Robert Fisk on Kandahar Killings: Soldier not deranged. He killed in revenge.

Fisk says he is tired of all the ""deranged"" stories being promoted in the press. Of course if this were a suicide bomber Fisk points out he would be a wicked terrorist with complete disregard for innocent lives. Fisk remarks the deranged explanation is quite common as when innocents were killed by U.S. troops in Haditha. Fisk lists a number of papers that touted the deranged story including the Guardian, Financial Times and New York Times, and Le Figaro.

Fisk suggests that if the the soldier had killed his fellow Americans it would make more sense to think that he was deranged. However killing Afghans makes sense. Afghans just a day or so before had killed two U.S. soldiers during a protest against the Koran burning. He had seen a comrade have his leg blown off. Just as the Afghans harbor desires for revenge against U.S. troops so do U.S. troops have similar desires because of their experiences.

Fisk remarks that Commander General John Allen just three weeks or so ago told his troops"" "now is not the time for revenge for the deaths of two US soldiers killed in Thursday's riots". They should, he said, "resist whatever urge they might have to strike back" after an Afghan soldier killed the two Americans. "There will be moments like this when you're searching for the meaning of this loss,""" It is clear that the commander thought revenge attacks were a possible result of the feelings building up within the ranks.

While Fisk does a great service by pointing out the likely revenge element in the attack this does not completely discredit the deranged soldier stories. The event was probably not the result of some single cause but a combination and part of the combination is probably the soldier's mental condition. After all, no doubt the feelings of wanting revenge are probably quite common among the troops but it did not lead them to kill innocent Afghan civilians. But one could also point out no doubt many soldiers are stressed out and may freak out but they do not kill innocent civilians. For more see this article.

Afghanistan: Karzai complains U.S. not cooperating with Afghan investigation into Kandahar area killings

In a meeting with tribal elders and officials President Karzai condemned Americans refusal to to cooperate with the Afghan investigation into the recent killing of civilians in the Kandahar area. Karzai said:“This has been going on for too long,.. “this is by all means the end of the rope here.”

Although the U.S. has promised its own investigations the accused has already been removed to a prison in Kansas in the U.S. No doubt the Afghan authorities had no chance to interview him and probably never will. Karzai noted that his delegation rejected the current U.S. version of a single shooter and the group thought that “this was not carried out by one man and was a deliberate and intentional act.”

From the beginning of this event I have been struck by the fact that on the whole western main-stream media have for the most part simply accepted the official U.S. view in spite of a number of eyewitness testimonies that flatly contradict the story.

There have been calls by Afghan legislators that the accused face a public trial in Afghanistan. Of course the U.S. would never allow him to be tried by Afghans and it is exceedingly doubtful that they will ever let him return to Afghanistan even for a U.S. military trial.

In the press several authorities point out that the accused could face major punishment even the death penalty. The U.S. has never executed one of their own for ages although there are some on military death row. For more see this article.

Accused soldier in Kandahar killings flown out of Afghanistan

The U.S. sergeant accused in the deaths of 16 Afghans has been flown out of the country. The destination of the flight was not disclosed.

The announcement was made late at night and there has been no comment yet from Afghan officials. Afghan legislators have been demanding that the soldier be tried in Afghan courts. However, in Afghanistan U.S. soldiers are subject to U.S. military law. The U.S. would never allow him to be tried by Afghans.

The announcement comes as U.S. defence secretary Leon Panetta arrived in Afghanistan to meet with commanders and local officials. A Pentagon spokesperson said that the sergeant was flown out"based on a legal recommendation...We do not have appropriate detention facilities in Afghanistan,".. "in this kind of case". Translated I think this means that the U.S. is very worried that attempts might be made by Afghans to get at the sergeant causing more conflict with Afghans if he were to stay in Afghanistan. However the result of this move may be to anger the populace even further.

A U.S. official would only say the accused had been taken to a "pretrial confinement facility" in another country but would not identify the country. The Afghan government however was notified of the move. No word as to whether the Afghans objected.

