That should get you up-to-date for this:
"Sanity review set in Afghan attack; Military judge orders exam by neutral doctors" by Gene Johnson | Associated Press, January 18, 2013
SEATTLE — An Army staff sergeant accused in a massacre of Afghan civilians must undergo an official sanity review before a mental health defense can be presented, the military judge in the case said Thursday.
Staff Sergeant Robert Bales deferred entering a plea Thursday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord to 16 counts of premeditated murder and other charges related to a nighttime attack on two villages last March. The Army is seeking the death penalty.
But the judge, Colonel Jeffery Nance, took up arguments about whether Bales can present a mental health defense or testimony from mental health experts, given that he has not yet participated in a ‘‘sanity board’’ review.
The judge ordered that to take place, but made no decisions about the conditions of the review and what information from it would be revealed to prosecutors — which prosecutors and defense attorneys have been arguing about.
Such reviews are conducted by neutral doctors tasked with discerning a defendant’s mental state at the time of the crime and whether he is competent to stand trial.
Bales was serving his fourth deployment, and his lawyers said he may have suffered from a traumatic brain injury. His mental health has been expected to be a key part of the case.
‘‘An accused simply cannot be allowed to claim a lack of mental responsibility through the introduction of expert testimony from his own doctors, while at the same time leaving the government with no ability to overcome its burden of proof because its doctors have been precluded from conducting any examination of the very matters in dispute,’’ prosecutor Major Robert Stelle wrote in a Jan. 3 motion.
Bales’ attorneys have said a traumatic brain injury may have been sustained when he was knocked out by an improvised bomb explosion during one of his tours in Iraq.
They have so far refused to allow him take part in the sanity board because the Army would not let him have a lawyer present for the examination, would not record the examination, and would not appoint a neuropsychologist expert in traumatic brain injuries to the board.
‘‘These are not independent doctors; they’re doctors who work for the Army, and the Army is trying to kill my client,’’ defense lawyer John Henry Browne said after the hearing.
However, Browne also said Bales might participate — as long as only certain information about the results are forwarded to prosecutors. Prosecutors should promptly receive findings about his current competence, but nothing about his mental state at the time of the attack, they said.
To allow the sanity board to share the basic results of the exam — the ‘‘short form,’’ with answers about his mental health diagnosis and mental state at time of the attack — would be to provide prosecutors with information based on compelled statements from the defendant. That could violate his right against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, a defense counsel, Emma Scanlan, told the judge.
The Army is not entitled to such data unless the defense makes an issue of Bales’ mental health at trial, which they have not yet done, she said.
--more--"
The lone gunman thing gets old, but....
"Soldier to admit Afghan massacre" by Gene Johnson | Associated Press, May 29, 2013
SEATTLE (AP) — The Army staff sergeant charged with slaughtering 16 villagers in one of the worst atrocities of the Afghanistan war will plead guilty to avoid the death penalty in a deal that requires him to recount the horrific attack for the first time, his attorney told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Staff Sgt. Robert Bales was ‘‘crazed’’ and ‘‘broken’’ when he slipped away from his remote southern Afghanistan outpost and attacked mud-walled compounds in two slumbering villages nearby, lawyer John Henry Browne said.
But his client’s mental state didn’t rise to the level of a legal insanity defense, Browne said, and Bales will plead guilty next week.
The outcome of the case carries high stakes. The Army had been trying to have Bales executed, and Afghan villagers have demanded it. In interviews with the AP in Kandahar last month, relatives of the victims became outraged at the notion Bales might escape the death penalty.
‘‘For this one thing, we would kill 100 American soldiers,’’ vowed Mohammed Wazir, who had 11 family members killed that night, including his mother and 2-year-old daughter.
‘‘A prison sentence doesn’t mean anything,’’ said Said Jan, whose wife and three other relatives died. ‘‘I know we have no power now. But I will become stronger, and if he does not hang, I will have my revenge.’’
Yes, I know, the bloodthirsty Muslim narrative.
