Australian soldier sentenced to hang in Afghanistan

[Sol Invictus]

Anne Barrowclough in Sydney
January 27, 2010

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article7004079.ece

A former Australian soldier has been sentenced to death in Afghanistan for shooting dead an Afghan colleague then trying to blame the killling on the Taleban.

Robert Langdon, 38, who was working as a security contractor for the US-based firm Four Horsemen (http://www.thefourhorsemeninternational.com/securitydivision.html), was found guilty last October of killing the security guard, known as Karim, by shooting him four times in the head and body. The verdict was upheld by the Afghan Appeals Court last week.

The Australian Government immediately protested against the sentencing, and said it would make "high level representations" to save Mr Langdon from execution.

"The Australian Government will make high level representations to Afghan authorities to oppose the imposition of the death penalty, and vigorously support any clemency bids in this case," a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said this morning.

We have been consulting closely with Mr Langdon's lawyers and his employer about appropriate representations in this case. This is consistent with the Australian Government's strong opposition to the use of the death penalty."

The Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said DFAT had advised him that Mr Langdon's lawyers had appealed against the sentence.

"Consistent with what we have done in the past and we'll do in the future, we as the government always intervene in support of any Australian citizen who is being convicted of a capital offence," Mr Rudd told Fairfax Radio.

"We'll be doing so on the closest advice of the Department of Foreign Affairs who'll be following the case in Kabul," he said.

The Australian newspaper reported that the killing happened last May, when Mr Langdon was part of a team made up of 60 Afghan and expatriate guards protecting a supply convoy that had been attacked by Taleban insurgents. He led the expatriates, while Karim was the team leader of the Afghans.

When the convoy approached the town of Maiden Shar, 35 miles (40km) from Kabul, the men argued violently after Karim refused to continue, saying the road ahead was too dangerous.

In court, Mr Langdon admitted killing Karim, but claimed diminished responsibility, saying he fired in self-defence after his Afghan colleague reached for his pistol.

"He reached across, and I am ex-military, so it was like bang-bang-bang-bang. I didn't have time to think." he said.

"We had just been hit (by the Taleban), we didn't know what was happening and everyone was antsy. I was too, Karim probably was too," he added.

However his claims were undermined by witnesses who said that Karim was unarmed, and by Mr Langdon's own admission that he had tried to cover up the killing by tossing a hand grenade into the truck containing Karim's body.

He also admitted under questioning by the judges that he had burnt the vehicle containing Karim and concocted a false explanation for the security guard's death, but he told the court they were the actions of a "confused man" who had decided to leave Afghanistan.

After the killing, he had told the convoy's guards to fire into the air to fake a Taleban attack so it would appear that Karim had been a victim of the Taleban. He then returned to Kabul alone, empted his bank account and bought a ticket to Dubai. But he was arrested at the airport as he tried to board the flight.

Rejecting his appeal, Jude Abdul Khalil Modafe told Langdon he would hang unless he could obtain forgiveness from the victim's family. Under the Afghan tradition of ibra, (forgiveness), a family may forgive the death of a family member in return for a compensation payment. Mr Modafe told Mr Langdon: "You must convince them."

The Australian reported that lawyers acting for Mr Langdon were close to reaching a settlement with the victim's family. Mr Langdon's family refused to confirm that the family was fund-raising to pay compensation.

"There are delicate local negotiations going on " said Katie Godfrey, Mr Langdon's sister.

A handful of Australians have been executed overseas in recent years, mostly for drug trafficking crimes — most recently Van Tong Nguyen, who was hanged in Singapore in 2005 despite top-level appeals from the Government. He had been convicted of importing heroin. In a case that has become a local cause celebre, two young Australians, Scott Rush and Matthew Norman were sentenced to death in Bali in 2006 for their part in an attempt to smuggle 18 lb (8.3 kg) of heroin from Indonesia to Australia. Rush is still facing the death penalty. Norman's sentence was commuted to life in 2008.

