Over 700 Seafarers Held in Somalia!

While billions are spend for the navies, the general militarization and mercenaries, still no help is coming forward to pacify and develop the coastal areas of Somalia. Updates on known cases see below in the status section.

ARAB OIL TANKER PIRATED IN GULF OF ADEN (ecop-marine)

Around 09h00 UTC (012h00 LT) on 28. March 2011, the UAE-flagged Crude Oil Tanker MT ZIRKU (IMO: 9237802) was pirated in position Latitude: 15 36N and Longitude: 057 04E , approximately 250 nautical miles South East of Salalah in the eastern part of the Gulf of Aden.

The 105,846 dwt tanker, built in 2003, was first attacked at 06h13 UTC by two pirate skiffs and was fired upon by both RPG and small arms while on her way from Bashayer (Sudan) to Singapore. NATO confirmed the capture. Three hours later the pirates had the vessel and crew under their control.

MT ZIRKU has a crew of 29 (1 Croatian, 1 Iraqi, 1 Filipino, 1 Indian, 3 Jordanians, 3 Eqyptians, 2 Ukrainians and 17 Pakistanis). Though the vessel holds a safety certificate issued by Det Norske Veritas its crew is not covered by an ITF agreement.

The MV ZIRKU was registered with MSC(HOA), and was reporting to UKMTO, EU NAVFOR admitted, who has at present no further information about the crew.

The Tanker is a Green Award Certified ship and is owned and managed by the Arab Maritime Petroleum Transport Company, a pan-Arab Organization head-quartered in Kuwait, which is a Kuwaiti government owned business with the other shareholders being the governments of Algeria, Libya, Iraq, UAW, Saudi Arabia, as well as, Qatar Petroleum and Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company.

Classified by the American Bureau of Shipping the vessel is insured by The West of England Shipowners P Club - a classic object of Somali piracy in business as usual.

This 244 metre long LOA vessel is capable of a maximum speed of 14.7 and a cruising speed of 12.5 knots and possibly was no match for the fast pirate skiffs, an analyst remarked. Without armed maritime security team on board, it was indeed a sitting duck for the Somali sea-shifta. a security company added.

The Pirate Action Group is reported to be still in the area and all maritime traffic is advised to stay at least 100nm off the zone, especially since it seems that the navies are busy in Libya and are not paying attention to what is happening in the Gulf of Aden.

MV RAK AFRIKANA STILL AFLOAT AT SOMALI COAST (ecop-marine)

Environmental organization protests against shipowner's neglect.

The vessel is as ghost ship drifting unattended along the Somali coast. She is slowly going down, observers reported over the weekend and stated: "We can not say yet where she will find her last spot - all is depending on wind and currents and time."

After the vessel and crew were released by Somali pirates against a ransom payment, the crew suddenly left the ship, which had been al right for nearly a year during the hostage ordeal, and claimed that the vessel had a hole and was taking on water. EU NAVFOR assumed she would sink within hours, but the vessel drifted and then first beached south of Hobyo - only become afloat again.

ECOTERRA Intl. meanwhile called on the shipowner, the navies and the Italian, Indian and United Arab Emirates governments, who had used the vessel jointly for cadet training to salvage the vessel and pull her off the coast and into a safe location.

"We can not tolerate that pirates and irresponsible shipowners let the vessel pollute our coast and use the opportunity to get rid of an old ship," said Dr. Abdulkadir Salad Elmi from ECOTERRA-Somalia. The biologist also wonders why the owners of the cargo do not cry foul, since it is reportedly still on the vessel. "Or is it all an insurance scam and an understanding between pirates and shipowner - with the navies just as bystander or possible accomplice?" he asks and continued: "They had time now since 9. March 2011 to pull the vessel and it is even still possible now to salvage the ship, so why the owner did since three weeks not call a tug-boat from Mombasa or found other means?"

Dr. Elmi speaks also on behalf of the communities whose coastal stretch, ecosystem and livelihood would be ruined with the pollutants in form of oil and other substances from the vessel, if it is not pulled away.

MSV Hud Hud back on the watch-list (ecop-marine)

Sea-jacked Dhow Used in Piracy Was Reported Free, But Still Is Not Back With Owner.