Any plea deal must be approved by the judge as well as the commanding general at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, where Bales is being held. A plea hearing is set for June 5, said Maj. Gary Dangerfield, an Army spokesman. He said he could not immediately provide other details.
‘‘The judge will be asking questions of Sgt. Bales about what he did, what he remembers and his state of mind,’’ said Browne, who told the AP the commanding general has already approved the deal. ‘‘The deal that has been worked out ... is they take the death penalty off the table, and he pleads as charged, pretty much.’’
A sentencing-phase trial set for September will determine whether Bales is sentenced to life in prison with or without the possibility of parole.
Browne previously indicated Bales remembered little from the night of the massacre, and he said that was true in the early days after the attack. But as further details and records emerged, Bales began to remember what he did, the lawyer said, and he will admit to ‘‘very specific facts’’ about the shootings.
Browne would not elaborate on what his client will tell the judge.
Bales, an Ohio native and father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., had been drinking contraband alcohol, snorting Valium that was provided to him by another soldier, and had been taking steroids before the attack.
Testimony at a hearing last fall established that Bales returned to his base between attacking the villages, woke up a fellow soldier and confessed. The soldier didn’t believe him and went back to sleep, and Bales left again to continue the slaughter.
Most of the victims were women and children, and some of the bodies were piled and burned. The slayings drew such angry protests that the U.S. temporarily halted combat operations in Afghanistan. It was three weeks before American investigators could reach the crime scenes.
Browne said his client, who was on his fourth combat deployment, was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury. He continued to blame the Army for sending him back to war in the first place.
‘‘He’s broken, and we broke him,’’ Browne said.
Don't include me there. I was one of the 7% that never wanted to go, out of nonviolent principles then, because it was all based on lies later.
The massacre raised questions about the toll multiple deployments were taking on American troops. For that reason, many legal experts believed it that it was unlikely that he would receive the death penalty, as Army prosecutors were seeking. The military justice system hasn’t executed anyone since 1961.
Questions that don't last long as the empire marches forward.
The defense team, including military lawyers assigned to Bales as well as Browne’s co-counsel, Emma Scanlan, eventually determined after having Bales examined by psychiatrists that he would not be able to prove any claim of insanity or diminished capacity at the time of the attack, Browne said.
‘‘His mental state does not rise to the level of a legal insanity defense,’’ Browne said. ‘‘But his state of mind will be very important at the trial in September. We'll talk about his mental capacities or lack thereof, and other factors that were important to his state of mind.’’
Browne acknowledged the plea deal could inflame tensions in Afghanistan and said he was disappointed the case has not done more to focus public opinion on the war.
‘‘It’s a very delicate situation. I am concerned there could be a backlash,’’ he said. ‘‘My personal goal is to save Bob from the death penalty. Getting the public to pay more attention to the war is secondary to what I have to do.’’
I have been paying attention every day even when not posting about it.
--more--"
"Soldier pleads guilty in massacre of 16 Afghans" by Gene Johnson | Associated Press, June 06, 2013
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — The American soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians, many of them women and children who were asleep in their villages, pleaded guilty to murder Wednesday and acknowledged to a judge that there was ‘‘not a good reason in this world’’ for his actions.
Staff Sergeant Robert Bales’ plea ensures that he will avoid the death penalty for the middle-of-the-night slayings that so inflamed tensions with the Afghan population that the American military suspended combat operations.
Prosecutors say Bales slipped away before dawn on March 11, 2012, from his base in Kandahar Province and attacked the Alkozai and Najiban villages with a 9mm pistol and an M-4 rifle equipped with a grenade launcher.
Relatives of the victims were outraged at the idea that Bales could escape execution when they spoke to the Associated Press in April in Kandahar.
‘‘A prison sentence doesn’t mean anything,’’ said Said Jan, whose wife and three other relatives were slain. ‘‘I know we have no power now. But I will become stronger, and if he does not hang, I will have my revenge.’’
Media wanted to make sure you heard that.
