Update on the "Rogue" Soldier

Australian troops are on high alert for revenge attacks after the cold-blooded murder of 16 innocent Afghan civilians by a rogue American soldier.

[...]

After Sunday's shootings Australian commanding officers issued directives to troops to wear body armour at all times and mount extra security at night.

  Herald Sun. AU

I'm going to guess that the other NATO troops are feeling about the same way about US troops these days as the Afghan citizens.

Diplomatic and civilian premises in Kabul have been battened down tightly as the coalition braces for reprisals from the Taliban or even angry Afghan National Army troops or police.

Ah yes, the possibility that all our training of Afghan police and soldiers might actually be turned against us with enough of these types of incidents. There is already a sizable portion of them that drop out to join the Taliban (which they may already belong to when they enlist).

An angry President Karzai described the murders as "unforgivable".

He said a wounded 16-year-old, who had been shot in the leg, told him by phone that the soldier entered their home in the dark, woke up his family members and shot them.

[...]

The lone gunman, a staff sergeant, has been detained and questioned about the killings near Kandahar.

The 25-year veteran was attached to a special forces unit involved in village stabilisation - or "armed neighbourhood watch".

[...]

His home base [at Fort Lewis, Washington] was also the base for four soldiers convicted in the thrill killings of three Afghan civilians in 2010.

U.S. officials identified an army staff sergeant as the shooter and said he acted alone. But some villagers and Afghan officials are skeptical that one soldier could have amassed such a death toll on his own, and others may haven been involved.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai also raised doubts in a statement in which he at first confirmed that a single U.S. gunman was responsible but later referred to “American forces” entering houses.

[...]

The Taliban released a statement that vowed revenge for the killings.

  Voice of America

Little is known about the soldier who committed the atrocities, including his name, but a U.S. official said he is married with three children, and served three separate tours in Iraq.

He was assigned to support a special operations unit of either Green Berets or Navy SEALs engaged in a village stability operation.

Such operations are among NATO's best hopes for transitioning out of Afghanistan, pairing special operations troops with villagers chosen by village elders to become essentially a sanctioned, armed neighbourhood watch.

[...]

An AP photographer reported that he saw 15 bodies of Afghans - some of them burned and some covered with blankets - in the villages of Alkozai and Balandi in Kandahar province's Panjwai district.

[...]

Neighbours 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 Agha Lala, who visited one of the homes where killings took place. 'Their [the victims'] bodies were riddled with bullets.'

A senior U.S. defence official in Washington rejected witness accounts that several apparently drunk soldiers were involved.

  Daily Mail. UK

Of course he did.

'This is an anti-human and anti-Islamic act,' said Mr Khan.  'Nobody is allowed in any religion in the world to kill children and women.'

He can be forgiven for not understanding Christians.