Afghanistan - U.S. Special Forces Commit Drive-By Murder (Video)
Updated below - Jan 11 2018
Additional updated - May 18 2018
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A recent video mashup provided by some U.S. Special Force soldiers in Afghanistan seems to show evidence of a warcrime.
A military truck passes a civilian truck on a paved road at normal traveling speed. A soldier fires directly and intentionally at the driver of the civilian truck without any discernible reason.
This is the relevant two second long cut (repeated 5 times) from a private video mix of scenes taken during the last few months in Afghanistan.
The whole video is 3:09 minutes long and mostly a mashup of juvenile behaving soldiers wasting lots of ammunition on invisible entities in the Afghan landscape. The scene above is from 19 to 21 seconds into the video. Detailed screenshots are below. The whole clip was available on Youtube on January 7. The account which originally posted it and the original video have since been deleted.
There were a total of two videos under the account. The first, relevant one, had the original title:
"Happy Few Ordnance Symphony Combat Footage Afghanistan EXPLICIT (VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED)"
under the URL "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlNoiW94JdE". The original description of the video was:
"Video mashup to Kendrick Lamar's HUMBLE featuring Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan in the most recent combat footage to date against ISIS in 2017."
A request to that URL now brings up a standard Youtube text: "This video is no longer available because the uploader has closed their YouTube account."
A copy of that video is also available under the Facebook account of Engage Armament LLC with a "courtesy of Happy Few" link to the Facebook account https://www.facebook.com/happyfewco/. The copy was posted on January 4 and has currently 2,823,190 "views" and over 30,600 "likes". Another copy is available under the Facebook account of Almanaque Militar posted on January 7 with currently 5.7k "views". That post also links back to the Happy Few Co Facebook account. Several other sides seem to have posted copies of the same video.
The second video of Happy Few Company on Youtube was the one minute long "Happy Few Year Special Operations in Afghanistan Doing Work Helmet Cam Combat Footage" under the URL "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzi61iPdCko". It also no longer available.
Unlisted copies of both videos have now been uploaded here and here.
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Update - May 18 2018
- Youtube deleted the unlisted videos linked above "for violating YouTube's policy on violent or graphic content."
- For documentary purposes a copy of the relevant first video is provided here (video, 46 MByte).
- The finding of a U.S. military investigation into the case is discussed in a new Moon of Alabama piece: Afghanistan - U.S. Military Finds No Fault With Special Forces' Potential Drive-By Murder
End of May 18 update
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It is the first video that includes the truck scene.
At 19 sec:
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The man wearing the camera on the left side of his helmet rides on top of a military truck (likely a M-ATV). On the left is an open turret mounted on the truck, on the right we see the part of the man holding a rifle M1014 semi-automatic, 12-gauge shotgun with an effective range of 36.5 meters. He wears black gloves. The military truck he is riding on quickly overtakes a civilian white truck on a paved road. The speed of the military truck is an estimated 70 km/h (45 mph), the white truck is driving at some 60 km/h (37 mph). It behaves normally sticking to the right side of the road. Notice that the white truck's windows are undamaged. On the upper right above the white truck we see some red and blue structure.
At 20 sec:
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The military truck is further overtaking the white truck. The driver of the white truck is visible. He has his left hand on the steering wheel and seems to look straight ahead. The right hand is not visible. The gun points directly at the driver.
A split second later:
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The window of the white truck is smashed right in the line where the gun was just pointed and the driver inside of the truck.
Another split second later:
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The smashed window has crumbled further. The military truck overtakes the white truck.
At 21 seconds:
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The military truck has overtaken the white truck. The shooter has moved the shotgun to the left and upwards. The white truck has continued on its course. The red-blue structure behind it is visible. It is a two story building with the first story painted white and the second story with red columns and blue walls (or windows?). The peculiar building will help to identify the location of the incident.
Here the video makes a hard cut to unrelated scenes. Given the speed of the truck the shot driver -if not outright killed- will have had little chance to bring it to a secure halt.
When one watches the scene documented in the pictures above a gun shot is heard and the weapon in the picture recoils in the very moment the white truck's window smashes. A puff of gun smoke is visible. It seems obvious that this was a hit-to-kill shot by the man wearing the camera on the civilian driver of the white truck.
(Added side remark - a later scene in the video shows this ridiculous Cafepress sticker inside of the M-ATV turret.)
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The uploader of the video on Youtube used the moniker Happy Few Company. An Instagram account under the Happy Few Company moniker still has the video though it is split into four parts. It was uploaded on December 28, 2017 and includes the white truck scene.
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The top page of the account (https://www.instagram.com/happyfewcompany/) describes the owner as:
Happy Few Special Operations Veteran Owned and Operated Apparel Company *apparel and website will be up very soon. Stand by, we appreciate your patience*
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The soldier in the official photo in the second row right is deceased. According to the Washington Post:
Army Sgt. 1st Class Mihail Golin, 34, was killed in Nangarhar province’s Achin district, an area in which U.S. forces have been combating both the Islamic State and the Taliban.
...
Golin was a Special Forces weapons sergeant with 10th Special Forces Group, of Fort Bragg, N.C., the U.S. Army Special Operations Command said in a news release Wednesday.
This might give a hint in the group involved in the video production. (h/t Andreas in comments)
The Facebook account with a similar Happy Few moniker is available but the video is not, or no longer, posted on that page.
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On the Facebook page we find a link to HappyFewCo.com which is a shopping site "under construction". The domain was anonymously registered at Twocows Domains Inc on December 16 2017. A @happyfewco Twitter account was registered in December 2017 but has had no interaction.
There is no direct information on who is behind the Happy Few Company accounts or who took the scenes mashed up in that video. The footage seems to be genuine. The relevant civil and military authorities should have no problem to find out who the poster of the original video is. That person can surely help to identify the original videographer(s) and from there the place and time of the incident and the gunman in question. This picture of an unknown soldier, which is the end scene of the video, might also help to identify the culprit. It also gives a (sarcastic) hint of his motive.
