aerdil posted:

probably a trial run for pardoning Edward Gallagher which is gonna be even more reprehensible

"Us testifying against him, it wasn't a matter of not liking him, it wasn't a matter of any type of grudge or coercion," he said. "It was simply we knew that his actions, based on our experience, having operated in that area for months, were going to breed further insurgency. If you kill local citizens, they're no longer willing to help you."

...

"Over about a three-day period, Lieutenant Lorance … committed crimes of violence and crimes of dishonesty," said Capt. Kirk Otto, who prosecuted the case for the government, according to a transcript of the court-martial.

First, on June 30, 2012, Lorance threatened to kill an Afghan man and his family, Otto said in his opening statement.

The man, a farmer, and his child, who was about 4 years old, were at the gate to talk to the Americans about the concertina wire that was blocking access to his farm field, Otto said.

"He said, 'You move the c-wire, I'll have somebody kill you,'" Spc. James Twist, who was at the scene, testified during the court-martial.

Lorance then tried to have the Afghan turn in IEDs to the Americans, Twist testified.

"He was like, 'You bring us IEDs or we'll have the ANA kill your family,'" Twist said. "And Lieutenant Lorance was like, 'Well, if we ever come onto your land and we step on an IED or we find an IED, I'll have the ANA come and kill your family.' And he pointed to the kid and said, 'Do you want to see your child grow up?'"

The next day, Lorance directed one of the platoon's squad designated marksmen to fire his M14 rifle from one of the Strong Point's guard towers into the neighboring village of Sarenzai, Otto said.

"He directs harassing fire — illegal harassing fire — at villagers," Otto said.

Lorance directed his soldier to shoot near groups of people, as well as at walls and vehicles, he said. The soldier, Spc. Matthew Rush, refused to shoot when Lorance directed him to fire near a group of children, Otto said.

"These villagers were not doing anything," Otto said. "There was no demonstrated hostile intent. No one heard incoming shots."

The soldier who served as a team leader in the platoon, who spoke to Army Times on background, said he has pictures of Lorance on the rooftop.

"He was out of control," the soldier said. "We told him, 'Sir, I don't think it's a good idea.' He was like, 'Oh, it's a great idea. We're going to scare these guys so they actually attend our shura, and we won't lose anymore guys."

Lorance later tried to have Sgt. Daniel Williams, who was in the tactical operations center, falsely report that the Strong Point received incoming potshots, Otto said.

"He told me to report up that they had taken potshots from the village," Williams testified. "I told him that I wouldn't … because it's a false report. At least I thought so, sir."

Williams also testified that Lorance said "he didn't really care about upsetting them too much because he f**king hated them."

'Why isn't anybody firing yet?'

The next day, as the soldiers prepared to head out on a patrol, a small group of three or four Afghan men met them at the gate.

The men were upset. They wanted to know why the Americans shot into their village the day before.

Lorance told them that if they had a problem, they could attend the shura, or meeting, he planned to have later in the week, according to testimony. The Afghans refused to budge.

"He told them to get out of there," Skelton said in his testimony. "He started very aggressively yelling at them, and he started counting, and he pulled back the charging handle on his weapon and chambered a round."

As the soldiers' interpreter "panicked," one of the other soldiers testified, the Afghans turned away and left.

The Americans and a squad of Afghan National Army soldiers began walking out on their patrol.

Just moments into the patrol, Skelton opened fire on the motorcycle and then Pvt. David Shilo, operating the M240B machine gunon the truck, killed the two Afghans.

Fitzgerald, who left the Army in August, said he was standing near Lorance when the men on the motorcycle were hit.

"I remember him asking, 'Why isn't anybody firing yet?'" Fitzgerald said, adding that Lorance then took the radio and ordered the soldiers in the gun truck to open fire.

The men on the motorcycle stopped when Skelton first opened fire, Fitzgerald said.

"At that point, they were definitely not any type of threat," he said. "They weren't coming at us."

The patrol then pushed on into the village, where the bodies were quickly surrounded by crying and upset villagers.

First, Lorance prevented Skelton, who's trained to conduct battle damage assessments, including collecting biometric or personal data, from approaching the bodies, Otto said. He instead sent two other soldiers to search the bodies, Otto said. Those soldiers are trained to conduct the same assessments, but Skelton was the only one on patrol that day with the proper equipment, Otto said, according to the court-martial transcript.

Then, he falsely reported to his troop commander that he was unable to conduct a battle damage assessment because the bodies had already been removed, Otto said.

"Lieutenant Lorance ordered the murder of these two men," Otto said. "He knew it was murder, and that's why he took so many steps to try to cover it up."

The former team leader said he believes the three men on the motorcycle were the same men who came to the gate of the Strong Point to talk to the soldiers before the patrol.

"We were nowhere near the road when these guys were coming," the soldier said. "They weren't speeding toward troops."

The soldier also said he recognized the men when the patrol got to the village and came upon the bodies.

"We had been in that village so many times," he said. "We knew right then and there these were the village elders, these are the guys that actually matter in the village, and we just killed them."

The identities of the men who died that day remains in dispute. Some of the soldiers there that day say at least one was the village elder, while Lorance's lawyer argues the prosecution never named the men in court or in the charging documents against his client.

The former team leader said the platoon never recovered from the July 2 incident.

"We were family, and he split our family up," he said. "We have gone through so much shit because of this dude. We didn't ask for this. We didn't want this. He wanted to see contact, he wanted to be out there, and he f**ked up, and he should pay for it."

Another soldier from Lorance's platoon, who also asked to remain anonymous because he feared he might get in trouble, said the men who had been killed were wearing the same color clothes as the villagers at the gate.

"I feel like he was out for blood," he said about Lorance. "Three days prior to that incident, got shot in the neck. I felt like he went in there and wanted to prove to us that he wanted to take care of us."

The soldiers on the patrol were upset as they returned to their Strong Point, Fitzgerald said.

"No one was really talking," he said. "We'd look at each other, and there was just a mutual feeling that what just happened was wrong, very wrong. There was a heavy feeling. I personally felt betrayal."

Fitzgerald said he was not coerced into testifying at Lorance's court-martial. He also didn't receive immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony, he said.

"I wasn't facing any charges, I wasn't offered any incentives, I wasn't threatened with any negative action," he said.

It was difficult to testify against Lorance, Fitzgerald added.

"I didn't know Clint at all," he said. "I met him and he was with us for a few days. Since then, I've seen things his family said about him. There are a lot of people who have a lot of good things to say about him. I stand by my testimony, but I do understand that his family, they're victims, too."

Since his sentencing, Lorance has been pursuing a master's degree via correspondence and is on a self-designed reading program to keep his mind sharp, Maher said. He exercises daily, eats a healthy diet and remains "very spiritual," Maher said. Ultimately, Lorance wants to earn a doctoral degree and teach, he said.

thirdplace posted:

imo crenshaw will be a GOP presidential nominee within the next 12 years

IMHO with crenshaw that goes back to what cars has been saying about the CIA filling up congress with their people. mostly seeing that on the democrats but i think he's a clear example of it in the other party. why bother trying to play the usual game when you can just cultivate a future president yourself