Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- Tapes obtained by CNN of interrogations of a group of U.S. servicemen charged with unprovoked killings of Afghan civilians describe gruesome scenes of cold-blooded murder.
"So we met this guy by his compound, so Gibbs walked him out, set him in place, was like standing here," says Cpl. Jeremy Morlock, detailing how, on patrol earlier this year and under the command of his sergeant, Calvin R. Gibbs, he and others took an Afghan man from his home and killed him.
"So, he was fully cooperating?" the military investigator asks on the tapes in a May 2010 interview.
"Yeah," Morlock responds.
Investigator: "Was he armed?"
Morlock: "No, not that we were aware of".
Investigator: "So, you pulled him out of his place?"
Morlock: "I don't think he was inside. He was by his little hut area ... and Gibbs sent in a couple of people".
Investigator: "Where did they stand him, next to a wall?"
Morlock: "Yeah, he was kinda next to a wall ... where Gibbs could get behind a wall when the grenade went off. And then he kind of placed me and [Spc. Adam] Winfield off over here so we had a clean line of sight for this guy and, you know, he pulled out one of his grenades, an American grenade, popped it, throws the grenade and tells me and Winfield, 'Alright, wax this guy. Kill this guy, kill this guy'".
Investigator: "Did you see him present any weapons? Was he aggressive toward you at all?"
Morlock: "No, not at all. Nothing, he wasn't a threat".
Morlock is accused of killing three Afghan civilian men -- two by shooting -- between January and May of this year. The third was the killing he described above.
The charging papers from the U.S. military paint a picture of a band of rogue soldiers, smoking hash, bored and plotting and carrying out murders of Afghan civilians for sport.
Gibbs is also accused of having kept fingers and leg bones as souvenirs, according to the documents. A soldier who tried to blow the whistle was beaten and threatened, some soldiers said.
Some of the soldiers took photographs of each other next to the Afghans after they had been shot, CNN has learned.
According to the military documents, some of the soldiers were involved in throwing grenades at civilians.
CNN
