JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, WASH. - After months of incarceration, Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, the alleged ringleader of a troubled gang of soldiers, appeared Tuesday at a hearing aimed at determining whether he should stand trial for war crimes in southern Afghanistan.
The Army, in a 16-count charge sheet, accuses Gibbs of killing three unarmed Afghans, assaulting three others, possessing finger bones, leg bones and a tooth taken from Afghan corpses, threatening to kill two fellow soldiers and other crimes.
Gibbs, 26, arrived in the courtroom in his Army uniform and with a fresh haircut. When asked by an Army investigating officer whether he understood the charges, he declared, "Yes sir." Then he sat quietly as an Army investigator -- speaking over a phone from Afghanistan -- recounted statements obtained from fellow soldiers and was then cross-examined by Phillip Stackhouse, Gibbs' defense counsel.
The allegations against Gibbs form the core of the most serious U.S. war crime cases to emerge from the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. They have generated international media coverage and stung the Army as it tries to win the trust of villagers in Kandahar Province, where Gibbs and his platoon served with the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.
Twelve soldiers have been charged with crimes, including Gibbs and four others accused of participating in one or more of the three slayings that allegedly occurred in January, February and May as the platoon was on patrol.
Gibbs was placed in pretrial confinement in May in Afghanistan and is now held at a brig in Buckley, Wash.
Much of the evidence in the case is in the statements of fellow soldiers who say Gibbs formed a "kill team," which carried out the slayings of the three Afghans, according to prosecutors. The soldiers also detailed Gibbs' involvement in other crimes, such as attacking a fellow soldier who sought to blow the whistle on hashish smoking or collecting grisly trophies.
"He bragged to the platoon about having fingers from the guys that had been killed," said Specialist Jeremy Morlock, who is also accused of murder, in a sworn statement.
