By: Robert Mackey
Five soldiers from The United States Army were charged with the murder of three Afghanistan civilians. They would kill them then keep their bones to take pictures with and to store. The captain of the group would also bring grenades to put beside the bodies so it could look like they had been hit by a bomb. This information was found out from one of the men involved, Jeremy Morlock, who had given some information to an investigator. The tape that the story was on was then leaked. If the sergeant who was accused with the charges for manslaughter is guilty, he can face the death penalty. The defense that Morlock’s lawyer has is that his client was on medication at the time of his statement so it cannot be true. Sergeant Gibbs which is the ringleader has bragged before to the men about getting away with similar killings in Iraq. The statements that Marlock gave to the investigator insinuate that the murders were premeditated. Because the murders might be premeditated, this gives the army a stronger case against the men.
The soldiers have claimed that they are innocent of the charges against them even though the interrogation tape proves that Morlock was basically telling the Army investigator all that prosecutors needed to know. More over, seven other members of the brigade with the five accused soldiers have been accused of drug use and trying to prevent the investigation of the case.
The headline of the story didn’t really jump out at me. If I saw this in a news paper I highly doubt that I would have read it. But as I proceeded to read the lead of the story I realized that it was something that I am interested in. I already had questions reading it as in why would an Army investigator know that these men committed these crimes.
I choose this article because I was shocked that the people trying to save the country and give freedom are killing innocent people. We put our trust in the Army that they are going to get resources that we need but at the same time protect us. But unfortunately, these soldiers were not interested in that.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/soldier-describes-murder-of-afghan-for-sport-in-leaked-tape/?ref=us
ReplyDeletethis is the link::sorry
I agreed with you, because people that are supposed to protect us are not doing their jobs, at least not right, why were they killing this innocent people. i alos agreed with you in that the lead doesn't catch my attention, like you said is something i wouldn't read.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really good story. It is sad to see that soldiers this country praises and venerates would kill innocent people. It just comes to show that a nation or army aren't all what they are glorified. I also agree that the lead wasn't very engaging. I think the lead could have been more straighforward, simple, and less wordy.
ReplyDelete