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Update (Jan 11 - 4:00am EST):
The issue above has now been reported on by several media outlets. According to these CENTCOM is investigating the case. General Votel gave a statement and Secretary of Defense Mattis has been informed of the case.
Current media reports:
- Politico - Military investigating shooting in newly leaked Afghan combat video
*... another former special operator, also with experience fighting in Nangarhar, said that his unit “never carried non-lethal rounds on mission” because it did not use shotguns for breaching purposes. ...* - Business Insider - A US investigation is underway after footage of a soldier firing into what appears to be a civilian truck surfaces online
- Pajhwok - US military investigating leaked Afghan combat video
- 1TVnews - U.S. military investigating video of Afghanistan shooting
- FOXnews - Video of Afghanistan shooting prompts US military investigation
For the record :
The original credit for the above piece goes to M.H.Arsali. I only wrote about the issue after I checked a youtube link I had bookmarked a day or two earlier and found that the bookmarked video had been deleted. That was the starting point of my research. I did not remember though where I had picked up that link in the first place. It now seem that it was from a January 6 tweet by M.H.Arsali which someone had retweeted into my timeline.
Posted by b on January 9, 2018 at 11:58 UTC | Permalink
@BM - the youtube links of the copies I posted above are not dead. Just the ones of the original poster. Read again and click on the right ones.
The "unknown soldier" has the same sign in it's hand as the guy in the "happyfewcompany" gallery. And, note, the writing is exactly the same!
So one of the two pictures must be photoshopped.
Posted by: Andreas | Jan 9 2018 14:04 utc | 3
Unless this event is picked up by an independent and strong news media this crime will join the hundreds of ignored war crimes committed by the US army in their laudable effort to bring "democracy" and "justice" to the world.
Posted by: Virgile | Jan 9 2018 14:07 utc | 4
Then they come home to Amerika to become cops so they can keep killing. Wonderful:-(
Posted by: jo6pac | Jan 9 2018 14:07 utc | 5
The US military shown at the picture in the second row/third column of the gallery is Army Sgt. 1st Class Mihail Golin according to this article:
Posted by: Andreas | Jan 9 2018 14:18 utc | 6
@Andreas @3 - The "unknown soldier" has the same sign in it's hand as the guy in the "happyfewcompany" gallery. And, note, the writing is exactly the same!
So one of the two pictures must be photoshopped.
I think neither is photoshopped. It's likely within the same group in the same place and someone put a prank on the sleeping blond dude when they put that cardboard on his breast.
Elijah J. Magnier just retweeted the above piece and remarked:
Elijah J. Magnier @ejmalrai 1m
Déjà vu. This is what I have witnessed in #Iraq for many years where #US forces killed many innocent drivers "by mistake".
Special Forces are assassins, that's what they do, often in conjunction with CIA (e.g. Operation Phoenix in Vietnam). Afghanistan's president Karzai evicted them from Wardak Province in 2013.
"Armed individuals named as US special force stationed in Wardak province engage in harassing, annoying, torturing and even murdering innocent people. A recent example in the province is an incident in which nine people were disappeared in an operation by this suspicious force and in a separate incident a student was taken away at night from his home, whose tortured body with throat cut was found two days later under a bridge.". . .here
The Army is expanding, and dipping lower in the gene pool because so many young men are physically unqualified for service. . .from the web ten years ago--
Military grant waivers can be given for those with criminal records, as well as those with low aptitude scores, and medical problems that would normally make them ineligible for service. These are considered "moral" waivers, and can include traffic and drug offenses, misdemeanors and felonies.
In recent years, more recruits with criminal records, and that includes felony convictions, have been allowed to join the Marine Corps and the Army because the military is in dire need of volunteers due to the war. The Army increased its age limit from 35 to 42 in an attempt to recruit more volunteers. . .If you have a conviction in your past but want to join the military, discuss this with a recruiter. More than likely you will be able to find a way to make it happen. . . .here
Posted by: Don Bacon | Jan 9 2018 14:47 utc | 10
Rebels use suicide drones to attack Russian bases at Hmeimim and Tartus
... and of course the IAF launched early morning attacks on Syrian military base near Damascus.
Periodically, FOX / CNN like to publish surveys about how well liked we are in the world but I notice how they cherry pick the countries like Poland, Israel, Saudi Arabia (not shown here), Japan, S. Korea, etc.
How the world views the U.S.
http://www.pewglobal.org/database/indicator/1/survey/all/
Oh and we think very, very highly of ourselves, clocking in at 85% (look at Vietnam w/84%). Okay, CNN will like to spin it as 'it's getting worse under Trump', in any case, I have always noticed how Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran are never polled and for some reason, the bottom fell out in the Egyptian market.
On a recent topic, why do so many pundits declare that the Iranians love the U.S. I don't know what the Iranians think but neither do I pretend that I do but has the U.S. ever done anything to actually earn their affection?
I find that this is the ultimate declaration of eqo. It's as if we are saying that by sheer virtue of the fact that we the U.S., the good guys, the force of good in the world, that all people of goodwill simply have to love us because of who we are (cue violent puking).
BTW I do love my country, I hate to see the state that we have fallen into. We are so degraded, we are incapable of self reflection or self criticism.
Posted by: Christian Chuba | Jan 9 2018 14:59 utc | 12
Words of "wisdom" from the current US Secretary of Defense.
General: It's 'fun to shoot some people'
WASHINGTON (CNN), Feb 4, 2005 -- . . . A three-star Marine general who said it was "fun to shoot some people" should have chosen his words more carefully, the Marine Corps commandant said Thursday.
Lt. Gen. James Mattis, who commanded Marine expeditions in Afghanistan and Iraq, made the comments Tuesday during a panel discussion in San Diego, California
"Actually it's quite fun to fight them, you know. It's a hell of a hoot," Mattis said, prompting laughter from some military members in the audience. "It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up there with you. I like brawling.
