U.S. Soldiers Charged With Murder

The United States Army has charged Staff Sgt. Calvin R. Gibbs and four other soldiers with conspiring to kill three unarmed Afghans for sport, dismembering their bodies, and then taking photographs of the mutilated corpses. The murders took place between January and May in Kandahar province. The Washington Post reveals that other soldiers in Gibbs' unit have sworn that Gibbs was the mastermind behind it all, and hatched the idea of murdering random Afghans and concocting cover stories for each killing. Several soldiers who served with Gibbs have said that Gibbs had a perverse fascination with cutting off the fingers of corpses and encouraged other soldiers to do so. Gibbs maintains that each murder was justified and in self-defense.