Serious Questions Remain In The Case Of The Biggest Civilian Massacre Since Vietnam

[longknife]

by Michael Kelley

Robert Bales

Military prosecutors told a preliminary hearing that they will seek the death penalty in the case of the U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers after they present evidence proving "chilling premeditation," Bill Rigby of Reuters reports.

But there are legitimate uncertainties surrounding the worst case of civilian slaughter blamed on an individual U.S. soldier since Vietnam.

Read more @ Serious Doubts Surround Afghan Massacre - Business Insider

 

[waltky]

Sgt. Bales preliminary hearing ends with recommendation of death penalty...

Preliminary hearing ends in Afghan massacre case
Nov 13,`12 -- Army prosecutors on Tuesday asked an investigative officer to recommend a death penalty court-martial for a staff sergeant accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers in a predawn rampage, saying that Staff Sgt. Robert Bales committed "heinous and despicable crimes."

Prosecutors made their closing arguments after a week of testimony in the preliminary hearing. Prosecutors say Bales, 39, slipped away from his remote base at Camp Belambay in southern Afghanistan to attack two villages early on March 11. Among the dead were nine children. The slayings drew such angry protests that the U.S. temporarily halted combat operations in Afghanistan, and it was three weeks before American investigators could reach the crime scenes. "Terrible, terrible things happened," said prosecutor, Maj. Rob Stelle. "That is clear."

Stelle cited statements Bales made after he was apprehended, saying that they demonstrated "a clear memory of what he had done, and consciousness of wrong-doing." Several soldiers testified that Bales returned to the base alone just before dawn, covered in blood, and that he made incriminating statements such as, "I thought I was doing the right thing." An attorney for Bales argued there's not enough information to move forward with the court-martial. "There are a number of questions that have not been answered so far in this investigation," attorney Emma Scanlan told the investigating officer overseeing the preliminary hearing.

Scanlan said that it's still unknown what Bales' state of mind was the evening of the killings. An Army criminal investigations command special agent had testified last week that Bales tested positive for steroids three days after the killings, and other soldiers testified that Bales had been drinking the evening of the massacre. "We've heard that Sgt. Bales was lucid, coherent and responsive," Scanlan said in her closing argument. "We don't know what it means to be on alcohol, steroids and sleeping aids."

The investigating officer said Tuesday that he would have a written recommendation by the end of the week, but that is just the start of the process. That recommendation goes next to the brigade command, and the ultimate decision would be made by the three-star general on the base. There's no clear sense of how long that could take before a decision is reached on whether to proceed to a court-martial trial. If a court-martial takes place, it will be held at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, the Washington state base south of Seattle, and witnesses will be flown in from Afghanistan.

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[ima]

What about the other hundreds of thousands of civilians killed in Iraq and Afghanistan by US troops? We going to sentence the whole US army to death? Or just Cheney and Rummy?