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Subscribe to RSSMilitary prosecutors allege that Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, accused of a deadly rampage which left 17 Afghan civilians dead, came in two waves, with Bales returning to his base after the first attack and then slipping out again. NBC's John Yang reports.
FORWARD OPERATING BASE MASUM GHAR, Afghanistan -- In a natural amphitheatre high among the jagged grey peaks of Afghanistan's Panjwai district, the shock of a village shooting rampage is still settling over U.S. soldiers who served with accused gunman Robert Bales.
The soldiers of Tacoma-based 3/2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team were moving into areas inherited from Alaska-based troops, tracking their armored vehicles to memorize the mazy roads of southern province Kandahar, when more than a dozen people were shot dead in Belandai and Zangabad villages.
Bales' brothers in arms are perplexed and distraught by the March 11 slaughter, which has dragged U.S.-Afghan relations to new nadir, prompting President Hamid Karzai to demand a pullback of NATO forces from Afghan communities.
"We are all talking about Sergeant Bales. I talk with some of the soldiers who served with him and they are all surprised. It saddens the friends of his, because my understanding is it was totally out of character," 3/2 Brigade Chaplain Major Edward Choi told Reuters at the unit's headquarters at Forward Operating Base Masum Ghar.
Afghan massacre suspect's wife: 'He did not do this'
The U.S. military last week lodged 17 charges of premeditated murder against Bales, a four-tour veteran, ahead of what is expected to be a long trial. In theory at least, the death penalty is on the table.
Popular leader
Bales had been a popular leader, Choi said, making the massacre even more bewildering. Comrades reject reports his marriage had been in trouble ahead of an Afghan deployment he was reluctant to undertake.
"That is not the case," said Choi, shrugging in frustration. "People that knew him, that dealt with him personally, said he was a great NCO (non-commissioned officer), cared for soldiers, was tactically and operationally professional, loved his wife and kids."
Karilyn Bales, the wife of Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, spoke exclusively with NBC's Matt Lauer, telling the TODAY anchor that the news about her husband is 'very unbelievable.'
Choi, whose small plywood chapel overlooks a wide river plain and brigade command fenced by concrete blast walls, said some of Bales' comrades had been stressed by moving into a dangerous area that birthed the Taliban, and where its one-eyed leader Mullah Mohammad Omar still has a home.
Three-hour firefight: Afghan militants attack NATO convoy
Choi said he had no doubt multiple deployments were taking a toll on some of the fighting men. New rules governing elite units like the one Bales was assigned to guard, and wandered from in darkness on the night of the killings, were likely.
"When I speak to some of my leaders, our concern is lack of oversight. There are conventional soldiers attached to special forces who are well trained, off on their own, very mature and growing beards and doing their own thing," he said.
"When you take a 19 or 20-year-old conventional soldier and put him into special operations, they might not be able to handle it."
Captain Janel Schlaudecker, a combat stress counsellor for U.S. soldiers in Panjwai, including Bales' unit, said while there was no explanation for what led to the massacres, she had not noticed an impact on the wider stress levels of Bales' brigade, even among the far-flung infantry units.
"It's so hard to judge how they would respond to this. But they are used to going out there and eating next to nothing, if anything," Schlaudecker said.
"They are used to being under a lot more pressure and not having a lot of sleep. They are wired completely differently. They are lot more resilient."
PTSD: Having the courage to ask for help
Tensions over the incident are still high in Panjwai, an insurgent hotbed west of Kandahar city, and the scene of some of the war's fiercest battles. Scores of Canadian soldiers were killed there before the Americans took over in mid-2011.
U.S. authorities have given the victims' families cash compensation of around $50,000 for each person killed, but at a meeting with district elders this week, U.S. officers and advisers were confronted by angry Afghans demanding to know why more was not done to prevent such an atrocity.
"Local people are very angry. I get hundreds of calls from people who want this soldier tried here, in Afghanistan," said Panjwai radio journalist Abdul Karim, who also runs a curio shop from a shipping container, used by U.S. troops.
Fighting season
Some soldiers worry the massacre will undo hard-won gains over the past year, when insurgent attacks fell 40 percent, and turn sentiment against incoming units of Bales' 3/2 Strykers ahead of the summer fighting months.
The 2012 fighting season is the last which will be fought by NATO in surge-level numbers, as the end-2014 deadline for the exit of most foreign combat troops approaches.
US orders more security for troops in Afghanistan
Insurgents have already carried out small attacks as a bitter winter recedes, but U.S. commanders say this does not mean an emboldened Taliban have brought hostilities forward.