MSV HUD HUD was seized on 23 . March 2010. The motorized, Pakistan-flagged and Pakistan-owned Dhow with 11 Pakistani crew was used to hijack MT ELENI P, a Greek merchant vessel which was released after the payment of a ransom.

Freed seafarers of the Greek merchant ship reported that after the successful boarding of MT ELENI P the pirates left the MSV HUDHUD and all embarked on MT ELENI P. It was therefore assumed that MSV HUD-HUD was set free on 12. May 2010.

It is, however, now reported by the Authorities, that the owners of the vessel still claim to not know the whereabouts of this vessel and its crew.

The vessel is wanted.

FV MORTEZA

Correction: Somali pirates on Iran-flagged FV MORTEZA actually tried but didn't catch any ship on their piracy spree towards the Gulf of Aden after it was captured on 28. January 2011. Reportedly they had seven ships in their view, but didn't succeed. Eyewitnesses are 2 crew-members of the earlier captured South-Korean FV GOLDEN WAVE, who were transferred together with one Chinese national onto FV MORTEZA. They were forced to work for the Somali pirates on the Iranian fishing vessel and at first reported misunderstandingly.

Golden Wave (with those witnesses on board) had captured the MT York earlier (on 15. October 2010) and thereafter went towards Mauritius where they captured FV MORTEZA.

From the SMCM (Somali Marine and Coastal Monitor): (and with a view on news with an impact on Somalia)

The articles below - except where stated otherwise - are reproduced in accordance with Section 107 of title 17 of the Copyright Law of the United States relating to fair-use and are for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions held by ECOTERRA Intl.

MEDIA IN INDIA CONFUSED

Abdiweli Sheikh Ali - Somalia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Planning visits India right now, while the Media get the names wrong. Where only the media or also the protocol confused?

Just for the record:

1. Deputy Prime Minister is Mohamed Abdullahi Omar - Minister of Foreign Affairs

2. Deputy Prime Minister is Abweli Sheikh Mohamed Ali - Minister of Planning

3. Deputy Prime Minister is Abdihakim Haji Fiqi - Minister of Defence

India, Somalia agree to tackle Somali pirates menace jointly (ANI)

India and Somalia on Monday agreed that there was the need to chalk out a common strategy to tackle the menace of the Somali pirates.

An understanding to this effect was reached during a meeting External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna and the Deputy Prime Minister of Somalia, Abdirahman Ibbi, here today.

Krishna said that he had a good discussion with the Somalian Deputy Prime Minister over the issue of Somali pirates and the Indian hostages being held by them.

"I did bring about the issue of 53 of our hostages with the pirates. And I have requested the good offices of the Somalian Transitional Government to be used in the release of these 53 of our Indian hostages," said Krishna.

"He has assured me that he would do everything possible to get the release and we hope that things would be able to be sorted out," he added.

Abdirahman Ibbi said the menace of the Somali pirates needed to be handled by both the nations jointly.

"We should have a common strategy. We need to have a way to deal with this issue and not only the source of money, the source of funding, and the sources of documents. This piracy has now become not only a Somali problem," said Ibbi.

"It has now become a regional problem and it has also become an international problem. So, the solution lies not only with Somalia, but also with the Indian Government and the international community," he added.

Ibbi further said piracy was an outcome of economic restlessness in Somalia, and that the governments of Somalia and India would jointly open job opportunities in the coastal areas of Somalia, which are highly affected by piracy.

According to media reports, the Somali pirates had hijacked the vessel MV Suez in the Gulf of Aden. The ship's crew includes four Pakistanis, six Indians, four Sri Lankans and 11 Egyptians.

- FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD (with an influence on Somalia and the water wars) :

Italian fishermen block port to protest migrants By Massimo Pagliaroli (AP)

Exasperated Italian fishermen towed empty boats seized from illegal migrants across Lampedusa's harbor Monday to try to thwart North Africans from reaching the tiny island in the Mediterranean Sea.