"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil," Mattis said. "You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." . .here
Posted by: Don Bacon | Jan 9 2018 15:22 utc | 13
Elijah J. Magnier @ejmalrai 1m
Déjà vu. This is what I have witnessed in #Iraq for many years where #US forces killed many innocent drivers "by mistake"
I remember back in those heady days of the Iraq war dozens and dozens of clips on youtube showing mercs and even US forces shooting up passing automobiles for no apparent reason...
...but it seems they've pretty much been scrubbed.
Posted by: john | Jan 9 2018 15:29 utc | 14
This type of murderous/injurious (?) event shows either command breakdown or complicity. Does anyone wonder why America is so hated. Even the British at the height of their empire did not allow such abuse of the civilian population by maintaining proper command structure. While the Brits were arrogant racists and would exact terrible vengeance for any acts against her rule or personnel they did not go out of their way to antagonize the local population. This act is in direct violation of the Geneva Convention and more specifically against the American originated Lieber Code for the conduct of foreign troops and a military occupying force.
Shooting ordinary people in a foreign land may be fun when one is twenty and full of testosterone, but then comes thirty and forty, and the nightmares, and "I can't talk about it," and high rates of PTSD and suicide among active military and veterans. (not for everyone, not for Mattis)
Posted by: Don Bacon | Jan 9 2018 16:04 utc | 16
its maybe a bean bag shell, because the force is so low that the gun is not reloaded and no shell is ejected
Posted by: bumba | Jan 9 2018 16:06 utc | 17
This does not appear to be anything but bean bags. Notice that there is no splatter patterns? A 12-Gauge from that range would have left large splatter patterns in the interior of the cab. In addition there is not any kind of damage other than where the bean bag hit.
Posted by: 3pumpchump | Jan 9 2018 16:09 utc | 18
You do understand those are non lethal rounds that are fired to stop the driver from interfering with the convoy, right?
Posted by: Anon | Jan 9 2018 16:21 utc | 19
@Anon post 18
You do understand that the non lethal round fired at that truck would have caused a shower of shattered glass into the face and eyes of the driver that may well have cause his now semi out of control truck to interfere with the convoy? Perhaps not a very smart move if that was the reason.
Posted by: JohninMK | Jan 9 2018 16:44 utc | 20
Can said "bean bag shell" shatter windows but not injure the driver? Are they softer, less injurious than rubber bullets or more so? Do you know the effect of the human head, upper torso?
Posted by: jawbone | Jan 9 2018 17:02 utc | 21
Relax guys, they were just engaging in attempted murder of a truck driver for the crime of being on the road while they passed... nothing to see here
Posted by: Anon | Jan 9 2018 17:04 utc | 22
Re: "Non-lethal" @17,18
Non-lethal is the one of the most cynical, facetious, and flat-wrong terms to have been elevated into popular use by the military- industrial complex. A water gun is non- lethal, i.e. it can not kill you. A 12 gauge firing any kind of projectile can absolutely kill, and such "bean- bags" have a nasty habit of doing just that. Same for "rubber bullets", a steel ball covered in millimeters of rubber. Look at how many Palestinians have died from being shot with them. Such terms are trotted out by authoritarians who can't "control" people without shooting them.
Further in this video, there was no indication the white truck was doing anything but slowing to the side of the road to let the convoy pass. By the time the soldier had the driver in range, he was already out of harm's way of the white truck. Besides maiming the driver and more than likely incapacitating him, the only thing accomplished by shooting him would be to endanger any other vehicles on the road. Stupid and pointless. But "non- lethal", right?
Posted by: Don Wiscacho | Jan 9 2018 17:06 utc | 23
Google is rapidly removing all references to the video. A few minutes ago I got two pages of links. Now it is down to 7 including the MoA page as first entry.
Posted by: Anonymous | Jan 9 2018 17:32 utc | 24
The suggestion that a bean bag was fired is ludicrous. Firstly the bean bag is fired from a shotgun which the weapon clearly isnt. And secondly the idea of some trigger happy US 'Will kill 4 Food' soldier taking a non-lethal weapon (instead of or as well as a normal weapon?) into a war zone is laughable.
Posted by: Anonymous | Jan 9 2018 17:44 utc | 25
Why did you delete those posts? I was watching early this morning. I would like to see what they had to say in relations to what is said now.
Posted by: Stryker | Jan 9 2018 17:45 utc | 26
I did notice the lack of blood spatter too, and the shotgun, but a rifled slug might produce a similar reaction, so I'm not convinced it was non-lethal
Posted by: Stryker | Jan 9 2018 17:51 utc | 27
@Stryker - I deleted three comments in this thread that were about a choice-of-word/grammar mistake in my post. I deleted nothing else, neither there nor anywhere.
@all
There is plenty of ammunition for 12-gauge shotguns. Most of them are lethal. Not all cause splatter. A "beanbag", which does not contain beans but lead shot, can well be deadly at such a short range.
Besides - when you throw a stone from a bridge onto a car crossing below you will usually get indicted for attempted murder - even when little harm was done. We don't know the outcome in this case but I doubt the event passed without causing serious harm.
"De Opresso Liber" degenerates should change the Motto of their Corp of Degenerates. Ever since its creation they have been helping the Oppressors against the Oppressed !! And so far have not won any wars (Vietnam, Nicaragua, San Salvador, Angola, Irak, Afganistan....they where there and the wars weren't won !!)
Posted by: opereta | Jan 9 2018 18:08 utc | 29
#23: Google is rapidly removing all references to the video.
Just doing their patriotic duty to combat fake news,
Posted by: Toivos | Jan 9 2018 18:08 utc | 30
@ 3pumpidiot #17
A 12-Gauge from that range would have left large splatter patterns in the interior of the cab...
Quit using your perceptions as facts.
The range and pattern of a shot gun depend on the barrel and choke. Those two are the key components.
"Bean bags"? Right! It's what everyone rolls with on security/patrol duty. And with bean bags and some time on their hands, they probably play corn hole as well as shooting them at random people (and make “funny” signs).
