News From Acrosss the Pond

I was just reading Rolling Stone Magazine online and America have done it again with getting itself caught in an embarrasing situation.

According to the magazine two soldiers who were part of Bravo Company's 3rd Platoon who were stationed in Kandahar Province in Afganistan since the summer of last year have shot dead a Afgan boy aged 15 years after spending months before the actual incident talking about killing a haji.

The actual event took place on January 15th last year. In the morning the 3rd Platoon that was part of the 5th Stryker Brigade left their base of  Forward Operating Base Ramrod in a convey of armoured Stryker Troop carriers. These then went out across the desert to a little villlage La Mohammad Kalay that was a little isolated farming village that was tucked away behind poppy fields.

To provide permanent protection the soldiers parked the Strykers on the outskirts of the village and set out on foot as local people were suspected of supporting the Taliban and strikes on the US. But whenm they were on foot they saw nothing of the kind, just destitute locals without running water or electricity. If there were any that supported the Taliban they probably chose not to go outside and greet the American soldiers, and chose to strike at a distance away from the soldiers with their IED's.

While a few members from the 3rd Platoon went off into a compound to speak with a village elder, Cpl. Jeremy Murlock and Pfc. Andrew Holms walked away from their unit until they arrived to the edge of the village where they were looking for someone to kill. In amaongst the spiky shoots that were at this time of year low to the ground, they found someone and this was the 15 year old Gul Mudin , who was killed as other offices stood still watching in the distance. He did not appear to be carrying anything even that would be construed as a weapon.

This sounds like to me that these soldiers were stupid as it sounds like they thought that: ' The Government have given me a gun what's the use in having a gun if your not goin' to need to use it all the time'.