Fishermen have used empty migrants' boats to block the entrance to Lampedusa harbor, a mostly symbolic act which still raised cheers from townsfolk gathered on the quays. News reports Monday said the boats, which had been seized by Italian authorities, were used to block the tiny island's port. Officials reported 460 migrants arrived from North Africa overnight, joining 3,000 more who have arrived in the last three days and escalating tensions on the island, closer to Africa than to mainland Italy. (AP Photo)

Migrants arrived at a detention center in Manduria, southern Italy on Sunday, March 27, 2011. Hundreds of African migrants are arriving on Italian shores aboard boats from Libya, overwhelming a tiny island already struggling to host thousands who fled Tunisia. Authorities are using Italian naval vessels to ferry illegal migrants who landed on Lampedusa island to detention centers on the mainland. Early Sunday, one boat filled with Etrirean, Ethiopean and Somali migrants was diverted to Linosa, an even tinier island off Sicily because Lampedusa couldn't handle any more.

Other islanders overturned garbage bins to protest the relentless arrival of illegal migrants, including many now coming from Libyan shores.

"Enough, we're full," read a slogan scrawled on a white sheet and carried by two protesters.

More than 3,000 new migrants have arrived in the last three days alone on the island of 5,000 residents, which lives off tourism and fishing. With the shelters on the island full, the migrants, many of them Tunisian men who fled the unrest in their homeland, have taken to sleeping on the docks or in makeshift tent camps in fields.

The island has been flooded with more than 15,000 migrants since mid-January, when Tunisians overthrew their long-time strongman, but hundreds have been transferred to centers in other parts of Italy. The island is 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of the Tunisian coast, closer to African than the Italian mainland.

As local women cheered, the fishermen on Monday pulled the migrants' seized boats across the harbor. The migrants simply watched, their laundry flapping from improvised clotheslines.

The blockade was a mostly symbolic act, since few migrants boats have actually docked by themselves at Lampedusa. Rather, the boats — often open-topped wooden fishing boats purchased from smugglers — are spotted far offshore by Italian coast guard air and sea patrols, whose motorboats then escort the migrants to the island.

Angry islanders knocked over garbage bins along the roads Monday and several women chained themselves together, shouting that the migrants should no longer be brought to shore.

"We are here to protest because the government has abandoned us," said islander Cinzia Licciardi, 30.

Another resident, Concetta Billeci, said islanders have sent their children to relatives who live elsewhere due to the stench of the garbage left by the vast numbers of migrants in the fields.

"The air is unbreathable here," said Billeci, 34.

Tunisians who set sail from their homeland but who aren't eligible for political asylum will receive deportation orders. But many of the Tunisians have simply climbed over fences at the centers and run away in hopes of making it to their destination, which most say is Tunisia's former colonial master, France.

Asylum is frequently granted to Somalians, Eritreans and Ethiopians, who arrived by the hundreds over the weekend aboard the first boats to set sail from Libya since the uprising against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi began in mid-February.

With Lampedusa overwhelmed, some migrant boats are being diverted to Linosa, another tiny Italian island in the archipelago.

Italy has promised to increase in the coming days the number of naval transport ships assigned to transfer the migrants from Lampedusa to detention centers elsewhere.

Depleted Uranium: A Strange Way To Protect Libyan Civilians By David Wilson (Stop the War Coalition)

"[Depleted uranium tipped missiles] fit the description of a dirty bomb in every way... I would say that it is the perfect weapon for killing lots of people." ~ Marion Falk, chemical physicist (retd), Lawrence Livermore Lab, California, USA

In the first 24 hours of the Libyan attack, US B-2s dropped forty-five 2,000-pound bombs. These massive bombs, along with the Cruise missiles launched from British and French planes and ships, all contained depleted uranium (DU) warheads.

DU is the waste product from the process of enriching uranium ore. It is used in nuclear weapons and reactors. Because it is a very heavy substance, 1.7 times denser than lead, it is highly valued by the military for its ability to punch through armored vehicles and buildings. When a weapon made with a DU tip strikes a solid object like the side of a tank, it goes straight through it, then erupts in a burning cloud of vapor. The vapor settles as dust, which is not only poisonous, but also radioactive.

An impacting DU missile burns at 10,000 degrees C. When it strikes a target, 30% fragments into shrapnel. The remaining 70% vaporises into three highly-toxic oxides, including uranium oxide. This black dust remains suspended in the air and, according to wind and weather, can travel over great distances. If you think Iraq and Libya are far away, remember that radiation from Chernobyl reached Wales.

