Several U.S. soldiers returning from combat zones claim there is a widespread practice of using “drop weapons” to cover up the killing of innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan.
interviewed five returning U.S. soldiers and retired Lieutenant Colonel Gary Solis, a Vietnam War veteran and legal scholar who taught “Law of War” at West Point. They discussed the rising incidence of “Drop Weapons” in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Drop Weapons” are weapons carried by the soldiers for the purpose of being placed near a slain individual to make them appear to be an enemy combatant or insurgent.
The soldiers in the video attached to this article claim they used to carry AK-47s in their vehicles and when an incident occurred, they would drop an AK-47 near the slained person to make him or her look like an insurgent. They say they received orders to carry the AK-47s from their superiors, as well as orders to place them by bodies of people they shoot. In the case of a raid gone bad where an innocent person is killed, drop weapon tactics can be used to cover up mistakes.
In the interview, the soldiers say drop weapon tactics occur at an alarming frequency with the approval of their superiors. They also say everyone in the chain of command knows about it, including General
David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq.
Congress should fully investigate, but who knows if they actually will. The problem of drop weapons reminds me of
baiting, something else we don't hear much about.
Soldiers claim 'Drop Weapons' used to cover up killing innocent Iraqi civilians
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