"I think the coming summer will be bad and the new guys are worried," said Staff Sergeant Robert Nelson, 37, a garrulous ex-Marine from Texas who runs the 'Mission One' base shop at Masum Ghar for the outgoing 1/25 Arctic Wolves, now packing to leave.
Colonel Todd Wood, the outgoing U.S. commander for the 25th Infantry Division, said patrols were brushing lightly over Belandai and Zangabad to avoid provoking more anger, but he did not think the massacre would make the fighting months worse.
"Right now it's probably still too early to tell," said Wood, a weathered, hyperactive Iraq veteran from Iowa.
"We've still got villagers that will point out IEDs (improvised explosive devices), we've still got villagers out there that will warn us of a possible attack ... that hasn't changed," he said.
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Leave a Comment:
i take exception to your derogatory reference to the physical disability of the ex afghanistan leader mullah umar. it is akin to calling barak husain obama a @!$%# !
I take exception to our troops being killed by Afghan soldiers, billions being stolen by Karzai and his government. Bring our troops home, Afghanistan is a cesspool.
http://www.change.org/petitions/bring-our-troops-home-from-afghanistan
Support our troops, protect them from our "friends" in Afghanistan.
Casey Anthony lawyer for this soldier. Its the best way to get away with killing babies.
I'm not sure I'd say it's the same as calling Obama names, but it does indicate a certain prejudice. Although I suppose you could argue it's just a statement. But really, what does him having one eye have to do with anything? Seems like an unnecessary detail and it seems rude.
The hate on both sides and even within sides is heart breaking.
50% of the people in Afganastan are women. And I doubt too many of them are on the side of the Taliban.
Almost everyone involved is just trying to do the right thing as they see it. But there are monsters who claim the "right thing" involves killing and turning people into slaves. None of the Holy books condone that.
Trayvon was a thug. Good riddance.
EWUSNRET - you are a moron, and that has nothing to do with this article
Why not post under your real name and address
Why so someone could commit a real HATE crime against me?
Sling your hate somewhere else...we are speaking about an AMERICAN soldier here.
I just heard on CNN that the malaria drug Bales may have been taking has been linked to the Ft Bragg killings. It may have psychotic side effects. Great job army.
Sgt Bales attorneys being stonewalled by Army. Want the truth? I tagged my states representative on armed services and one senator. Full disclosure and transparency in government. Your turn to tell the government we won't stand for less the the whole truth.
Mullah Omar is a coward, IMHO.
Kind of makes you think...war will change you, make no mistake about it. You are never the same, and you can never look at the world the same. I can most certainly attest to that.
Somebody probably knew something, but things are a lot more complicated when reporting up the chain of command. Nobody likes bad news, and something tells me the higher-ups knew something was up. Now 17 people are dead, and a soldier's life is pretty much over. What more is there to say, but hope against hope that it will never happen again?
I feel no sympathy for this guy. Its one thing if a soldier snaps and kills one or two innocent people but 17? Its not like it was a heat of the moment situation or that he could possibly have made a mistake.
He knowingly and methodically left his base and went house to house killing people. Then look at the circumstances of his capture. He admits guilt, requests lawyer, shuts up. A count of first degree murder for each person he killed and I don't buy insanity or else this would have happened many times already.
Also, he is a volunteer soldier in an all-volunteer army fighting in a conflict that right now is a conflict of choice. If he felt that after previous tours he couldn't perform his duties anymore, he didn't have to reenlist.
Finally, he didn't just kill 17 innocent people. He is also responsible for the deaths of the soldiers and/or citizens who die in retaliation for his acts. He has simply galvanized the will of the militant opposition to US presence in the area and probably changed the opinion of some otherwise neutral Afghans to militant opposition. Don't we remember why we are in Afghanistan in the first place? In retaliation for the killing of our innocent countrymen in our own country. Would Afghanistan now be justified in invading our country to capture this killer of its people?
Millions of people have been "changed" by war.
Few of them kill innocent people.
There's no excuse. We should have let the Afganistan courts try him.
What if it had happened in America? Think folks would be happy to see him wisked safely to Afganastan to be protected? Nope, I don't think so.
It wasn't a crime committed during a military exercise. He should answer to the laws of the country where he committed the crimes
Think he would have got a fair trial there? You're sick - seek help - now.
right...America always has fair trials....OJ, Casey Anderson, Zimmerman....the list goes on.
Does he really deserve a fair trial? Did his victims get a fair trial? He said he did it.
You are the evil/ hateful one. It's very sad
The only thing sad on here is your thug loving self.
