It can't get any worse than accidentally burning Korans, right? Right?

[CountDeMoney]

U.S. soldier held after firing on Afghans, killing at least 16, officials say

KABUL — An American soldier wandered outside his base in a remote southern Afghan village shortly before dawn Sunday and allegedly opened fire on civilians inside homes, killing at least 16, Afghan and U.S. officials said.

The attack marked perhaps the grisliest act by a U.S. soldier in the decade-long Afghan war and seemed all but certain to stoke anti-American anger in a crucial battleground as foreign troops start to thin out in the south. Afghan officials said women and children were among those killed in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province, the birthplace of the Taliban movement.

Coming as Afghan rage over last month's burning of Korans by U.S. soldiers was beginning to taper off, the killings threatened to spark a new crisis in the strained relationship between Washington and Kabul. The two nations are in the midst of contentious negotiations over an agreement that could extend the presence of U.S. troops in the country beyond 2014.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai called the shootings an "assassination" and demanded an explanation from U.S. officials, the Associated Press reported. "This is an assassination, an intentional killing of innocent civilians, and cannot be forgiven," Karzai said in a statement, the AP reported.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said he spoke with Karzai on Sunday and reassured him that the U.S. military was working quickly to determine what happened and "bring those responsible to justice."

"We will spare no effort in getting the facts as quickly as possible, and we will hold any perpetrator who is responsible for this violence fully accountable under the law," Panetta said.

Panetta said he was "shocked and saddened that a U.S. service member is alleged to be involved, clearly acting outside the chain of his command." And in an echo of his comments after the Koran burning, he sought to reassure Afghans and Americans alike that the killings would not tear apart the partnership between Kabul and Washington.

"We are steadfast in our resolve to work hand in hand with our Afghan partners to accomplish the missions and goals on which we have been working together for so long," he said. "This terrible incident does not reflect our shared values or the progress we have made together."

President Obama said he was "deeply saddened" by the incident and offered his condolences to the families of those killed and the Afghan people.

"This incident is tragic and shocking, and does not represent the exceptional character of our military and the respect that the United States has for the people of Afghanistan," Obama said in a statement. "I fully support Secretary Panetta's and General Allen's commitment to get the facts as quickly as possible and to hold accountable anyone responsible."

U.S. officials shed no light on the motive or state of mind of the staff sergeant who was taken into custody shortly after the alleged massacre.

"It appears he walked off post and later returned and turned himself in," said Lt. Cmdr. James Williams, a military spokesman.

U.S. military officials stressed that the shooting was carried out by a lone, rogue soldier, differentiating it from past instances of civilians killed accidentally during military operations.

"I cannot explain the motivation behind such callous acts," Lt. Gen. Adrian J. Bradshaw, the deputy commander of the international troop coalition in Afghanistan, said in a statement. "They were in no way part of authorized military activity."

The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan pledged a thorough investigation and full cooperation with Afghan authorities.

"I was shocked and saddened to hear of the shooting incident today in Kandahar Province," Marine Gen. John R. Allen said in a statement Sunday. "I offer my profound regret and deepest condolences to the victims and their families. I pledge to all the noble people of Afghanistan my commitment to a rapid and thorough investigation."

Allen said the U.S. military would continue to provide medical care for those injured in the shootings and would maintain custody of the service member alleged to have committed the acts.

Fazal Mohammad Esaqzai, the deputy chief of the provincial council, said enraged villagers loaded the bodies into cars and drove to the entrance of the nearby American base to demand answers.

"They were very angry," said Esaqzai, who was part of an investigative delegation that visited the villages where the shootings took place. "They wanted to do something to take revenge."

Esaqzai, who said he saw the 16 bodies, provided the following account. About midnight, 11 people, including three women; four children whose ages ranged from 6 to 9; and four men were executed inside the home of a village elder.

"They entered the room where the women and children were sleeping, and they were all shot in the head," Esaqzai said, adding that he was doubtful of the U.S. account suggesting the killings were the work of a lone gunman. "They were all shot in the head."

After roughly an hour, residents in a nearby village heard gunshots, and they later discovered the corpses of five men inside two nearby houses, Esaqzai said.

At least five people wounded in the shooting rampage were being treated at a U.S. military medical facility. Afghan and U.S. officials braced for a larger outcry later in the week.

"We assure the people of Afghanistan that the individual or individuals responsible for this act will be identified and brought to justice," the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said in a statement.

The Taliban was quick to weigh in on the incident, characterizing it as a "massacre" committed during the course of a night raid by American and Afghan forces.

"The so called American peace keepers have once again quenched their thirst with the blood of innocent Afghan civilians," the Taliban statement said.

Provincial officials sent an investigative team to the villages where the shootings took place. The U.S. military launched its own probe.

"We strongly condemn this incident," said Zalmai Ayoubi, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

Panjwai, southwest of Kandahar city, has been one of the most challenging battlegrounds for international forces here. The area was the cradle of the Taliban movement in the early 1990s, and the militant group has fought hard to maintain control over villages.

