U.S. Soldier sentenced to 24 years in prison after admitting he murdered innocent Afghan civilians

U.S. soldier Jeremy Morlock was sentenced to 24 years in prison on Wednesday for the murder of Afghan civilians, after admitting he purposefully killed three innocent people while on tour in 2010.

The 22-year-old was accused of being part of a "kill team" that took pleasure in torturing and murdering unarmed Afghans.

"The plan was to kill people," he told a military judge, when asked what his intentions were when he fired his weapon.

"Did everybody know, 'We're killing people who are completely innocent'?" the judge asked, according to The Associated Press.

"Generally, yes, sir, everyone knew," Morlock said.

Despite his guilty plea, Morlock maintained that fellow soldier Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs was the leader of the attacks, which have implicated a dozen members in the soldiers' Stryker Brigade. Gibbs, who has also been charged, has claimed the killings were justified.

The case made headlines this week when German news outlet Der Spiegel published graphic photos of Morlock and PFC Andrew Holmes, also in his unit, posing with the corpses. In one photo, Morlock is seen lifting up a body by the hair.

Morlock, a Wasilla, Alaska native, will be dishonorably discharged from the Army, and eligible for parole in seven years, Reuters reported.

During the hearing, he read a statement apologizing to the families of his victims and the "people of Afghanistan," saying, "I lost my moral compass."

"He's really a good kid. This is just a bad war at a bad time in our country's history," his lawyer Geoffrey Nathan said Tuesday. "There was a lack of supervision, a lack of command control, the environment was terrible. In his mind, he had no choice."

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Comment by JamRockLady on March 27, 2011 at 10:28pm: Then throw half of them in prison too because I'm sure he's not the only one who's committed this crime against their fellow-human-being in war-torn Arab countries.

He, along with other American soldiers, are a direct product of the "hate-all-brown-people-because-they're-all-terrorist" American propaganda. How does American constantly vilify ALL people of Arab counties in it's mainstream media, and NOT except American soldiers to have this type or selective racist homicidal mentality when they go on missions???

In fact, that's what America want it's American soldiers to do, go to Arab countries and kill every innocent man, woman and child and they use American mainstream media and propaganda (a.k.a. "brainwashing") to accomplish this.....tricky demons indeed! SMH.

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Comment by www.jaxsprats.com on March 27, 2011 at 3:07pm: This is happening everyday in. Afghanistan,Iraq,Pakistan, and now Libya. everyone knows that the orders come from the top, its sad and sick, but this happens in war. we need to pull out, these young men are trained to kill, been brainwashed and forced to committ to a duty that they don't agree with.

Comment by evolution on March 27, 2011 at 9:39am: Life in prison is too good for this son of a b****..............they should turn him over to the afghanistani to take care of him.Him being in prison here to get three sq meals a day at tax payers expense hell nah.