Australia has around 1,500 active troops in Afghanistan.

[SwordoftheVistula]

This story just proves what a farce this whole war is. You can't blame the guy for shooting the Afghan, given the number of times Afghans which were supposedly on 'our' side turned out to not be, and suddenly open fire on their western compatriots.

On the other hand, since this is supposedly a democratic Afghan government in charge and we are supposedly only there to support this democratic Afghan government against 'rogue terrorists', it would contradict this claim if westerners were to prevent the Afghans from treating the case in the way they have or get some kind of clemency for this guy.

[Wulfhere]

Anne Barrowclough in Sydney
January 27, 2010

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article7004079.ece

A former Australian soldier has been sentenced to death in Afghanistan for shooting dead an Afghan colleague then trying to blame the killling on the Taleban.

Robert Langdon, 38, who was working as a security contractor for the US-based firm Four Horsemen (http://www.thefourhorsemeninternational.com/securitydivision.html), was found guilty last October of killing the security guard, known as Karim, by shooting him four times in the head and body. The verdict was upheld by the Afghan Appeals Court last week.

No doubt Dan Brown will ensure that he cheats certain death and gets out of this particular scrape just like all the others.

[nisse]

You can't blame the guy for shooting the Afghan, given the number of times Afghans which were supposedly on 'our' side turned out to not be, and suddenly open fire on their western compatriots.

I have no problem blaming him. Can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen...better yet, don't jump at "easy money" when you haven't got the nerve to earn it.

May be he does not deserve to hang for it, but he killed a guy and then lied about it. This guy is clearly scum.

[SwordoftheVistula]

It's obviously a risky job, but that hardly makes him 'scum' to take one of the few high-paying jobs left for working class people.

Beyond that, you can't possibly fault his decision making, he was in a catch-22 situation of either trust in Allah or whatever to save him, or at least try to get himself out of the mess he was in, shooting an Afghan in the middle of a Taliban attack, even one which is obstensibly on his side since it is a common Taliban tactic to impersonate Afghan 'police' and 'soldiers' which are on the side of the allegedly 'pro-western' regime:

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1257177381.html

Afghan and coalition forces killed three Taliban militants who had disguised themselves as police and manned an illegal checkpoint in the western province of Herat, the US military said Thursday.

The men, wearing fake Afghan National Police (ANP) uniforms, opened fire on the military forces Wednesday as they were patrolling near Shindand, the US military said in a statement.

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/03/world/fg-afghan-police3

In an attack that underscored the vulnerability of Afghanistan's struggling security forces, a suicide bomber dressed in a police uniform slipped into a police compound and detonated a powerful explosive device Monday, killing at least 21

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1929592,00.html

Taliban gunmen disguised as soldiers attempted to break into the army's heavily fortified headquarters

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/world/asia/13afghan.html

Disguised in Afghan Army uniforms and a burqa, Taliban fighters carried out coordinated attacks in eastern Afghanistan Tuesday, leaving at least nine people dead after a daylong hostage siege and a gun battle with American forces, government officials said.


http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-20776084.html

MALE suicide bombers disguised in womens' burqas stormed government buildings and security headquarters in co-ordinated attacks which killed a dozen people and injured 22 others in eastern Afghanistan yesterday.

[Bridie]

Murderers deserve the death sentence as far as I'm concerned. Unless it can be proven that it was done in self-defence. Another grey area would be if the death was accidental. But since there doesn't seem to be any evidence of that in this case, Robert Langdon will surely be getting what he deserves.

[The Ripper]

A risk you take when becoming a mercenary.

[nisse]

It's obviously a risky job, but that hardly makes him 'scum' to take one of the few high-paying jobs left for working class people.
Yes, it does. You wouldn't say he's just your regular guy if he "took the job" of being a burglar, robber, or murderer in Australia. Morally, the job he did take and his conduct are equivalent to those.


