It Is Vietnam All Over Again

In"the Nam," U.S. soldiers were known for sometimes collecting the ears from their dead enemies as souveniers.

Now, according to The Guardian, a trial is underway of a U.S. "kill team" from Afghanistan accused of killing Afghans for sport and collecting fingers as war trophies:

"Twelve American soldiers face charges over a secret "kill team" that allegedly blew up and shot Afghan civilians at random and collected their fingers as trophies.



Five of the soldiers are charged with murdering three Afghan men who were allegedly killed for sport in separate attacks this year. Seven others are accused of covering up the killings and assaulting a recruit who exposed the murders when he reported other abuses, including members of the unit smoking hashish stolen from civilians.


...According to investigators and legal documents, discussion of killing Afghan civilians began after the arrival of Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs at forward operating base Ramrod last November. Other soldiers told the army's criminal investigation command that Gibbs boasted of the things he got away with while serving in Iraq and said how easy it would be to "toss a grenade at someone and kill them".
 
...The Army Times reported that a least one of the soldiers collected the fingers of the victims as souvenirs and that some of them posed for photographs with the bodies."
 
Great.   This comes out just in time for the Koran-burning party.   Yipee