David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch, Asia
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – Andrew Holmes is one of five soldiers accused of killing Afghans for sport. They’re also accused of mutilating corpses and keeping grisly souvenirs as troops allegedly covered up the deaths of their victims. Holmes’ lawyer denies the charges and says he will fight them vigorously.
Pfc. Andrew Holmes of Boise, Idaho, faces military officials Monday who will determine if there is enough evidence to court martial him over the premeditated killing of three Afghan civilians.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai was briefed about the Army’s investigation into a “rogue” Stryker platoon in southern Afghanistan while the soldiers were deployed there earlier this year, an Army investigator testified yesterday.
Camero, testifying by phone Monday morning at an Article 32 hearing for Pfc. Andrew Holmes, said that the Army was careful to contain information about the investigation because it didn’t want to inflame the Afghan populace’s sentiment against U.S. soldiers.
“We didn’t want the public to know,” he said.
As one of five U.S. soldiers from the 5th Stryker Brigade accused of killing for sport and staging the deaths to look like legitimate war casualties, Holmes will face an Article 32 hearing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington. Spc. Jeremy Morlock was the first of the five to face an Article 32 hearing.
12 U.S. soldiers have been charged in what they called a conspiracy to murder Afghan civilians and cover it up; along with charges they mutilated corpses and kept grisly souvenirs.
Five of the soldiers face murder charges, while seven others are charged with participating in a cover-up.
According to the military documents, the five were also involved in throwing grenades at civilians.
His civilian lawyer, Dan Conway, said his client did not kill any civilian and was ordered by his supervisor, Gibbs, to keep a human finger.
“There is no proof that … Holmes caused or conspired to cause the death of any human being unlawfully,” Conway said.
The Army refuses to comment on any aspect of any of the cases and has sought to limit circulation of evidence, especially since videotaped interrogations of some of the soldiers and alleged written confessions by some soldiers were leaked.
Holmes’ attorney said he plans to put on a vigorous defense of his client, arguing that he killed no one.
“The only way these kinds of allegations can occur is the command is completely derelict in supervising, meaning there involved or there are ignoring that this kind of conduct may be occurring,” Conway said. “And I don’t know which one it is at this point.”
Holmes’ attorney, Dan Conway, pressed Camero, who was part of a team that went to the scene of a related May killing, to gather evidence about the investigation to highlight the Army’s lack of physical evidence from the January incident in which Holmes was involved.
Camero said the decision to visit crime scenes rested with higher-ranking officers who were aware that the location of the January incident was in hostile territory.
For more information, please see:
CNN – Soldier accused of Afghan sport killings faces hearing – 15 November 2010
The News Tribune – Stryker murder scandal details shared with top level of Afghan Government – 15 November 2010
Boise Weekly – War: More Testimony in the Holmes Case – 15 November 2010