A jury will decide in August whether the soldier is sentenced to life with or without the possibility of parole.
Wednesday’s proceedings at Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle marked the first time Bales, 39, provided a public account of the massacre....
The deaths also raised questions about the frequency of combat deployments and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Bales was serving his fourth deployment. Until the massacre, he had a good, if undistinguished, military record in a decade-long career.
The Ohio native suffered from PTSD and a traumatic brain injury, his lawyers say, and he had been drinking contraband alcohol and snorting Valium — both provided by other soldiers — the night of the killings.
Given Bales’ prior deployments and apparent PTSD, defense attorney John Henry Browne had sought to place blame with the military for sending Bales back to war in the first place.
--more--"
"Brother testifies for defense in Afghan massacre" by Gene Johnson | Associated Press, August 22, 2013
JOINT BASE LEWISMCCHORD, Wash. — A brother of the US soldier who slaughtered 16 Afghan civilians last year began making the case Wednesday for why the soldier should one day be eligible for parole, portraying him as a patriotic American and indulgent father.
‘‘There’s no better father that I’ve seen,’’ William Bales said of his younger brother, Staff Sergeant Robert Bales. ‘‘If you brought the kids in here today, they’d run right to him.’’
Bales pleaded guilty in June in a deal to avoid the death penalty, acknowledging that he slaughtered 16 people — mostly women and children — during unsanctioned, solo, pre-dawn raids on two villages on March 11, 2012. A jury is deciding whether he should be sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole, or without it.
The picture painted by the first defense witness, William Bales , severely contradicted that portrayed by the soldier’s admissions as well as by the testimony of nine Afghan villagers — victims and their relatives — about the horror Bales wrought.
See: Afghan farmer testifies at massacre trial
Defense attorneys hope the contrast will convince jurors that Bales simply snapped after four combat deployments and deserves leniency.
William Bales described how the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, changed ‘‘good-time Bobby’’ and how he soon after enlisted in the Army.
And for that I hold Bush and crew responsible. That's where the Israeli-assisted inside job led.
Prosecutors noted, however, that Bales was also facing a fraud lawsuit when he enlisted.
One of Bales’s lawyers, John Henry Browne, said after court Wednesday that his client will speak to the jury at the end of the case, and he will offer an apology for his crimes.
--more--"
"Soldier apologizes for Afghan massacre" by Gene Johnson | Associated Press, August 23, 2013
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — The US soldier who massacred 16 Afghan civilians during predawn raids last year apologized for the first time for his ‘‘act of cowardice,’’ but could not explain the atrocities to a military jury considering whether he should one day be eligible for parole.
Staff Sergeant Robert Bales said he would bring back the victims of his March 11, 2012, attack ‘‘in a heartbeat,’’ if possible.
‘‘I’m truly, truly sorry to those people whose families got taken away,’’ he said in a mostly steady voice. ‘‘I can’t comprehend their loss. I think about it every time I look at my kids.’’
Bales did not recount specifics of the horrors, but described the killings as an ‘‘act of cowardice, behind a mask of fear . . . and bravado,’’ and said he hoped his words would be translated for the villagers, none of whom were in the courtroom.
The father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., was serving his fourth combat deployment when he left his outpost at Camp Belambay, in Kandahar Province, in the middle of the night to attack the villages.
He pleaded guilty in June, and the six-member jury is deciding whether his life sentence should include the chance of parole.
His attorneys previously made much of Bales’s repeated deployments and suggested that post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury may have played a role in the killings.
But the lawyers offered no testimony from medical specialists on that point, saying they saw little point in making the case a battle of the experts.
Instead, they rested their defense after Bales finished speaking Thursday. Closing arguments were scheduled for Friday morning.
--more--"
"Soldier who killed villagers will not have parole option; Afghan victims angry he is not being executed" by Gene Johnson | Associated Press, August 24, 2013
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — The US soldier who massacred 16 Afghan civilians last year in one of the worst atrocities of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars was sentenced Friday to life in prison with no chance of parole — the most severe sentence possible, but one that left surviving victims and relatives of the dead deeply unsatisfied.