Beyond that, you can't possibly fault his decision making, he was in a catch-22 situation of either trust in Allah or whatever to save him, or at least try to get himself out of the mess he was in, shooting an Afghan in the middle of a Taliban attack, even one which is obstensibly on his side since it is a common Taliban tactic to impersonate Afghan 'police' and 'soldiers' which are on the side of the allegedly 'pro-western' regime:
It's not like he was killed in the middle of a gunfight with Taliban. The guy was just trigger happy with shaky nerves and figured no one will care if there is one less Afghan alive.


However his claims were undermined by witnesses who said that Karim was unarmed, and by Mr Langdon's own admission that he had tried to cover up the killing by tossing a hand grenade into the truck containing Karim's body.

He also admitted under questioning by the judges that he had burnt the vehicle containing Karim and concocted a false explanation for the security guard's death, but he told the court they were the actions of a "confused man" who had decided to leave Afghanistan.

After the killing, he had told the convoy's guards to fire into the air to fake a Taleban attack so it would appear that Karim had been a victim of the Taleban. He then returned to Kabul alone, empted his bank account and bought a ticket to Dubai. But he was arrested at the airport as he tried to board the flight.

[Murphy]

I would say "hang him", but I only support the death penalty in cases where the perpetrator has no chance of rehabilitation and will always pose a threat to society. Such as Sex offenders.

Was this a crime of passion? Was it a guy just wanting to see what it is like to kill a guy up close and personal? Was he having flash backs from his time in the military? Was it cold blooded murder for his own gain?

Regards,
The Papist.

[SwordoftheVistula]

Was this a crime of passion? Was it a guy just wanting to see what it is like to kill a guy up close and personal? Was he having flash backs from his time in the military? Was it cold blooded murder for his own gain?

It appears that he didn't want to end up dead like these two guys in the news today:

http://www.todayonline.com/BreakingNews/EDC100131-0000005/NATO-official--Afghan-interpreter-kills-2-US-service-members-in-eastern-Afghanistan

A NATO official says an Afghan interpreter killed two U.S. service members before himself being killed by a U.S. soldier, at a combat outpost in eastern Afghanistan.


In the initial article we see:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article7004079.ece

Mr Langdon was part of a team made up of 60 Afghan and expatriate guards protecting a supply convoy that had been attacked by Taleban insurgents. He led the expatriates, while Karim was the team leader of the Afghans.

When the convoy approached the town of Maiden Shar, 35 miles (40km) from Kabul, the men argued violently after Karim refused to continue, saying the road ahead was too dangerous.

In court, Mr Langdon admitted killing Karim, but claimed diminished responsibility, saying he fired in self-defence after his Afghan colleague reached for his pistol.

"He reached across, and I am ex-military, so it was like bang-bang-bang-bang. I didn't have time to think." he said.

"We had just been hit (by the Taleban), we didn't know what was happening and everyone was antsy. I was too, Karim probably was too," he added.


So basically, after having been attacked by the Taliban, they are continuing along their route, and all of a sudden the Afghan orders a halt and doesn't want to continue. Either:

The guy honestly thought the Afghan was reaching for a weapon, as he said, and shot him. Even if this didn't take place in a hostile warzeone, perhaps a parking lot in a small rural town, under traditional Anglo-Saxon common law this is 'self defense' if it was 'reasonable' (even if incorrect) to think the guy was reaching for a weapon. We see this in the news periodically when the police are chasing a potentially armed suspect, the suspect stops and starts to pull something out of his pocket, the police think it might be a gun and open fire, and it turns out the suspect was pulling a cell phone or some such out of his pocket. Even if it wasn't reasonable to think this, then it is 'involuntary manslaughter' (not a capital crime, in the US usually somewhere under 10 years in prison).

