Gates of Vienna News Feed 3/21/2011

The German newspaper Der Spiegel has broken a major news story about American soldiers in Afghanistan who wantonly killed civilians, fabricated stories about being attacked to justify the killings, and photographed themselves with the bodies as with trophies, occasionally hacking off fingers and to keep as souvenirs. The newspaper published three of the photos, and NATO commanders in Afghanistan are warning their troops to prepare for the backlash. Coming on the heels of the war in Libya — is it a coincidence that Germany opposed action in Libya? — this looks like it may cause President Obama a major headache.

News from Libya has pushed Japan out of the headlines, so it’s worth noting that the situation at the Fukushima nuclear plant continues to stabilize. Electricity has been connected to two more reactors, and the spikes in radiation are gradually dropping. Quietly, without a big fuss, the Japanese are taking care of the problem.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to AC, C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, CSP, Erick Stakelbeck, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Mary Abdelmassih, Nilk, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.