'Addicted to killing people,' letter says

[unhappycamper]

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20121113/NEWS14/311130073/-Addicted-killing-people-letter-says?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home&nclick_check=1



'Addicted to killing people,' letter says
12:55 AM, Nov 13, 2012
Written by Sean O’Sullivan

A soldier charged with kidnapping, raping and murdering a Wilmington woman last year is now claiming in a letter that he killed innocent men, women and children overseas and that his combat service got him “addicted to killing people.”

~snip~

The letter is the first and most detailed public account from Smith since his arrest and could be a preview of his legal defense.

In the letter, Smith writes, “I am going to be honest with you dad. I have killed a lot of men and women and children. Some that didn’t even do anything for me to kill them. Also some that begged for mercy. I have a problem. I think I got addicted to killing people.

“I could kill someone, go to sleep and forget that it ever happened,” Smith writes.

[cprise]

1. Reminds me of this article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/21/jon-ronson-how-to-spot-a-psychopath

Especially the part about Tony.

[patrice]

2. Life in prison, no parole ever. Different kinds of work that he can choose from, or not, &

all benefits of his work should go to the victim's family.

[Victor_c3]

3. war certainly messes with you

Not that I ever found myself in a position to enjoy it, I found it got easier to do and to deal with when I was in Iraq.

The most alarming part to me after my first firefight was that shooting someone isn't as hard or as big of a deal as I thought it would be. It was surprisingly easy.

What this guy did is wrong, but we as a society should start wars if we aren't willing to deal with the fallout. I feel this guy was a product of the war, much like SSG Bales that murdered 16 civilians in Afghanistan earlier this year. Should these guys be held accountable for their actions, yes. However, we should look at ourselves and accept some of the blame too.

[glacierbay]

4. Sorry

but I refuse to accept some of the blame for this guy murdering an innocent woman. I did 2 tours in Vietnam and while I did my share of killing, I didn't ever shoot at anyone that wasn't shooting at me, I came home and after my discharge in 74, I adjusted to civilian life and never had the urge to go out and kill anyone.