If you mean rubber shot, then it's very unlikely due to the penetration at that distance. If it can penetrate modern safety glass, then it can easily penetrate skin. So, then why not use metal shot if the results are the same? Perhaps FUKZUS (France, UK, Zionist Apartheid/Land-Grabber State, and USSA) can claim this as evidence of a humanitarian intervention. That I get as a FUKZUS angle. The rest is just a bunch of bullshit.
Please STFU until you offer some facts other than your perceptions.
Posted by: Variance Doc | Jan 9 2018 18:09 utc | 31
Related: National Interest on the mess that is Afghanistan:
The Politics of Washington Have Wrecked Afghanistan's Future
Thanks b, but this type of behavior isn't new. It's the inevitable result when a nation spends more on war, than social uplift.Sickening!!!
Posted by: ben | Jan 9 2018 18:41 utc | 33
@ben 33
No, this type of behavior isn't new, but it is rarely publicized, with 3 million views. Perhaps it will stimulate more of such videos.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Jan 9 2018 18:55 utc | 34
Vaya gentuza! Most possibly psychopaths...Moral decay to the lowest is what it brings...
But, well, what is here to be surprised, I wonder....Is this not the usual way the US Army conducts itself abroad?
What about their collaboration with IS? Could it be softer or less serious that this criminal behavior? Do they not fight elbow to elbow with those savage head cutters? Have not they killed thousands of civilians, including women and children?
I wonder whether there could be an interest in broadacasting this kind of videos...Since, of course, everybody knows these like others of the same ilk will go scot-free....I mean, since the US is kinda the laughing stock right now at all its campaigns around the planet, whether this is not made with the goal to inflict fear in a situation where other armies/countries start lossing it at galloping pace...In the end, I think that some in the government think that there is already nothing to lose after the way they have showed themselves at every international meeting/scenario...and everybody in the "international community" has become aware of what they are capable....Reading Mattis barrabasadas and taking into account his nickname, I think this is made with whole consent by the high hierarchies...And even more, I think, and so i said during the election campaign, nominations like that of Mattis were made with this kind of goal, terrorizing the globe in a scenary where some countries start being fed up of the US´s abuses and start taking measures to fend themselves....
It was not Bannon who said at that speeche at Vatican that there should be a harsher nose with Russia, Iran and so on....?
Just yesterday I was reading some comments at the WSWS on an article related the last book about The Donald, and one commenter was especulatijng with one of the possible outcomes of a Trump´s impeachment could be a Mike Pence presidency with Eric Prince at CIA´s helm...
Since you seem to be almost all American, and many even US military (well, by your liking in technical data about arms and so on ), I wonder whether you see this as a possibility........
Posted by: elsi | Jan 9 2018 19:02 utc | 35
"The scale of the catastrophe in Iraq is so extreme that it can barely be reported." -- Noam Chomski, Failed States
I try to deal with the memories of Southeast Asia by rounding up my scattered thoughts and putting them into some sort of orderly arrangement. It helps for awhile. Stuff like:
Thanks for Nothing
Benevolent invader of my land
How can I thank you for the helping hand?
Why, had you not come here with awe and shock,
Reducing my poor home to piles of rock,
I might have raised my children safe and sound,
But, thanks to you, I’ve laid them in the ground.
A wife I had, once too, but now no more.
She died one day while driving to the store.
Some nervous mercenaries that you hired
Screamed something at her once, then aimed and fired.
The bullet-riddled windshield told the tale:
That "freed" of life, our women need no veil.
Your generals have come so many times,
Yet never have to answer for their crimes.
Instead, promotion weighs them down with stars
But never, like enlisted men, the scars
Resulting from the bungling and sheer waste
Of thinking last but shooting first in haste.
On nine-eleven, two-thousand-and-one
You got a taste of what you’ve often done
To countries that had never caused you harm
Yet still, too late, you sounded the alarm
And whipped yourself into a lather thick
So you could hurt yourself with your own stick.
Three thousand on that fateful day you lost.
Six thousand more you’ve added to the cost
Since then, which only proves that there or here
You act the same: in folly, rage, and fear.
In time, you’ll go back home to where you’re from,
To fight among yourselves, the deaf and dumb.
Too bad for all the carnage that you’ve caused
Who never thought or for a minute paused
Before afflicting us with your disease:
A plague of bankrupt bullies, fascist fleas,
Who, both hands outward stretched to beg a loan,
Continue "helping" us to shrink and groan.
You talk to pat yourselves upon the back.
Your actions only scream of what you lack:
The insight and intelligence to see
How much you’ve harmed yourself as well as me.
But just the same I’ll thank you to go home
Before you earn the fate that toppled Rome.
Michael Murry, "The Misfortune Teller," Copyright 2009
Posted by: Michael Murry | Jan 9 2018 19:17 utc | 36
Oui @11
Both Sputnick and RT have articles on an american "spy plane" that was flying between Hmeimim and tartus at the same time the drones made their appearance. Since one of the "newbies" that the US has been claiming is that they have created "drone fleets", acting in a synchronised manner to overwhelm defensive systems. There seems to be a "coincidence". (Also converting a cargo plane as a "mother ship). Here is the Sputnik link
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201801091060620442-us-spy-aircraft-russian-bases-syria/
Note that the drones flew from a source at least 50 km away (poss 100km), and they were using GPS - which needs a satellite to locate both themselves and the "drop point" (using guidance)
The US was very quick to say that these drones are available on the "market". The Russians have asked which market, and are examining 3 of the drones that they captured - something that the US didn't expect.
But, if the US is directly attacking the Russians - what now?
However, to tie this up with b's article - it could be one of the "agencies" (CIA?) taking things into their own hands, and just "shooting up" whomever they find. Brutally stupid if so - like the shooter above.
I assume the comments were not useful to a conversation here and I respect the decision of the author.
Posted by: Stryker | Jan 9 2018 20:16 utc | 38
Afghanistan will consume the Hegemon. The past 16 years has been without merit, intention or defined mission. The next eight will be as feckless, more bloody and reckless. But in the end, Afghanistan will consume CENTCOM.