Or, possibly more likely, naturally suspicious of the Afghan's motives in ordering the halt and not wanting to stop and sit around waiting for the Taliban to attack again, the guy shot the recalcitrant Afghan in order to get him out of the way and get the convoy moving again. If this was in the parking lot of a small rural town in Kansas, this would not be 'self defense' or any such, but this is not a small rural town in Kansas, this is a hostile warzone, and shooting a possible enemy in a percieved kill-or-be-killed situation is not uncommon in warzones.

As far as just shooting the guy to steal his wallet or something or a criminal nature, I think we can safely rule that out, since there is nothing to indicate such, and he'd just rob a bank at home if he was that type of person.

The reason he decided to cover it up and get the hell out of dodge should be obvious from the headline, seeing as how the Afghan 'government' decided to arrest him and schedule him for execution. This can be expected, since the Karzai government is eager to prove itself as something other than a 'puppet of the crusaders'.

[Sigrid]

I have a question: does anyone know if military service is mandatory in Australia? In America, they have this thing called Selective Service, but I've never heard guys who've turned 18 actually "sign up" to them. Regardless, I digress. Also, in America, if you decide to join the military, it is your fault if something happens to you, being maimed or killed. You signed up for the "job" knowing full well the implications of such an action. While I find it admirable for someone to be willing to die for a cause they believe in, I find it disgusting to die for something America has perpetuated itself. So, what I'm saying is is that if this man actually committed this crime, knowing full well the implications of such a move, I hope he's willing to be man enough to be OK with dying due to his actions. I guess I just don't understand why he felt it necessary to do that and to cover it up with lie that the Taliban did it. If the Taliban did it, he probably would not be alive to tell his "story."

These "wars" (or rather, invasions) are so tiring to so many Americans. And what's worse is that it makes other people of other nations believe that most, if not all, Americans believe that it is OK to have these unnecessary foreign conflicts. The same can be said of other nations "joining in" on the "fun" of occupying, maiming and killing others.

- end of rant -

[Sol Invictus]

I have a question: does anyone know if military service is mandatory in Australia?

No they do not. Also, to my knowledge, it has always been a volunteer army like Canada so it's never had a draft. Nice post btw.

[Equinox]

I would say "hang him", but I only support the death penalty in cases where the perpetrator has no chance of rehabilitation and will always pose a threat to society. Such as Sex offenders.

Was this a crime of passion? Was it a guy just wanting to see what it is like to kill a guy up close and personal? Was he having flash backs from his time in the military? Was it cold blooded murder for his own gain?

Regards,
The Papist.

It's irrelevant.

This poor, disillusioned, Australian has fallen prey to the American psyche - he has failed in being a soldier, unable to follow orders and only capable of thinking in a subjective manner.*

It does not matter what the sensationalist press has to say about disguised militants, nor would it matter if the Afghan he killed was a disguised militant.

Unless he was able to ascertain that the Afghan was indeed an enemy, as opposed to an ally, he should not have raised his weapon at all.

I believe he ought to die, if that is the verdict. It is no great loss either way, the man is/was but a pawn on the chessboard - and a defective pawn at that.


* Watch the film "A Bridge Too Far", for a better account of what I'm getting at here.

[Groenewolf]

My own feeling about this case. We should not even be there with our troops. My opinion after 9/11 was this : If Bin Laden is behind and the Taliban protects him we should use overwhelming force against them and then pay and train whatever government we decide to put up there to fight them. But not what is going on now. We should learn from the experiences of the British and Russians there.

[SwordoftheVistula]

Unless he was able to ascertain that the Afghan was indeed an enemy, as opposed to an ally, he should not have raised his weapon at all.

Well that sounds like an excellent way to run a military counter-insurgency operation: "Wait for the enemy to shoot you, so you can be really double triple sure he's an enemy, before you even raise your weapon! You're likely be dead, but if he misses, well then you might be able to get your gun out and shoot back!"

Sure, this war is fairly pointless, but the problem is with politicians, we shouldn't make the average joe on the ground over there suffer and die just to prove some political point.