Particles less than 5 microns in diameter are easily inhaled and may remain in the lungs or other organs for years. Internalized DU can cause kidney damage, cancers of the lung and bone, skin disorders, neurocognitive disorders, chromosome damage, immune deficiency syndromes and rare kidney and bowel diseases. Pregnant women exposed to DU may give birth to infants with genetic defects. Once the dust has vaporised, don't expect the problem to go away soon. As an alpha particle emitter, DU has a half life of 4.5 billion years.

In the 'shock and awe' attack on Iraq, more than 1,500 bombs and missiles were dropped on Baghdad alone. Seymour Hersh has claimed that the US Third Marine Aircraft Wing alone dropped more than "five hundred thousand tons of ordnance". All of it DU-tipped.

Al Jazeera reported that invading US forces fired two hundred tons of radioactive material into buildings, homes, streets and gardens of Baghdad. A reporter from the Christian Science Monitor took a Geiger counter to parts of the city that had been subjected to heavy shelling by US troops. He found radiation levels 1,000 to 1,900 times higher than normal in residential areas. With its population of 26 million, the US dropped a one-ton bomb for every 52 Iraqi citizens or 40 pounds of explosives per person.

William Hague has said that we are in Libya " to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas".You don't have to look far for who and what are being 'protected'.

In that first 24 hours the 'Allies' 'expended' £100 million on DU-tipped ordnance. The European Union's arms control report said member states issued licences in 2009 for the sale of £293.2 million worth of weapons and weapons systems to Libya. Britain issued arms firms licences for the sale of £21.7 million worth of weaponry to Libya and were also paid by Colonel Gadaffi to send the SAS to train his 32nd Brigade.

For the next 4.5 billion years, I'll bet that William Hague will not be holidaying in North Africa.

Libyan Tribes Join Reconciliation March to Benghazi By Ana Julia Suarez Cruz (Prensa Latina)

Members of Libya´s largest tribes on Friday joined the so-called "Green March" from the capital to Benghazi, organized by citizens interested in promoting reconciliation between the government and rebels.

Civilians carrying green Libyan flags and olive branches and chanting slogans for unity of the Libyan people above political differences were seen in the march to what is now the capital of the opposition.

The activists spoke in favor of avoiding belligerency and preventing a situation of instability or violence from justifying a military invasion by Western powers that have been bombing Libya for the last five days.

According to organizers, the peaceful initiative could take several days, given its route of about 1,200 km to Benghazi during which it is expected that residents in towns and cities located on the way to Benghazi also join the march.

The idea of the march, which takes its name from the green color of the official Libyan flag, came from Muammar Gaddafi after the warplanes and military ships of an international coalition bombed positions of the regular army preventing, preventin it from moving towards Benghazi.

According to the JANA news agency, the goal is to achieve a democratic and peaceful dialogue to solve the confrontation and frustrate imperialist plans, chiefly of the United States, Britain, and France, to take control of Libya´s oil.

Leaders and members of the Warfalla tribe, with more than a million members, denied that their plan to join civilians in a march through war zone is a propaganda stunt, and said it was an act of loyalty to Gaddafi.

The Warfalla live all over Libya, including in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. The tribe's geographical distribution means it is well-placed to help heal bitter divisions and have an active participation in the Green March to the eastern city.

Tribes With Flags By Thomas Friedman (NewYorkTimes)

David Kirkpatrick, the Cairo bureau chief for The Times, wrote an article from Libya on Monday that posed the key question, not only about Libya but about all the new revolutions brewing in the Arab world: “The question has hovered over the Libyan uprising from the moment the first tank commander defected to join his cousins protesting in the streets of Benghazi: Is the battle for Libya the clash of a brutal dictator against a democratic opposition, or is it fundamentally a tribal civil war?”

This is the question because there are two kinds of states in the Middle East: “real countries” with long histories in their territory and strong national identities (Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Iran); and those that might be called “tribes with flags,” or more artificial states with boundaries drawn in sharp straight lines by pens of colonial powers that have trapped inside their borders myriad tribes and sects who not only never volunteered to live together but have never fully melded into a unified family of citizens. They are Libya, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The tribes and sects that make up these more artificial states have long been held together by the iron fist of colonial powers, kings or military dictators. They have no real “citizens” in the modern sense. Democratic rotations in power are impossible because each tribe lives by the motto “rule or die” — either my tribe or sect is in power or we’re dead.