Osama bin Laden is dead, the mission is over. This was never supposed to be about nation building. The mission was to kill those responsible for 9/11. Mission Accomplished. President Obama and Congress believe that more training, money and dead Americans will make Afghanistan a better place, whatever.
http://www.change.org/petitions/bring-our-troops-home-from-afghanistan
Show your support for our troops and their families. Send Obama and Congress a message, get out!
Nice rant there Jake..
But who was it who started the "Nation Building" in AF?
Jake, buddy...you really believed all that mission talk? Well, let me see, Didn't Bales technically stick to the mission? Some body is hiding something and we'll never find out what it is.
rock n roller:
You are mostly correct! It could well be one of our famous BLACK OPS and we WILL NEVER KNOW!
Those responsible for 9/11 are from the Israeli Mossad.
What about our support for innocent people subject to an evil regime? Or a regime too young to stand on it's own?
Do only American lives matter?
That's not what my Faith tell me
Mossad is not directly responsible for 9/11, that I know of. But the US has earned the hatred of a lot of the middle east and Muslim communities by blindly supporting Israel, even when they are clearly in the wrong. Personally, I don't really blame those countries for hating us, although I would never condone hate.
We need to re-think our stance on Israel. What happened to Obama's comment that we should "get back to the 1967 borders"?
Of course, we've done things ourselves to earn the hatred of our Muslim brothers and sisters, like, you know...killing 17 people, including 9 children....gosh, I wonder why they don't like us
They're not our brothers and sisters - they killed 3,000 of our brothers and sisters - thug lover.
LOL........funny EWUSNRET.....I wonder how many we killed in responce and before 9/11...Ohh wait we dont even keep track of that...your comments should be joke of the day.
Sun Spots are behind this. Everyone wear tin foil hats to protect brain.
I got a tweet from a source over there who must remain anonymous. This person said Bales went to the "chow house" and got a second bag of marshmallows. He told them he needed another "sugar rush" to give him enough energy to get back to the base.
The ABOVE is about as credible as most of the NEWS being reported on this! The ONLY posts on most of the NEWS should be "WHERE ARE THE FACTS?" Most of the NEWS is journalistic opinion and/or unsubstantiated reports to get all of you wanna be judge/jury/executioners to rant on here. The more WE comment the more they "report(?)...
LOL, and so you're commenting!!
welll YES...I would HOPE ranting and rampaging and killing a bunch of innocent people would be "out of character" -- why is this news?
If it was "In Character" - he would have been locked up a long time ago.
Sheesh
Sgt. Bales acted against the best interests of the United States and jeopardized the security of his fellow soldiers. That is his chief offense, and for that he should be court marshaled. He should not be charged with murder for killing a few Muslims. They are the enemy no matter how old they are.
Before anyone starts yelling for Sgt Bales head, why not wait until he has a fair trial? Is that too much to ask? Why try him in a public forum when nobody really knows what happened. I wasn't there, and I don't know if he did it or didn't do it.
I do know that the media is telling us a story, but how true is that story? Think the conserveted media doesn't lie, or our military, or the whole govt?
And if someone takes offense about some leader, especially an Arab leader, well, I happen to agree with the cartoons of your religious leader that that guy in Denmark made. So are you going to put out a contract on me because I insulted your Mohammad? Wake up and join the 21st century. Quit living in the past. All Arab men are control freaks when it comes to women.
sallyAnn you are not worth it...as your comments clearly state your intellect capacity...you will be hard to handle and all....
I'm sad to see the hate and racism and religious/ethnic prejudice in the comments.
People said this was "totally out of character" for Bales? Ummm...how many people would say about someone..."yeah, killing innocent people, including small children, is SOOOO like him"?
Honestly, did they run out of things to write about?
You're the racist "praying for the THUG Trayvon".
I don't see how that makes me a racist?
Are you assuming I'm black, because you'd be wrong
No, you're liberal - anti-Semitic. That's the same thing as racism.
LOL, you are funny. I am a pro-life Republican and definitely not anti-Semitic!! My husband is Jewish, he feels the same way
Well kudos for you then you are one of the few on your side who hasn't said Zimmerman is a jewish name.
This guy was a financial broker, fined $1.2 million for improprieties. The rest of us call that fraud.
He never paid and lost his license.
Given the above, how "out of character" is his murder spree?
How startling! Killing 17 people is "out of character". Wouldn't it have been a better news story if killing 17 innocent people was "in character".
"Oh yeah, we've always figured he'd be a mass murderer someday. Wicked nice guy though!"