‘‘We wanted this murderer to be executed,’’ said Hajji Mohammad Wazir, who lost 11 family members in the attack by Staff Sergeant Robert Bales. ‘‘We were brought all the way from Afghanistan to see if justice would be served. Not our way — justice was served the American way.’’
Sort of. He wasn't absolved like a lot of them (when charges are bothered to be brought against low-level soldiers; never you mind those that ordered the crimes that killed millions).
Bales, 40, pleaded guilty in June in a deal to avoid the death penalty for the March 11, 2012, raids near his remote outpost in Kandahar province, when he stalked through mud-walled compounds and shot 22 people — 17 of them women and children. Some screamed for mercy, while others didn’t have a chance to get out of bed.
The soldier showed no emotion as the sentence was announced at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, south of Seattle.
I wonder how many drugs they had him on during confinement.
His mother, sitting in the front row of the court, bowed her head, rocked in her seat, and wept.
An interpreter flashed a thumbs-up sign to a row of Afghan villagers who were either wounded or lost family members in the attacks.
‘‘I saw his mother trying to cry, but at least she can go visit him,’’ said Hajji Mohammad Naim, who was shot in the neck. ‘‘What about us? Our family members are actually 6 feet under.’’
It is a good point to which I have no answer except sorry.
The villagers, who traveled nearly 7,000 miles to testify against Bales, spoke with reporters and asked through an interpreter what it would be like for someone to break into American homes and slaughter their families.
Chances are the American would have a gun and Bales might be dead. Or the police come and do it after he is done.
Bales never offered an explanation for why he armed himself with a 9mm pistol and an M-4 rifle and left his post on the killing mission, but he apologized on the witness stand Thursday and described the slaughter as an ‘‘act of cowardice.’’
************************
Defense attorney Emma Scanlan read from a letter sent by a fellow soldier, a captain who said that Bales seemed to have trouble handling a decade of war and death: ‘‘The darkness that had been tugging at him for the last 10 years swallowed him whole.’’
--more--"
I hope you can swallow these:
No answers after deadliest day of year for US in Afghanistan
Eight coalition soldiers die in Afghanistan in single day
7 soldiers, 3 from US, killed in bombing
NATO says 3 US troops killed in Afghanistan
3 NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan
3 troops killed in Afghan insider attack
Attack kills 3 coalition soldiers in Afghanistan
Afghan held in attack on allies escapes
These are the guys for whom we are building army barracks?
Officials confirm attacks by Taliban not down after all
Coalition in Afghanistan will no longer publish attack figures
Like anyone was believing the lies as the U.S. death toll rose sharply last month.
‘‘I’m feeling conflicted with this medal I now wear,’’ former Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha said after the ceremony. ‘‘The joy comes from recognition for us doing our jobs as soldiers on distant battlefields but is countered by the constant reminder of the loss of our battle buddies, my battle buddies, my soldiers, my friends.’’
Also see:
Afghanistan war veteran awarded Medal of Honor
Fallen heroes remembered in Mattapan
Mass. service members who died in Afghanistan
Just a reminder that we are still at war and will be for the foreseeable future as we take stock -- but there is always hope.
The lone gunman thing gets old, but....
"Soldier to admit Afghan massacre" by Gene Johnson | Associated Press, May 29, 2013
SEATTLE (AP) — The Army staff sergeant charged with slaughtering 16 villagers in one of the worst atrocities of the Afghanistan war will plead guilty to avoid the death penalty in a deal that requires him to recount the horrific attack for the first time, his attorney told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Staff Sgt. Robert Bales was ‘‘crazed’’ and ‘‘broken’’ when he slipped away from his remote southern Afghanistan outpost and attacked mud-walled compounds in two slumbering villages nearby, lawyer John Henry Browne said.
But his client’s mental state didn’t rise to the level of a legal insanity defense, Browne said, and Bales will plead guilty next week.
