Nine children among 16 dead after US serviceman attacks villagers

[Steve Blair]

If our justice system wasn't so warped, we'd be building a gallows in Kandahar right now, and this piece of human refuse would be swinging from it by the end of the week, with Al Jazeera in the front row, and live streaming the footage all over the world.

Concur.
At this point the locals are really PO'd and rightfully so.
Let them hand the piece of Sierra !

And of course if we did that, the conspiracy folks would simply say that he was the scapegoat for a larger CIA/Government/UN conspiracy of some sort or another.

No good way out, that's for sure. As David points out, though, it's hard to project the long-term impact.

[carl]

The critical thing is whether this mass murder quickens the pace of the the ongoing pattern of ANSF people murdering ISAF people. That is what concerns me the most. If it does quicken that pace and it is bad enough, we will be out much sooner than anticipated and that will probably include the spec ops people.

[Stan]

And of course if we did that, the conspiracy folks would simply say that he was the scapegoat for a larger CIA/Government/UN conspiracy of some sort or another.

No good way out, that's for sure. As David points out, though, it's hard to project the long-term impact.

Agreed, there is no easy way out.
The Army has been handing out article 15s since the early 70s for looking at your Battery CO the wrong way. A snobby (barely out of college) O-3 can tarnish your potential career and ability to ever hold a Confidential security clearance (ever) because he doesn't like the way you looked at him.

But, you can freak out, destroy people's lives and forever tarnish the reputation of the entire US Military and simply end up with a dishonorable discharge and reduction in grade. So, the Delta Hotel in question will sit at home and wallow in his Sierra making my last 23 years look like a cake walk.

I disagree vehemently.

One witness said she saw the man drag a woman out of her house and repeatedly hit her head against a wall.

Officials have offered no explanation for the incident, but reports suggest the soldier might have been drunk, or had suffered a nervous breakdown.

He has 3 kids at home and while drunk shoots eight ?
There's your conspiracy theory !

[Steve Blair]

Agreed, there is no easy way out.
The Army has been handing out article 15s since the early 70s for looking at your Battery CO the wrong way. A snobby (barely out of college) O-3 can tarnish your potential career and ability to ever hold a Confidential security clearance (ever) because he doesn't like the way you looked at him.

But, you can freak out, destroy people's lives and forever tarnish the reputation of the entire US Military and simply end up with a dishonorable discharge and reduction in grade. So, the Delta Hotel in question will sit at home and wallow in his Sierra making my last 23 years look like a cake walk.

I disagree vehemently.



He has 3 kids at home and while drunk shoots eight ?
There's your conspiracy theory !

I'm not crazy about how the system works, either. There's no question that it's jacked, and in some cases favors those with rank over those who have none. Don't have to go back very far to find examples of that in action...some that really make you wonder.

But I know I'm preaching to the choir on that one.

And you know the sort of conspiracy that would spring up. He was the point man for a larger CIA plot to cripple Afghanistan by killing their women and children, choking off the future of the tribes. But when it went south, the evil Crusader gov'ment decided to whack the one man who knew the truth. Etc., etc. Like I said...no simple way out. One moron can do a world of hurt.