Military Investigates ‘Death Squad’

The U.S. military is conducting a "top-to-bottom" investigation of the 5th Stryker brigade after evidence appeared that shows Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs, based in Kandahar, formed a "death squad" that staged killings against innocent Afghan civilians. A group of five soldiers within the brigade will be sent to trial next year for killing three civilians, mutilating their bodies and collecting fingers and skulls as trophies. The new investigation will look into why commanding officers didn’t intervene. Jeremy Morlock, one of the soldiers accused of the murders, told investigators that Gibbs has a "pure hatred for all Afghanis and constantly referred to them as savages." Lawyers also entered evidence showing a Facebook chat between army specialist Adam Winfield and his father, which reveals that several soldiers were involved in the killings. Video interviews with Winfield show the soldier saying that Gibbs did form a so-called “kill team.”