Hey everyone lets jump to conclusions..... Morons!!!!!
War is war and in a state of chaos, a GI may totally lose it and do things which may not be acceptable by civilized standards. PTSD is a diagnosis that should not be used and taken casually. If a GI is truly and in fact has PTSD, he should be discharged from active duty and consider it as service connected disability. He has no business to be in active duty and be a combatant!
What do you know about the claims the malaria drug used in Afghanistan is linked to psychotic side effects? I heard that on CNN from a former military doctor involved in the Ft Bragg cases.
Isn't it treason to put the US in this position?
Or maybe inciting war, or something like that?
I believe NATO soldiers have been killed by the Taliban in so-called retaliation for his acts, so I would think Bales would be guilty of putting the US and our allies (which in this case include the non-Taliban Afgans) at risk?
Well, folks are saying it was unusual for that JetBlue pilot's rant but he did go crazy!
In the United States of America you are INNOCENT until you are proven guilty, we are crucifying an AMERICAN soldier before he has gone to trial and until you march in his boots...SHUT THE F--K UP!!!
Air Force Vet and mother of a Combat Soldier...HOOAH!!!
When I was a kid, we idolized the vets from WWII. One of the things we were all raised to understand is that in war the only legitimate target is a military one. How have we got to the point were roadside bombs targeting US soldier in a war zone are acts of terrorism, and the unexcusable murder of sleeping women and children is an understandable "aberraton," simply a messy normalcy of war? I sure being blown up by IEDs sucks, but this is the messy reality of asymetric war and our soldiers signed up for this.
@EWUSNRET - too much FOX buddy? Not a single Afgan was in any of the 3 planes on 911. Nope, they were from mostly our friends from Saudi Arabia. Osama bin Laden was a Saud, too. An awful lot of the Taliban are Arabs not Afgans.
From Vietnam on your enemy does not wear a uniform. Your enemy uses women and children. And your enemy goes home at night. WW II just doesn't apply. But I would think firebombing Dresden killed a few non-combatants as did Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The soldier is a disgrace to the uniform and to any of us service members, past, present and future, who served honorably in the U.S. Military and this soldier should be punished accordingly for his egregious actions. No Excuses, No Mitigating Circumstances, No Leniency. Period. Military Discipline is at stake here; thus the effectiveness of our fighting forces. This is an all volunteer force! If you can't handle the stresses and hardships of service, then don't represent yourself as being able to. You can opt out of stressful situations at any time, of course with consequences; the avenues are there; committing atrocities to opt out carry far harser consequences. We all know that. Discipline is Paramount.
Ok if the military knew the malaria drug used in Afghanistan had psychotic side effects can we hang the medical department of the army instead. Heard on CNN about 30 minutes ago from a former military doctor involved in the Ft Bragg cases.
Unconventional warfare operations can be very stressful on conventionally trained soldiers. You tend to immerse yourself in the local indigenous populations, and you live by your wits and your personal knowledge of these people. They need to be very careful about asking to much of our troops which haven't been trained to handle this kind of exposure and contact with indigenous peoples, since a high degree of paranoia (attn. to latency) can sometimes kick in. - RC
(Former U.S. Special Forces, 6th Group & 5th Group, top "Go Team" Ft. Bragg, N.C., ETS from active duty 1972)
Minor Correction: "They need to be very careful about asking too much of our troops which haven't been trained to handle this kind of exposure and contact with indigenous peoples, since a high degree of paranoia (attn. to latency) can sometimes kick in." - RC (Sorry, it is the middle of the night and I am fighting a horrible cold.)
This is an attempt to white wash and dilute the severity of the crime perpetrated which resulted in the death of 17 victims murdered in their sleep.
Something here smells real bad. So many of Bales fellow soldiers and people who knew him before he deployed are stating this is not characteristic of Sgt. Bales. There are other "witnesses" that are stating he did not act alone when this happened. It seems that there may be some kind of cove up going on and that Bales is being made the fall guy.
Even if it is established beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law that he was responsible for this, we must consider that he suffered a traumatic brain injury and probable PTSD. What is his culpability? There is no way this should ever be tried in Afghanistan as he would never get a fair trial. If the U.S. Government uses him as a political pawn, he won't get a fair trial here either.
Lizards from Mars keep you guessing. The code is hidden in the Hotel Accommodation Taxation Act of the British Virgin Islands. Let X = 3. Mistress Slavery will not rest until she has institutionalized the technology of Drexel. This will occur in Transylvania when the New Pink Panther Party gives the signal to sentimentalize the potassium chloride. Don't switch dicks in the middle of a screw!