The outcome of the case carries high stakes. The Army had been trying to have Bales executed, and Afghan villagers have demanded it. In interviews with the AP in Kandahar last month, relatives of the victims became outraged at the notion Bales might escape the death penalty.
‘‘For this one thing, we would kill 100 American soldiers,’’ vowed Mohammed Wazir, who had 11 family members killed that night, including his mother and 2-year-old daughter.
‘‘A prison sentence doesn’t mean anything,’’ said Said Jan, whose wife and three other relatives died. ‘‘I know we have no power now. But I will become stronger, and if he does not hang, I will have my revenge.’’
Yes, I know, the bloodthirsty Muslim narrative.
Any plea deal must be approved by the judge as well as the commanding general at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, where Bales is being held. A plea hearing is set for June 5, said Maj. Gary Dangerfield, an Army spokesman. He said he could not immediately provide other details.
‘‘The judge will be asking questions of Sgt. Bales about what he did, what he remembers and his state of mind,’’ said Browne, who told the AP the commanding general has already approved the deal. ‘‘The deal that has been worked out ... is they take the death penalty off the table, and he pleads as charged, pretty much.’’
A sentencing-phase trial set for September will determine whether Bales is sentenced to life in prison with or without the possibility of parole.
Browne previously indicated Bales remembered little from the night of the massacre, and he said that was true in the early days after the attack. But as further details and records emerged, Bales began to remember what he did, the lawyer said, and he will admit to ‘‘very specific facts’’ about the shootings.
Browne would not elaborate on what his client will tell the judge.
Bales, an Ohio native and father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., had been drinking contraband alcohol, snorting Valium that was provided to him by another soldier, and had been taking steroids before the attack.
Testimony at a hearing last fall established that Bales returned to his base between attacking the villages, woke up a fellow soldier and confessed. The soldier didn’t believe him and went back to sleep, and Bales left again to continue the slaughter.
Most of the victims were women and children, and some of the bodies were piled and burned. The slayings drew such angry protests that the U.S. temporarily halted combat operations in Afghanistan. It was three weeks before American investigators could reach the crime scenes.
Browne said his client, who was on his fourth combat deployment, was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury. He continued to blame the Army for sending him back to war in the first place.
‘‘He’s broken, and we broke him,’’ Browne said.
Don't include me there. I was one of the 7% that never wanted to go, out of nonviolent principles then, because it was all based on lies later.
The massacre raised questions about the toll multiple deployments were taking on American troops. For that reason, many legal experts believed it that it was unlikely that he would receive the death penalty, as Army prosecutors were seeking. The military justice system hasn’t executed anyone since 1961.
Questions that don't last long as the empire marches forward.
The defense team, including military lawyers assigned to Bales as well as Browne’s co-counsel, Emma Scanlan, eventually determined after having Bales examined by psychiatrists that he would not be able to prove any claim of insanity or diminished capacity at the time of the attack, Browne said.
‘‘His mental state does not rise to the level of a legal insanity defense,’’ Browne said. ‘‘But his state of mind will be very important at the trial in September. We'll talk about his mental capacities or lack thereof, and other factors that were important to his state of mind.’’
Browne acknowledged the plea deal could inflame tensions in Afghanistan and said he was disappointed the case has not done more to focus public opinion on the war.
‘‘It’s a very delicate situation. I am concerned there could be a backlash,’’ he said. ‘‘My personal goal is to save Bob from the death penalty. Getting the public to pay more attention to the war is secondary to what I have to do.’’
I have been paying attention every day even when not posting about it.
--more--"
"Soldier pleads guilty in massacre of 16 Afghans" by Gene Johnson | Associated Press, June 06, 2013
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — The American soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians, many of them women and children who were asleep in their villages, pleaded guilty to murder Wednesday and acknowledged to a judge that there was ‘‘not a good reason in this world’’ for his actions.
