a while. I was very scared," he told Reuters.

"My mother was shot in her eye and her face. She was unrecognisable. My brother was shot in the head and chest and my sister was killed, too."

Agha's account of multiple American soldiers shooting villagers could not be immediately verified.

Another witness, Agha Lala, who is in his 40s, said he was awoken by gunfire at about 2 a.m.

"I watched them from a wall for a while. Then they opened fire on me. The bullets hit the wall. They were laughing. They did not seem normal. It was like they were drunk," he said.

After rushing to his home and hiding all night, Lala, who is no relation to Jan Agha, went to check on the neighbours.

Source for above


I mean all this comes after the signing of the deal for american forces to stay in afghanistan past 2014

U.S. gives up Jail to stay in afghanistan past 2014

They are probably scrambling to make this a small a situation as possible, so they can continue this operation without losing the peoples support.

Well... I am hoping to get more eye witness testimony

UPDATE- Up to 20 soldiers may have been involved

So according to this, the earlier findings seem to have more ground.

Another quick fact
Wiki for number of civilian deaths in afghanistan due to the war

Things are a little rough to say the least.

Ok, so more sources say that you should add to the existing five threads talking about this.

reply to post by amongus


Not sure what you mean.
I think I was the first to discuss the possibility of multiple soldiers being involved.
So techniccaly they should be adding to this thread not the other way around.

It doesn't really matter to me though.

I am also trying to express additional ideas, to bring more context to this issue.

The fact that there is a history of drop weapons, then it leads to extreme results, because it puts the value on
perceptions of the military over the life of innocent civilians.

I was also looking into reason why it is so important to keep this issue on a single soldier.