Wresting Kandahar province from Taliban control was one of the chief objectives of President Obama's 2009 troop surge. U.S. military officials say they have been largely successful in restoring a semblance of Afghan government control in areas once controlled by the Taliban. But as the foreign troop footprint starts to shrink in the south, many Afghans fear the Taliban will regain its lost ground.

Although anger over the burning of Korans last month sparked nationwide riots and protests, and prompted Afghan security forces to open fire on U.S. troops, reaction to the desecration of holy books was relatively muted in the south.

Sunday's death toll was far higher than the notorious string of killings allegedly carried out in 2010 by a rogue U.S. army platoon that became known as the Kill Team. The slaying of at least three men in the Maywand district of Kandahar became one of the biggest scandals of the Afghan war, after investigators found that soldiers had kept body parts as trophies and passed off unarmed victims as insurgents.

Afghans were also angered early this year, when a video showing U.S. Marines urinating on the bodies of suspected insurgents was posted online.

If Sunday's shootings spawn a wave of protests and retaliatory attacks, it could set a grim tone as the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan heads to Washington this week for official meetings and a hearing on Capitol Hill.

The partnership between Karzai's government and the Obama administration has been sorely tested in recent weeks by the Koran burning, fratricidal killings of U.S. troops by their Afghan proteges and other issues. Although those problems have led to increased calls by some U.S. lawmakers for a speedier withdrawal, U.S. military officials said they were determined to absorb the political fallout and public anger that have been generated.

"This deeply appalling incident in no way represents the values of . . . coalition troops or the abiding respect we feel for the Afghan people," Allen, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said in his statement. "Nor does it impugn or diminish the spirit of cooperation and partnership we have worked so hard to foster with the Afghan National Security Forces."

"We're fully cognizant that even things that are unrelated can have an impact," added a senior U.S. defense official in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. "But we see no demonstrable effect on our operations or on our broader ability to work with our Afghan partners."

[garbon]

I'm not sure why we are still over there even though the article gives the ostensible reasons why.

[CountDeMoney]

I'm not sure why we are still over there even though the article gives the ostensible reasons why.

I'm sure why we're over there, and I agree with it, and will continue to agree with it until every filthy male rock farmer of combatant age even remotely sympathetic with the Taliban and the 9/11 attacks is dead. 
But we're well past the point now where we're doing ourselves any favors.

[Jaron]

Tragic!!!!

...but necessary.

[Ideologue]

U.S. soldier held after firing on Afghans, killing at least 16, officials say

I only read the headline, I think it's missing the words "a parade."

[katmai]

I didn't know Siegy was over there already.

[CountDeMoney]

Friday prayer ought to be scads of fun.

[Eddie Teach]

I didn't know Siegy was over there already.

It's too bad, I'll miss all the drunk posts. 

[citizen k]

The soldier was from Ft. Lewis. Trained by Seige?

[CountDeMoney]

This guy better have some serious Colonel Kurtz unsanctioned counter-intel shit on these villagers, or it's gonna be a really bad week for our troops in the 'Stan.

But I don't think those 9 children were Viet Cong double agents.

[Razgovory]

This guy better have some serious Colonel Kurtz unsanctioned counter-intel shit on these villagers, or it's gonna be a really bad week for our troops in the 'Stan.

But I don't think those 9 children were Viet Cong double agents.

I dunno.  They seem to get more riled about burning Korans then people.

[CountDeMoney]

I dunno.  They seem to get more riled about burning Korans then people.

Valid point, but with every Afghani kid that gets whacked, that's one less future Talibanistani enrolled in the local madrasa.

[Siege]

The soldier was from Ft. Lewis. Trained by Seige?

No way.
I always taught my guys the right way to do it, and get away with it:
1- No women, no kids, unless they got guns.
2- MAMs (military age males) are fair game, even without guns, as long as you can talk your way out it, convincing your chain of command the dudes were a threat.
3- Never kill 16 at ONE TIME. I mean, come on. You can get away with 40, in twos and threes, but not with SIXTEEN at ONCE.

Bottom line, make sure you yourself are convinced you did the right thing and were right in making the decission to squeze the trigger.
I have shot men that weren't armed, but i have never shot a civilian. Terrorists don't carry guns all the time. They are still terrorists.
And I have shot kids, 12 or 13 years old, but they did have weapons and were shooting on friendlies.
Never had to shoot a woman though, or a girl, thankfully.

[sbr]

Misread the title and thought we accidentally burnt some Koreans.

[Siege]

Besides, I don't see the point of this stupid shit this dude did.
I mean, everybody over there are either terrorists, terrorist factories, or terrorists in the making.
Shooting the terrorists is our duty, but if we shoot out the terrorist factories and the terrorists in the making, who are we going to fight in the future?

Winning is great, but if we got nobody to fight in the future, the next generations of americans are going to be pussies.