Staff Sergeant Robert Bales’ plea ensures that he will avoid the death penalty for the middle-of-the-night slayings that so inflamed tensions with the Afghan population that the American military suspended combat operations.
Prosecutors say Bales slipped away before dawn on March 11, 2012, from his base in Kandahar Province and attacked the Alkozai and Najiban villages with a 9mm pistol and an M-4 rifle equipped with a grenade launcher.
Relatives of the victims were outraged at the idea that Bales could escape execution when they spoke to the Associated Press in April in Kandahar.
‘‘A prison sentence doesn’t mean anything,’’ said Said Jan, whose wife and three other relatives were slain. ‘‘I know we have no power now. But I will become stronger, and if he does not hang, I will have my revenge.’’
Media wanted to make sure you heard that.
A jury will decide in August whether the soldier is sentenced to life with or without the possibility of parole.
Wednesday’s proceedings at Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle marked the first time Bales, 39, provided a public account of the massacre....
The deaths also raised questions about the frequency of combat deployments and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Bales was serving his fourth deployment. Until the massacre, he had a good, if undistinguished, military record in a decade-long career.
The Ohio native suffered from PTSD and a traumatic brain injury, his lawyers say, and he had been drinking contraband alcohol and snorting Valium — both provided by other soldiers — the night of the killings.
Given Bales’ prior deployments and apparent PTSD, defense attorney John Henry Browne had sought to place blame with the military for sending Bales back to war in the first place.
--more--"
"Brother testifies for defense in Afghan massacre" by Gene Johnson | Associated Press, August 22, 2013
JOINT BASE LEWISMCCHORD, Wash. — A brother of the US soldier who slaughtered 16 Afghan civilians last year began making the case Wednesday for why the soldier should one day be eligible for parole, portraying him as a patriotic American and indulgent father.
‘‘There’s no better father that I’ve seen,’’ William Bales said of his younger brother, Staff Sergeant Robert Bales. ‘‘If you brought the kids in here today, they’d run right to him.’’
Bales pleaded guilty in June in a deal to avoid the death penalty, acknowledging that he slaughtered 16 people — mostly women and children — during unsanctioned, solo, pre-dawn raids on two villages on March 11, 2012. A jury is deciding whether he should be sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole, or without it.
The picture painted by the first defense witness, William Bales , severely contradicted that portrayed by the soldier’s admissions as well as by the testimony of nine Afghan villagers — victims and their relatives — about the horror Bales wrought.
See: Afghan farmer testifies at massacre trial
Defense attorneys hope the contrast will convince jurors that Bales simply snapped after four combat deployments and deserves leniency.
William Bales described how the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, changed ‘‘good-time Bobby’’ and how he soon after enlisted in the Army.
And for that I hold Bush and crew responsible. That's where the Israeli-assisted inside job led.
Prosecutors noted, however, that Bales was also facing a fraud lawsuit when he enlisted.
One of Bales’s lawyers, John Henry Browne, said after court Wednesday that his client will speak to the jury at the end of the case, and he will offer an apology for his crimes.
--more--"
"Soldier apologizes for Afghan massacre" by Gene Johnson | Associated Press, August 23, 2013
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — The US soldier who massacred 16 Afghan civilians during predawn raids last year apologized for the first time for his ‘‘act of cowardice,’’ but could not explain the atrocities to a military jury considering whether he should one day be eligible for parole.
Staff Sergeant Robert Bales said he would bring back the victims of his March 11, 2012, attack ‘‘in a heartbeat,’’ if possible.
‘‘I’m truly, truly sorry to those people whose families got taken away,’’ he said in a mostly steady voice. ‘‘I can’t comprehend their loss. I think about it every time I look at my kids.’’
Bales did not recount specifics of the horrors, but described the killings as an ‘‘act of cowardice, behind a mask of fear . . . and bravado,’’ and said he hoped his words would be translated for the villagers, none of whom were in the courtroom.
The father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., was serving his fourth combat deployment when he left his outpost at Camp Belambay, in Kandahar Province, in the middle of the night to attack the villages.