While one military official said the transfer did not mean the trial would take place outside of Afghanistan another official said legal proceedings would continue in his place of detention. For more see this Al Jazeera article.

UPDATE: The soldier was flown to Kuwait

General Kimmitt surprised accused soldier was able to just walk off base

There is a video interview with retired General Mark Kimmit here. I have wondered from the beginning about this issue. The interviewer asks about this matter right at the beginning of her interview with the general.

The general says he was surprised he was just able to walk off the base. He should have been stopped. Kimmit remarks that he certainly could not walk out without anyone seeing him. However on some accounts of the incident he was seen.

He was seen by an Afghan soldier who reported it and then a head count was done which showed one soldier missing. A patrol was then reportedly sent out. On some accounts he was apprehended by the patrol on the way back to the base. On other accounts he turned himself in at the base.

Kimmitt thought that there needed to be a thorough investigation of how the soldier was able to get out unchallenged. One might wonder too if his exit was known and a patrol was sent out how they failed completely to find him until he had walked several kilometers to carry out the shootings and then was met by them as he was returning to the base.

Kimmitt did not think that the actions could be blamed on any medical condition. But he noted he was not a doctor.

Kimmitt also explains that he will be tried in a U.S. military justice system. That is part of what soldiers are promised when they go overseas. This is why also countries where U.S. troops are stationed often are outraged by the fact that the country where the crime occurs completely lacks jurisdiction.

The U.S. will not budge on this. Iraq refused to let troops stay in the country after the SOFA expired last December precisely because the U.S. refused to let troops be subject to Iraqi law. The same issue is now front and center in the negotiations that would allow some U.S. troops stay in Afghanistan long after 2014.

The video does not discuss other issues that are not settled in my mind such as the fact that a number of eyewitnesses claim they saw more than one soldier.

Afghanistan killings: What happened remains unclear and many questions remain

The details of this incident are quite unclear but most accounts say that there was one lone gunman who left a base near Kandahar in the early hours of Sunday morning. Some accounts say around 3 AM.

How is it that this soldier apparently a sergeant was allowed out of the base alone and armed at this time of night? None of the accounts of the event explain this at all. Surely security would be tight at this base.

Some accounts talk of his leaving his command post at this time. Was the command post inside the base or outside the base or what exactly was he supposed to be doing? Again some accounts say that an Afghan soldier noticed his leaving the post and notified superiors. They then had a head count and found indeed that a soldier was missing and sent out a patrol.

According to some accounts he surrendered to this patrol as he was coming back to the base. According to other accounts he gave himself up when he got back to the base.

Many of the villagers reported that there were helicopters hovering over the area. A member of parliament said:The residents of Panjwai district in the volatile Kandahar province said they showed no resistance during the mass murder - because they have become used to regular night raids by both foreign and Afghan forces."We have learned that our houses will be searched at night, and we just cooperate," . A resident said: "Americans are always threatening us with dogs and helicopters during night raids."

A number of residents of the villages attacked say they saw more than one soldier during the shooting. Many reports omit such reports or simply note them in passing. An exception is this Reuters report. Here is a sample quote:""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. ""

Other witnesses report only one the one soldier. Some have claimed that the two villages attacked were several kilometers apart. It is strange that after firing and killing in on village he was able to walk to another and start in again. Some have concluded that this shows there was more than one attacker.

Questions arise as to which observations are correct. The official line and mainstream headlines all spout the official correct version of one attacker.

An interesting sidelight is that the alleged attacker seems to be associated with the Green Berets or Navy Seals. These groups were on a village stabilization operation. These special operations troops pair with villagers and become in effect a sanctioned and armed neighborhood watch no doubt designed to intercept Taliban. I wonder if this had anything to do with the incident?

The whole affair is murky and no one seems to be clarifying anything but instead are propagating an official line that conflicts with a considerable amount of eyewitness testimony. Since the incident a NATO airstrike has killed three more civilians. See this article.