It is no accident that the Mideast democracy rebellions began in three of the real countries — Iran, Egypt and Tunisia — where the populations are modern, with big homogenous majorities that put nation before sect or tribe and have enough mutual trust to come together like a family: “everyone against dad.” But as these revolutions have spread to the more tribal/sectarian societies, it becomes difficult to discern where the quest for democracy stops and the desire that “my tribe take over from your tribe” begins.

In Bahrain, a Sunni minority, 30 percent of the population, rules over a Shiite majority. There are many Bahraini Sunnis and Shiites — so-called sushis, fused by inter-marriage — who carry modern political identities and would accept a true democracy. But there are many other Bahrainis who see life there as a zero-sum sectarian war, including hard-liners in the ruling al-Khalifa family, who have no intention of risking the future of Bahraini Sunnis under majority-Shiite rule. That is why the guns came out there very early. It was rule or die. Iraq teaches what it takes to democratize a big tribalized Arab country once the iron-fisted leader is removed (in that case by us). It takes billions of dollars, 150,000 U.S. soldiers to referee, myriad casualties, a civil war where both sides have to test each other’s power and then a wrenching process, which we midwifed, of Iraqi sects and tribes writing their own constitution defining how to live together without an iron fist.

Enabling Iraqis to write their own social contract is the most important thing America did. It was, in fact, the most important liberal experiment in modern Arab history because it showed that even tribes with flags can, possibly, transition through sectarianism into a modern democracy. But it is still just a hope. Iraqis still have not given us the definitive answer to their key question: Is Iraq the way Iraq is because Saddam was the way Saddam was or was Saddam the way Saddam was because Iraq is the way Iraq is: a tribalized society? All the other Arab states now hosting rebellions — Yemen, Syria, Bahrain and Libya — are Iraq-like civil-wars-in-waiting. Some may get lucky and their army may play the role of the guiding hand to democracy, but don’t bet on it.

In other words, Libya is just the front-end of a series of moral and strategic dilemmas we are going to face as these Arab uprisings proceed through the tribes with flags. I want to cut President Obama some slack. This is complicated, and I respect the president’s desire to prevent a mass killing in Libya.

But we need to be more cautious. What made the Egyptian democracy movement so powerful was that they owned it. The Egyptian youth suffered hundreds of casualties in their fight for freedom. And we should be doubly cautious of intervening in places that could fall apart in our hands, à la Iraq, especially when we do not know, à la Libya, who the opposition groups really are — democracy movements led by tribes or tribes exploiting the language of democracy?

Finally, sadly, we can’t afford it. We have got to get to work on our own country. If the president is ready to take some big, hard, urgent, decisions, shouldn’t they be first about nation-building in America, not in Libya? Shouldn’t he first be forging a real energy policy that weakens all the Qaddafis and a budget policy that secures the American dream for another generation? Once those are in place, I will follow the president “from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli.”

Violent protests in Syria, Bahrain, Yemen – and now Jordan By Nicholas Seeley (CSM)

Roughly 100 people were injured in Amman protests as Jordan – perhaps emboldened by the lack of retribution suffered by other US allies – became the latest Arab country to crack down hard.

Jordan today became the latest Arab country to adopt violent repression as its response to protest – inspired, perhaps, by seeing similar tactic used by US allies like Bahrain and Yemen with little retribution from Washington.

This afternoon, police shut down a major protest camp in Amman, using water cannons. Mubarak-style thugs, widely believed to be hired by the regime, attacked the protesters with sticks and stones. Local news sources are reporting one death and nearly 100 injured.

"It was a disaster," says Fakher Daas, a leader from Jordan's Popular Unity Party who was in the camp. "They surrounded us from the four [sides], thugs and policemen and darak [riot police]. … Thugs were throwing stones from high buildings. … We ran away, but there was nowhere to run."

Later, there were multiple eyewitness reports of police surrounding hospitals and arresting patients or those trying to enter.

The crackdown comes as other Arab regimes are becoming more confident, and flexing their muscles against protesters. Last week, Gulf countries – most notably Saudi Arabia – sent troops to Bahrain to violently suppress protests there, resulting in several deaths.

Shortly after, loyalists of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh fired on protesters in Sanaa, and Syrian security forces have sealed of the southern city of Deraa to put down protests, and today opened fire on demonstrators in Damascus.