There simply are nations, civilizations that cannot be conquered. Russia, Korea, Vietnam are outstanding historical examples. But Afghanistan, the least understood, is clearly the most difficult of all.
Posted by: Red Ryder | Jan 9 2018 20:40 utc | 39
In reply to Red Ryder | Jan 9, 2018 39
no, the US will remove itself from conflict before experiencing a loss. History says so. What too many overlook is that USians do not support their government in every endeavor and we forcibly resist those oligarchs in spite of the fact we don't have the money to kick them out of positions of rule. We despise losers most of all.
Posted by: Stryker | Jan 9 2018 20:57 utc | 40
I'd really like to believe that the Latvian (or whatever) butch who got killed a couple of days after this drive-by shooting was in fact the shooter. But how would we know...
Posted by: Scotch Bingeington | Jan 9 2018 21:02 utc | 41
I leave you this poetic and philosophic film by Pier Paolo Passolini on the effects of war and what it sows for the future, fear, rancor, rage, and then, again, finally, war....ethernal war. That you think this war will never reach you, that you will be always who will lose the fewest, is just an illusion.....
La Rabbia (Rage, La Rage, The Anger) — Pier Paolo Pasolini (1963) [Italian with English Subtitles]
Posted by: elsi | Jan 9 2018 22:00 utc | 42
It's shit like this that makes me revert back to depression. Men, following forced leaders that don't give a fuck about anyone, terrorizing a country. Pathetic.
Posted by: Kevin | Jan 9 2018 22:07 utc | 43
thanks b.. i hope it gets wide exposure.. anything to put the brakes on all the usa involvements insanity, with this one more example..
Posted by: james | Jan 9 2018 22:08 utc | 44
SMH The word Blowback would hardly describe what's coming to America. God will make sure of that. We could discuss in detail on the WHY, but at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. The local population gets one more reason to side with any anti-US forces. As usual, Washington will bitch and moan about the treatment they get from the locals, making themselves to appear to be the victims.
Posted by: Ian | Jan 9 2018 22:13 utc | 45
The incident b recaps is very much an example of SSDD in the annals of Outlaw US Empire behavior. The late Charles Manson was a boy scout compared to the Great Satan.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 9 2018 22:57 utc | 46
What comes around goes around, Payback is a bitch, Checks in the mail, etc etc. I have no sympathy whatsoever for America or Americans. They reap what they sow. They get what they deserve.
Posted by: Jimmy James | Jan 9 2018 23:44 utc | 47
Anyone that runs, is a VC. Anyone that stands still, is a well-disciplined VC.
Posted by: Sinbad | Jan 10 2018 0:24 utc | 48
It's a non-lethal round.
This is obvious if you watch the video.
Posted by: idoesntmatter | Jan 10 2018 1:02 utc | 49
Those murderous pricks who decide to wallow in guilt once they finish their 'tour' will spend the rest of their lives as homeless drug and/or alcohol dependent pains in the arse who will never assuage their guilt, but who will from time to time, exchange the guilt wallow for a self pity one whose theme tune will be along the lines of "Amerika deserted us, we fought to defend them and they rejected us".
Hi ho, you get that arsehole. Since even blind freddie could see what was going on in the military by the time he/she hit 9th grade the kids who decided to forgo the 3 meals and a roof in favour of taking their chances in the hellhole that is 21st century urban amerika are the only heroes, you're just a cunt too gutless to own your crimes.
As for the ones who came back and who didn't either feel or plain ignored their guilt, they're out there right now trying to persuade your 13 y.o. daughter that a quick blow job in exchange for 'losing' the spliff he/she just found in the car ashtray of your daughter's bestie is a great deal.
As for dreams of blowback, payback or karma? Life just isn't that, all symmetrical 'n stuff; the inevitable 'sorting out' when it does come, will be something few if any imagined.
In the meantime most will continue to celebrate AMERIKA, THE GREAT SOCIETY!
Posted by: Debsisdead | Jan 10 2018 1:32 utc | 50
@ idoesntmatter 49
It's a non-lethal round. This is obvious if you watch the video.
1. Obvious? How do you know it was non-lethal, were you there? We never saw the end of this attack.
2. Even if it wasn't, is it a good thing or bad? You dig Chinese military occupation troops blowing out your windows on the freeway? It doesn't matter? You gonna hide under the bed?
Posted by: Don Bacon | Jan 10 2018 1:51 utc | 51
It's a non lethal round you sad people. It has barely any recoil and doesn't eject a spent shell, tell-tale signs of a non lethal round. Now go sulk about how the world is so evil to somebody who gives a shit. War is war.
Posted by: moonofretardation | Jan 10 2018 2:40 utc | 53
It shouldn't come as a surprise.
Yes, this is what Fascism looks like.
SS members having their way with the
civilian population - calling them
all kinds of names to justify their
decrepit actions born out of a degenerate
mind.
Killing innocent civilians is so much
more fun than facing an enemy that will
turn the pants brown.
For those devoid of any form of humanity,
even if it would be called "non-lethal"
by NYT and WP, that doesn't make it anything
else but TERROR. These are terrorists, but
they are U.S. terrorists - "our boys".
Show them at the NFL game, at NASCAR races
in "join the Army" clips before the latest
Hollywood flic about how glorious American
warriors are.
But those who read the "Art of War" by
Sun Tsun know that these are not warriors.
Warriors have honor, these terrorists have
none.
Posted by: nottheonly1 | Jan 10 2018 2:55 utc | 54
@ moonofretardation who wites: " War is war
You forgot about the God of Mammon money part of war.
Trump is now making America great again by increasing the war weapons (just the non-lethal ones I am sure) export market
US Embassy Staff To Become Arms Salesmen As Trump Loosens Weapons Export Policy
Will Americans wake up to see what the puppet Donald is doing to the remains of their Republic?