He pleaded guilty in June, and the six-member jury is deciding whether his life sentence should include the chance of parole.
His attorneys previously made much of Bales’s repeated deployments and suggested that post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury may have played a role in the killings.
But the lawyers offered no testimony from medical specialists on that point, saying they saw little point in making the case a battle of the experts.
Instead, they rested their defense after Bales finished speaking Thursday. Closing arguments were scheduled for Friday morning.
--more--"
"Soldier who killed villagers will not have parole option; Afghan victims angry he is not being executed" by Gene Johnson | Associated Press, August 24, 2013
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — The US soldier who massacred 16 Afghan civilians last year in one of the worst atrocities of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars was sentenced Friday to life in prison with no chance of parole — the most severe sentence possible, but one that left surviving victims and relatives of the dead deeply unsatisfied.
‘‘We wanted this murderer to be executed,’’ said Hajji Mohammad Wazir, who lost 11 family members in the attack by Staff Sergeant Robert Bales. ‘‘We were brought all the way from Afghanistan to see if justice would be served. Not our way — justice was served the American way.’’
Sort of. He wasn't absolved like a lot of them (when charges are bothered to be brought against low-level soldiers; never you mind those that ordered the crimes that killed millions).
Bales, 40, pleaded guilty in June in a deal to avoid the death penalty for the March 11, 2012, raids near his remote outpost in Kandahar province, when he stalked through mud-walled compounds and shot 22 people — 17 of them women and children. Some screamed for mercy, while others didn’t have a chance to get out of bed.
The soldier showed no emotion as the sentence was announced at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, south of Seattle.
I wonder how many drugs they had him on during confinement.
His mother, sitting in the front row of the court, bowed her head, rocked in her seat, and wept.
An interpreter flashed a thumbs-up sign to a row of Afghan villagers who were either wounded or lost family members in the attacks.
‘‘I saw his mother trying to cry, but at least she can go visit him,’’ said Hajji Mohammad Naim, who was shot in the neck. ‘‘What about us? Our family members are actually 6 feet under.’’
It is a good point to which I have no answer except sorry.
The villagers, who traveled nearly 7,000 miles to testify against Bales, spoke with reporters and asked through an interpreter what it would be like for someone to break into American homes and slaughter their families.
Chances are the American would have a gun and Bales might be dead. Or the police come and do it after he is done.
Bales never offered an explanation for why he armed himself with a 9mm pistol and an M-4 rifle and left his post on the killing mission, but he apologized on the witness stand Thursday and described the slaughter as an ‘‘act of cowardice.’’
************************
Defense attorney Emma Scanlan read from a letter sent by a fellow soldier, a captain who said that Bales seemed to have trouble handling a decade of war and death: ‘‘The darkness that had been tugging at him for the last 10 years swallowed him whole.’’
--more--"
I hope you can swallow these:
No answers after deadliest day of year for US in Afghanistan
Eight coalition soldiers die in Afghanistan in single day
7 soldiers, 3 from US, killed in bombing
NATO says 3 US troops killed in Afghanistan
3 NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan
3 troops killed in Afghan insider attack
Attack kills 3 coalition soldiers in Afghanistan
Afghan held in attack on allies escapes
These are the guys for whom we are building army barracks?
Officials confirm attacks by Taliban not down after all
Coalition in Afghanistan will no longer publish attack figures
Like anyone was believing the lies as the U.S. death toll rose sharply last month.
‘‘I’m feeling conflicted with this medal I now wear,’’ former Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha said after the ceremony. ‘‘The joy comes from recognition for us doing our jobs as soldiers on distant battlefields but is countered by the constant reminder of the loss of our battle buddies, my battle buddies, my soldiers, my friends.’’
Also see:
Afghanistan war veteran awarded Medal of Honor
Fallen heroes remembered in Mattapan
Mass. service members who died in Afghanistan
Just a reminder that we are still at war and will be for the foreseeable future as we take stock -- but there is always hope.