Has Jordan been learning by example? Since the new wave of Arab revolutions started, Middle East scholars have warned that the US response to one country's crisis could shape how the others developed.

Unlike Libya, already a pariah state, US allies Bahrain and Yemen have faced no serious sanctions or penalties for their use of force against protesters – something that could be establishing a new norm in the region.

Then again, Syria's crackdown may simply mean regimes feel secure that, after the struggle to get military force authorized against Libya, the West is simply not going to open up yet another front.

For Jordan, the crackdown will have serious consequences. It was only Tuesday that the country made its first significant move towards reform, bringing together a fragile coalition to propose changes to the law and the constitution.

You can read more about that in my article from earlier this week: Jordan aims to avoid unrest with dialogue on sweeping reforms

That coalition may already be shattered, Daas says, as members withdraw in protest at the violence. "This government is not interested in reform, it's only interested in thugs."

Call for more efforts to enlighten women (ONA)

Shaikh Mohammed bin Said al Kalbani, Minister of Social Development in the Sultanate of Oman, met the members of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Al Kalbani praised the efforts exerted by the committee for enlightening women concerning their rights that are secured by the laws, urging all parties to exert more efforts to educate and enlighten women in all circles.

He added that the Sultanate is amongst the countries that honoured the women and secured their rights by enabling the Omani women to occupy the prominent position in the society and several senior positions under the wise leadership of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos. The minister also urged all the committee members to present all their issues and discussions in relation with the convention.

The ministry in co-operation with the committee members are working on programmes and workshops for defining the convention and taking the feedback from women in the society about the terms of the convention and the Sultanate’s scope of progress in applying the convention that the Sultanate had joined in May 7, 2005.

Follow up on U.S.American "Sport"-Killers (we reported earlier)

The "Anglo-American-Way" of constantly only saying "SORRY" and then believing to have the right to forget about it, MUST STOP. Real reparation, retribution and punishment and real change have to follow.

After Court Martial against 12 suspects in Washington state Jeremy Morlock was now sentenced to 24 years for his heinous crimes, which include murdering three unarmed Afghan civilians. As part of a plea bargain agreement, Morlock is expected to testify against his fellow soldiers. Killing three Afghans is not resulting for three times imprisonment for life and then maybe striking one life-sentence off in the bargain?

The 'Kill Team' Images

US Army Apologizes for Horrific Photos from Afghanistan By Matthias Gebauer and Hasnain Kazim (DerSpiegel)

Photo Gallery: 3 Photos (parental guidance advised if children access these)

The images are repulsive. A group of rogue US Army soldiers in Afghanistan killed innocent civilians and then posed with their bodies. On Monday, SPIEGEL published some of the photos -- and the US military responded promptly with an apology. Still, NATO fears that reactions in Afghanistan could be violent.

The United States and NATO are concerned that reactions could be intense to the publication of images documenting killings committed by US soldiers in Afghanistan. The images appeared in the most recent edition of SPIEGEL, which hit the newsstands on Monday.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has already telephoned with her Afghan counterpart to discuss the situation. National Security Advisor Tom Donilon has likewise made contact with officials in Kabul. The case threatens to strain already fragile US-Afghan relations at a time when the two countries are negotiating over the establishment of permanent US military bases in Afghanistan.

In a statement released by Colonel Thomas Collins, the US Army, which is currently preparing a court martial to try a total of 12 suspects in connection with the killings, apologized for the suffering the photos have caused. The actions depicted in the photos, the statement read, are "repugnant to us as human beings and contrary to the standards and values of the United States."

The suspected perpetrators are part of a group of US soldiers accused of several killings. Their court martials are expected to start soon. The photos, the army statement said, stand "in stark contrast to the discipline, professionalism and respect that have characterized our soldiers' performance during nearly 10 years of sustained operations."

Major Public Backlash

At NATO headquarters, there are fears that the coming days could see angry protests in Afghanistan or even potential attacks against NATO units. "The images have an enormous potential here in Afghanistan," one NATO general told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "Experience shows that it might take a couple of days, but then people's anger will be vented."

NATO, under the leadership of the US Army, has been preparing for possible publication of the photos for close to 100 days. In dozens of high-level talks with their Afghan partners, military leaders have sought to pursue the same strategy used by the US diplomatic corps in the case of the sensitive diplomatic cables released late last year by WikiLeaks. They warned those most directly affected and made preparations for the photos' appearance in the public sphere. This "strategic communication" was aimed at preventing a major public backlash.