War is what losers resort to when confronted with the cognitive dissonance of human advancement that threatens their patriarchy and God of Mammon social incentives.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 10 2018 2:55 utc | 55
@psychohistorian 55
"US Embassy Staff To Become Arms Salesmen As Trump Loosens Weapons Export Policy"
US embassy staff, including ambassadors, have been arms salesmen for a long time. Back then, when Lockheed Martin was selling the F-16, the US ambassador to Poland (no longer a mayor), bragged that he had exceeded the offset goal for Poland buying the F-16 by 100%. Whatever Poland spent for this plane, thus enriching Lockheed Martin, the US would arrange double that in investments in all fields, aerospace, automotive, electronics etc. Jobs for Poles! ....I'm told it was never actually implemented, but the thought was there. And it was a part of life in all embassies with potential arms sales.
So the idea is not new, at all, with Trump.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Jan 10 2018 3:28 utc | 56
@ Don Bacon with his upgrade to my ZH link about US arm sales
America has gone though peaks and troughs of waves of arm sales over time. Trump is moving it to an enhanced upswing.
One of the chuckles from the article is where they list the top 10 "Defense Contractors". Just like with non-lethal arms asserted by commenters above, everything the US contractors sell is only for defense, like it says in the title of the report.
And I am sure it is all "legal". It just lacks any moral base except to the God of Mammon.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 10 2018 5:06 utc | 57
What a bumpin' tune on that compilation upload! The lyrics were very insightful and reflect the general acumen of these battle-hardened warriors: "...ew, that pussy good when you sitting on my taste buds."
Look at all that tax-payer shit! Rollin' through grenades in that launcher like they're hot sauce packets. Damn...what kicks! Lucky bastards getting to blow up BEAUTIFUL high-elevation countryside, when they should be home 'sploding the corner where Carl's Jr. and McDonald's sit across from a Starbucks/Krispy Kreme strip mall. We got no culture but the culture of death, and it's coming to a theater near you. And if you don't have a theater, we will fucking build one for you for one billion dollars and show nothing but feminist documentaries. Take this coke, asshole! The people of Ladakh laid down easy...why won't you Afghanis? How many more of our brave boys should we send and how many more mortgages should we take out so that we might subdue a culture as far as humanly possible away from our own?
Don't look now but the Ruskies won this round and we're at the precipice of pulling a Radio-Shack on ourselves.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jan 10 2018 5:19 utc | 58
@Psychohistorian #57
Yup. As legal as anything Hitler did according to
the laws he had let been written prior to anything he
did, or ordered.
Posted by: nottheonly1 | Jan 10 2018 5:22 utc | 59
The accurate name for a 12 gauge bean bag or rubber covered shot round is "less lethal", there is no such thing as a "non lethal" 12 gauge round, even blanks can kill if used incorrectly. Shoot someone in the wrong place or from too close with a bean bag and they can kill people quite effectively by blunt trauma, depressed skull fractures and cardiac arrest, especially if no medical care is available after. Suffering a skull fracture and/or unconsciousness from cranial dammage or cardiac disruption while driving a truck is likely lethal.
The soldiers given these rounds should have been trained in this. In the US military, they almost certainly WERE. Humans being what they are, some might see an opportunity to deliberately cause injury or commit murder on a "haji" under the fig leaf of "non lethal".
Or perhaps the US military culture of "we're going home alive at the end of this occupation of a shithole filled with subhumans who we hate, no matter what we have to do" that ex military now serving as US police officers have shown towards the communities they are supposedly serving and protecting led to the drive by shooting.
History is repeating as a tragedy, can we get to the 3rd go round as a comedy very soon, please?
Posted by: Whyawannaknow1 | Jan 10 2018 5:44 utc | 60
@ Whyawannaknow1 who is picky about his history
You mean to state that Trump, the game show host, is not comedy enough for you.....it is said that defeat is not bitter, if not swallowed.
Hey, we get the Real news from Comedians these days, right? Are they normalizing tragedy as comedy?
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 10 2018 5:58 utc | 61
@ myself for failing with the gender neutral sense with Whyawannaknow1 and his history
Sigh. 69 years of patterned behavior is hard to change consistently.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 10 2018 6:02 utc | 62
Apparently I'm the only person to recognise that the shotgun was a pump; not a semi-auto.
Posted by: V. Arnold | Jan 10 2018 7:38 utc | 63
Oops; on closer inspection; it's a semi-auto (I missed the charging handle).
Posted by: V. Arnold | Jan 10 2018 7:58 utc | 64
Bean bag man pumping for US mercs seems to be connected with whoever posted the video or stared in the video.
b said the drivers right hand was not visible. He was slowing for the US mercs to overtake. If this was the case, his right hand was most likely on the gear stick going down the gears. Engine braking is used where ever possible when driving a truck.
US now relies on a volunteer army to fight its never ending wars. The type that sign up for three meals, a pay packet, and the chance to shoot gooks for a bit of fun.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Jan 10 2018 9:43 utc | 66
@53 "It's a non lethal round you sad people."
I guess that all depends on what happened to the driver of that truck, which is something none of us knows.
But it is certainly possible that this caused him to crash that truck, and it is a near-certainty that this was the intention of the soldier who pulled that trigger.
"It has barely any recoil and doesn't eject a spent shell, tell-tale signs of a non lethal round."
This bears repeating: the "non lethality" of that shot depends entirely upon the fate of that truck driver, and the guilt or innocence of that soldier hinges up wether or not it was his intention to incapacitate the driver of a moving truck.
If that was the result or intention then it depends not at all on the method of choice for achieving that aim.
After all, a ballpoint pen is "non-lethal" but if it was thrust up through someone's nose into their brain then that would be.... what, exactly? I'd say "murder", but that's just me.
"Now go sulk about how the world is so evil to somebody who gives a shit."
Niiiiice straw man. You made it yourself?
The issue here is whether the truck driver walked away from that shot.
If he didn't then this was murder.
If he did then this was attempted-murder.
Honestly, how can you not see that?
