Nato confesses killing innocent Afghan civilians

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD: The first of a dozen soldiers charged in a "murder for sport" case in Afghanistan faced a military hearing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord on Monday.

Army prosecutors say a team of soldiers murdered three unarmed Afghanis early this year and tried to cover up the deaths by staging gun battles with the victims.

In a military video obtained by CNN, Army Specialist and Joint Base Lewis-McChord Stryker soldier Jeremy Morlock appeared to confess to killing unarmed Afghan civilians -- for sport -- under the orders of his staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs.

“So we identified a guy and Gibbs’ comment was like, ‘Hey, do you guys want to wax this guy or what?’” Morlock said in the video. “He pulled out one of his grenades, an American grenade, popped it, throws the grenade and tells me ... ‘All right, whack this guy, kill this guy, kill this guy.’”

The taped interrogation is at the heart of a case involving a dozen soldiers charged with killing the civilians.

But attorneys for Morlock, 22, said that when this interview was conducted, he was under the influence of a cocktail of prescription drugs including Ambien, codeine, anti-depressants, muscle relaxers and other painkillers.

“The reality is this lad was all juiced up and it was by Army doctors who were in turn following orders,” said Jeffery Nathan, Morlock’s attorney.

The attorneys also said Morlock was drugged by Army doctors because of repeated traumatic brain injury.

“We’re going to be able to prove, hopefully down the road, that he was popping these pills starting in November,” said Michael Waddington, another attorney for Morlock. “In November, he suffered his first IED-caused concussion (and) instead of treating him, they doped him up.”

Morlock is the first of the soldiers to face an Article 32 hearing on the charges to determine if he will face court martial on murder charges.

Army prosecutors said that with Gibbs acting as a ringleader, the soldiers, including Morlock, would target men and kill them in staged firefights.

Morlock is also accused of threatening a fellow soldier over his alleged use of hashish, beating him, throwing the severed fingers of one of the murder victims onto the ground and according to an Army investigator, saying, "He could end up like that if he kept opening his mouth.”

Morlock's attorneys said that although he was present at the murders, there is no evidence he killed anyone.