The high ranks of those involved in the talks show just how seriously Washington has taken the problem. US Vice President Joe Biden recently spoke about the case with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The head of all NATO troops in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, likewise met with Karzai.

By apologizing and by promising that those responsible will be prosecuted, the US is hoping to prevent Karzai from making any angry public statements on the case.

Whether the effort will ultimately be successful remains to be seen. On Tuesday, Karzai is scheduled to address his country to talk about the transfer of responsibility for his country's security from NATO to Afghanistan. With him will be members of the NATO leadership and the US ambassador to Afghanistan. Karzai's address contains no mention of the so-called "kill team," but the Afghan president is notorious for being unpredictable.

Political Conflict with the US

Observers say the fact that there hasn't been any serious reaction or demonstrations so far doesn't mean the danger has passed. One fact could be that Monday is a holiday in Afghanistan. A high-ranking official in the Afghan Foreign Ministry, who is close to President Karzai, said he believed the development would trigger a serious political conflict with the US.

"I assume we won't see the full effect of this matter until tomorrow, at the very soonest, when people return to work. Many people have Monday off," he told SPIEGEL ONLINE. He said the incidents had been "too outrageous" not to spark protests. "That this is engaging people can be seen by the fact that it is already being discussed on the Internet," he added.

In neighboring Pakistan, where relations with the United States are likewise strained, officials are also watching the matter closely. "We are acknowledging it, but for now it is a matter for the Afghan government to make any charges," a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad said. The release of CIA employee Raymond Davis, who shot two men at the end of January and was let go after paying blood money, as well as the increase in US drone attacks in the western part of the country, triggered angry protests in Pakistan.

The SPIEGEL story printed on Monday includes new details about a series of murders of innocent Afghans committed by a group of US soldiers. One of the accused, Corporal Jeremy Morlock, 22, confessed to the murders three months ago. Morlock is scheduled to face a general court-martial on Thursday. In total, 12 US soldiers who were allegedly part of what has been described as a "kill team" in Afghanistan are expected to go on trial soon.

'They Mowed Him Down'

The piece in SPIEGEL reconstructs some of the atrocities and includes three previously unknown photographs. Among other things, they show two of the suspected killers posing next to a corpse. The victim in the image is Gul Mudin, an Afghan man killed on Jan. 15, 2010 in the village of La Mohammed Kalay. In total, SPIEGEL and SPIEGEL TV has obtained a significant number of photos and videos.

The suspects are accused of having killed civilians for no reason and then of trying to make it look as though the killings had been acts of self-defense. Some of the accused have said the acts had been tightly scripted.

In one incident, which has been reconstructed based on documents from the investigation, the soldiers themselves detonate a hand grenade in order to make it look like they were the subjects of an attack before killing a man. One of those who allegedly participated, Adam Winfield, 21, described the incident to his father in a chat on the social networking site Facebook. "They made it look like the guy threw a grenade at them and mowed him down," SPIEGEL quotes Winfield as having written in the chat.

In a second incident on Feb. 22, 2010, one of the members of the "kill team" who had been carrying an old Russian Kalashnikov, fired it before pulling out another gun and shooting 22-year-old Afghan Marach Agha. In a third incident on May 2, 2010, it appears that a hand grenade attack was again staged before the shooting and killing of Mullah Allah Dad.

The 12 men are also facing further charges of desecration of corpses, illegal possession of photos of corpses, drug abuse and acts of bodily injury against comrades.

-- with wire reports and additional reporting by Yassin Musharbash

Morlock sentenced to 24 years for Afghanistan murders By Hal Bernton (SeattleTimes)

Spc. Jeremy Morlock pleaded guilty Wednesday morning to three counts of murdering unarmed Afghans and other wrongdoing during a court-martial hearing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Apologizing to the Afghan people and the families of the dead, Spc. Jeremy Morlock on Wednesday pleaded guilty to the murders of three unarmed villagers and received a 24-year sentence as part of a negotiated agreement.

In the months ahead, Morlock is expected to return again and again to the red-carpeted courtroom here as a key witness for prosecutors pursuing murder convictions against four other soldiers in Morlock's platoon.