Posted by: Yeah, Right | Jan 10 2018 10:55 utc | 67
Psychohistorian @ 55, 57, Don Bacon @ 56:
US embassy staff to become sales representatives for arms dealers? Does this mean they no longer need the knowledge and the skills to engage in covert regime change operaions in the countries where they are stationed - all they need to know is how to pose provocatively in bikinis, G-strings and Borat-style mankinis with the latest semiautomatics and drape themselves lovingly over tanks in front of clients like far-right opposition parties, terrorist and criminal organisations and warlords they wish to recruit?
They don't have to spend years carefully cultivating NGO's; throwing money at chosen political opposition candidates; and recruiting high school and university students to stage protests and demonstrations where they shout "Down with the regime!", throw homemade bombs, fight the police and burn police cars?
They don't need the legal education, experience and skill to read the constitutions of the countries where they have been posted to, to learn how to use the impeachment processes in those constitutions against sitting presidents popular with the public for their social democratic policies? We can finally say goodbye and good riddance to Liliana Ayalde who was US ambassador to Paraguay just before President Fernando Lugo was ousted in a putsch in 2010, and also US ambassador to Brazil when Dilma Rousseff was impeached in 2015?
https://popularresistance.org/modern-us-regime-change-operations-demonstrated-in-latin-america/
Posted by: Jen | Jan 10 2018 10:55 utc | 68
Comment above by BRF: "While the Brits were arrogant racists and would exact terrible vengeance for any acts against her rule or personnel they did not go out of their way to antagonize the local population."
Bullshit. They did this and worse. In Northern Ireland and Iraq, just to name two.
Posted by: Depth Charge | Jan 10 2018 11:46 utc | 69
Depth Charge | Jan 10, 2018 6:46:42 AM | 69
Good catch (I missed that).
Kudos to you. The Brit's are one of the original colonialists, with a murderous history.
Posted by: V. Arnold | Jan 10 2018 11:54 utc | 70
My questions:
1. What do we know about “Happy Few?” Does the Shakespeare reference suggest anything about the authenticity or identity of the video maker?
2. Is there any video-editing program that could’ve simulated the effect we see in the video?
3. Would we expect to see the truck immediately begin to swerve to the right as a result of the impact of the round—whatever kind it was—on the driver?
Posted by: Xenophon | Jan 10 2018 12:29 utc | 71
Reddit via Google produces "move along now, nothing to see etc", but links to the videos via duckduckgo. Reddit kowtow to Google?
Posted by: NeoGrouchist | Jan 10 2018 13:41 utc | 72
@moonofretardation 53, non-lethal?
The spray of pellets shot at his head.
1. Strong likelihood of crashing his truck.
2. What about his eyes, no permanent injury there?
3. Complications, Afghanistan probably doesn't have the best medical care.
What was the point in doing this, what justifies the shooting.
Posted by: Christian Chuba | Jan 10 2018 13:49 utc | 73
Multiply this one event (which happened to be documented in moving pictures) by many thousands. The cruelty of humanity knows no bounds. Those humans who make excuses for this are perhaps more monstrous than the perps.
Posted by: fastfreddy | Jan 10 2018 14:05 utc | 74
@74 FF - agreed...
Sadly, for humanity, we're well past the "absurdities" part of Voltaire's famous quote, and well into the "atrocities" portion
I take a measure of comfort knowing the inhumane among us will eventually be dealt with by God, regardless of their professed religious affiliation
Posted by: xLemming | Jan 10 2018 14:47 utc | 75
Xenephon;What the f*ck did Xenephon(?)do,when he invaded foreign lands,become a symbol of native lands.Just asking?
Posted by: dahoit | Jan 10 2018 18:12 utc | 76
I have no idea why this should surprise anyone.
Half of special forces guys are bored psychopaths.
Violent young men sick of the strange, unpleasant place they've been sent to.
Wanting some "action."
Honestly, over the years in Afghanistan, there have been score of reports of massacres by Americans. Ditto Iraq.
One of the items that so moved Chelsea Manning was a viseo from an American helicopter attacking a totally innocent and unarmed man.
Just disgusting.
America, why do you send them?
Because you give a damn about anyone else.
They are just so much roadkill.
Posted by: JOHN CHUCKMAN | Jan 10 2018 21:16 utc | 77
Half of special forces guys are bored psychopaths.
Violent young men sick of the strange, unpleasant place they've been sent to.
Wanting some "action."
Honestly, over the years in Afghanistan, there have been score of reports of massacres by Americans. Ditto Iraq.
One of the items that so moved Chelsea Manning was a viseo from an American helicopter attacking a totally innocent and unarmed man.
Just disgusting.
America, why do you send them?
Because you give a damn about anyone else.
Just another day-in-the-life of.
I saw a number of vids like this on Ogrish and its follow-up LiveLeak in the 2003 - 2007 phase of the Iraq depravity murder show: Blackwater machine gunning people out the back of a truck on highways to heavy metal, machine-gunned cars veering off the road. Drivers gunned down at checkpoints.
Then there is Nasour Square:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisour_Square_massacre
This is just road rage. I am pretty sure, on the 3 min 09 sec vid you can hear a car horn just before the shotgun blast. Maybe the civilian truck didn't obey something shouted in English, maybe not allowing the MRAP to overtake immediately, so they inevitably get the tiny excuse to kill him.
Posted by: Shyaku | Jan 11 2018 10:31 utc | 79
>>>> moonofretardation | Jan 9, 2018 9:40:59 PM | 53
War is war.
What an ignorant and stupid comment. I'm guessing you're American and like most Americans, I suspect you really don't understand war. As Clausewitz said "war is the mere continuation of politics with other means" and that is why the United States keeps losing war because Americans believe that war is winning battles.
The US army is concerned enough about this incident that it's now being investigated although you will now no doubt claim that this is Soviet propaganda broadcast by RT.
Posted by: Ghost Ship | Jan 11 2018 14:33 utc | 80
I don't know if this was covered yet but just to play devil's advocate, some are questioning if there actually was a shot. There line of argument goes like this ...
1. No shell is seen ejecting (only half of the gun is visible so I don't find this argument compelling).
2. no action in the gun barrel (I don't know how that type of gun works)
3. The window shatter doesn't match a hit from a shotgun blast, someone even claims it was likely a rock kicked up from the truck as it drove by (don't buy that, the rock would have been visible).