In one of the most serious war-crimes investigations to emerge from the nearly decadelong war in Afghanistan, they are accused of killing three unarmed villagers in separate incidents, then staging their actions to look like legitimate battlefield casualties.

In a statement to the court, Morlock said he wanted to take responsibility for his actions.

"I violated not only the law, but the Army core values," Morlock said in a quiet voice. "I've had a lot of time to reflect on my actions .. and how I lost my moral compass. I don't know if I will be able to fully answer those questions."

During questioning, Army judge Lt. Col. Kwasi Hawks asked Morlock whether he shot people to scare them and it got out of hand, or if the plan was to kill people.

"The plan was to kill people," said Morlock.

Morlock would have been sentenced to life in prison, but the plea bargain forged during lengthy negotiations with prosecutors resulted in the lesser sentence and an agreement to testify against other soldiers.

With credit for nearly a year already served, Morlock could be eligible for parole in seven years.

Morlock served with a platoon of the Lewis-McChord-based 5th Brigade (Stryker), 2nd Infantry Division, which served in southern Afghanistan from summer 2009 to summer 2010.

The war-crimes case received a burst of global publicity earlier this week when Der Spiegel, the German news organization, published graphic photos that included a shot of a smiling Morlock posing next to the corpse of one of the Afghan victims. In a separate image, another platoon member posed with the corpse.

U.S. Army officials had tried to keep the images secret for fear of inciting violence against U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

In a stipulation that accompanied his plea agreement, Morlock portrayed the squad leader, Staff. Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, as the ringleader who developed the killing scenarios.

Gibbs has said he is not guilty of murder and maintained the deaths were the result of combat actions.

In addition to the murders, Morlock pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit those murders and drug use, noting that he had a habit of smoking hashish three times a week.

He also pleaded guilty to assault. In court documents, he said he helped beat up a soldier who threatened to blow the whistle on the hashish smoking, then returned with Gibbs to throw fingers severed from a corpse in front of that soldier and threaten to kill him.

Morlock grew up in Wasilla, Alaska, and the courtroom on Wednesday was packed with friends and family, including his mother, Audrey Morlock.

"We believe in Jeremy, and we love him," she said in emotional testimony that sketched his youth in Alaska as a hockey player, hunter and fishermen and also his devastation as a young man when his father died in a 2007 boating accident.

Morlock, in his statement, also referred to his father, an Army veteran who inspired him to join the service after his graduation from high school. "His death left a giant hole in my life and my heart. If he had been alive when I was in Afghanistan, it would have made a difference."

While Morlock testified yesterday, he never tried to spread blame for his actions. But the Army launched a separate investigation of the 5th (Stryker) Brigade's leadership. The findings have not been released.

Late yesterday afternoon, a witness for the defense claimed the brigade was rife with command problems.

"What was shocking was the level of chaos, and disorganization. The level of mistrust," said Stjepan Mestrovic, a sociologist. He said that he and two other researchers spent some 200 hours conducting interviews with soldiers and examining documents, including the leadership report.

Mestrovic painted a disturbing picture of Col. Harry Tunnell, the brigade commander, as having embraced a strategy based on hunting down the Taliban that was at odds with the Army's emphasis on gaining the trust of Afghans through aid and other outreach efforts.

Mestrovic said that even before the brigade left for Afghanistan, Army commanders considered removing Tunnel and two generals. He also said the brigade initially failed a final certification test before departing for Afghanistan, and only later was approved to deploy.

Mestrovic also noted that Gibbs, a squad leader portrayed by other soldiers as a ringleader in the crimes, was originally part of Tunnell's security detail before transfer to Morlock's platoon.

Tunnell, in earlier interviews with The Seattle Times, has said that he was involved in both combat and outreach work in Afghanistan. He maintained that brigade casualties would have been even higher if he modified his tactics.

In closing arguments, defense attorney Frank Spinner, citing Mestrovic's testimony, said that when fashioning a sentence the judge needed to "keep in mind the totality of the circumstances that existed here."

Capt. Dre Leblanc, a prosecutor, rejected the argument that commanders bore significant responsibility for the crimes.

"We don't do this," he said. "This isn't how we train. This is not the Army. Your honor, these actions are the actions of a few extraordinarily misguided young men, including the accused.