Is there anyone who has shot this type of gun who can speak to whether or not it was fired? The timing looks perfect to me.
Posted by: Christian Chuba | Jan 11 2018 17:04 utc | 81
Ghostship, as you know (because you are smart) the US army is investigating this because it is recorded on tape.
Nisour Square was also investigated.
The only crime is being caught.
Kind regards, Shyaku.
Posted by: Shyaku | Jan 11 2018 18:07 utc | 82
Military investigating shooting in newly leaked Afghan combat video
U.S. commanders have launched an investigation into video footage that appears to show an American service member firing into the cab of a civilian truck as the two vehicles pass on a road in Afghanistan, an action that could have violated the military’s rules of engagement and may hamper the alliance with the Afghan government.. . .
"The amateur video posted on a public website gives us serious concern," the U.S. Central Command told POLITICO in a statement. "The video in question is not official, not authorized and does not represent the professionalism of the service members of U.S. Central Command.
"We are conducting an investigation into this video, and will take appropriate actions as a result of this investigation," it added.. . .here
Posted by: Don Bacon | Jan 12 2018 15:34 utc | 85
The New York Times has now posted a piece on the issue which is obviously based on my piece above but gives zero credit to Moon of Alabama.
Did U.S. Special Forces Shoot a Truck Driver in Afghanistan?
By THOMAS GIBBONS-NEFF, CHRISTIAAN TRIEBERT, DAVID BOTTI and MALACHY BROWNE JAN. 12, 2018
- It uses the high-res footage I uploaded to Youtube (other sources are deleted, other reports have used some low res copies of the scene from Twitter postings)
- It uses data from a deleted Instagram account which is only available in my above screenshots
- It points out the red/blue building behind the truck which I specifically pointed out
- It falsely claims that Politco was first to report the issue. Politco published January 10, MoA published early on January 9.
- It falls for that fairy tale of some soldier who says that such shooting is standard procedure in convoys. That is nonsense. What happens when you disable a truck driver that is driving in front (or within) a convoy in the same direction? The truck crashes, the convoy comes to halt. The convoy would provide its own deathtrap. No standard procedure proscribes that.
- It says
Military protocols on situations of escalating force dictate how troops deal with an approaching vehicle that is seen as potentially hostile.- Irrelevant here of course as the truck was not "approaching" but was driving at good speed in the same direction and was overtaken.
- Also more generally
Convoy operations such as those shown in the video ..Where please is a convoy in the video? There is none visible at all.
- It points out the
b @86--
Antiwar.com also has a blurb about this incident.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 12 2018 22:44 utc | 87
@86 b
Elevation of unconditional journalism such as MofA is not a runner at the NYT - the red pulling effect, too dangerous to consider. Obvious plagiarism yet they need to credit four clown shoes for this.
Posted by: MadMax2 | Jan 12 2018 23:28 utc | 88
I am sorry for the disrespect that the NYT is showing by plagiarism of your work.
While it speaks volumes to the quality of your reporting, it is a desperate attempt at being relevant without the work. I hope yo are successful at calling them on the use without credit.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 12 2018 23:43 utc | 89
b.. that is unfortunate.. are these people following you on twitter? make a twitter post on it and call them on it.. better yet - ask the editor in chief of their nyt desk if they have no shame... the answer to that appears obvious - sleazeballs thru and thru..
Posted by: james | Jan 13 2018 0:01 utc | 90
this guy produced it = Gray Beltran (@graybeltran) · Twitter
Posted by: james | Jan 13 2018 0:04 utc | 91
Seems like the whole thing is a war crime. I have no problem with pointing out an isolated incident, god knows the family of that individual would want you to do so. But, christ, the greater rationale for US presence in Afghanistan eludes me.
Posted by: IhaveLittleToAdd | Jan 13 2018 0:44 utc | 92
from #85
"The amateur video posted on a public website gives us serious concern," the U.S. Central Command told POLITICO in a statement. "The video in question is not official, not authorized and does not represent the professionalism of the service members of U.S. Central Command. We are conducting an investigation into this video..."
It's the video that causes them concern, not the act. It's like Chelsea Manning releasing the video of the Iraqi journalists being murdered. Whoever took that video is in deep trouble.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Jan 13 2018 2:01 utc | 93
Also saw AntiWar --> https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/us-military-probes-video-of-apparent-shooting-in-afghanistan-9854072 link.
B, you rock - thank you.
Posted by: daffyDuct | Jan 13 2018 2:47 utc | 94
Related to the last racist and despicable statements by The Donald:
From its first imperialist wars in the Philippines and Haiti to the latest disasters in Iraq, Libya or Afghanistan, the US has been turning countries into "shit holes" for 150 years.
https://twitter.com/pechosboys/status/951949078467891202
It´s you who turn everything/everywhere into shit, not the other way around!
Posted by: elsi | Jan 13 2018 13:04 utc | 95
On turning places/countries into shit holes....
The largest opium field in the world belongs to the USA and is in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the deaths due to its consumption only increase.
https://twitter.com/pechosboys/status/951956033823535104
Posted by: elsi | Jan 13 2018 13:05 utc | 96
I can tell you that was a non lethal round. I'm sorry if they shot into a truck its probably cause they told him to stop and he didn't. He's lucky they didn't actually open fire on him when he failed too. If they wanted to give lethal force they would have lit it up. Also the ending to the video show our dark sense of humor that only service men and women would understand. Especially since we didn't get paid this cycle due to the government shutdown.
Posted by: 6M2 | Jan 31 2018 11:51 utc | 97
The comments to this entry are closed.
The youtube links are already dead. No doubt the US military is keen to censor it. It is a pity Russia does not offer an archive site for such politically sensitive videos that the US would not be able to censor.
3 million views and 30k "likes". What on earth does "like" mean? Like as in happy or like as in shocked (and pleased that news at least got out)?
Posted by: BM | Jan 9 2018 13:59 utc | 1