US Soldier Kills Innocent Women and Children in Afghanistan

[Howey]

It's sad news. I'm not sure how the President can apologize for this.

I wonder what possessed this guy to do it?

KABUL — An American soldier wandered outside his base in a remote southern Afghan village shortly before dawn Sunday and allegedly opened fire on civilians inside homes, killing at least 16, Afghan and U.S. officials said.

The attack marked perhaps the grisliest act by a U.S. soldier in the decade-long Afghan war and seemed all but certain to stoke anti-American anger in a crucial battleground as foreign troops start to thin out in the south. Afghan officials said women and children were among those killed in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province, the birthplace of the Taliban movement.

Coming as Afghan rage over last month’s burning of Korans by U.S. soldiers was beginning to taper off, the killings threatened to spark a new crisis in the strained relationship between Washington and Kabul. The two nations are in the midst of contentious negotiations over an agreement that could extend the presence of U.S. troops in the country beyond 2014.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai called the shootings an “assassination” and demanded an explanation from U.S. officials, the Associated Press reported. “This is an assassination, an intentional killing of innocent civilians, and cannot be forgiven,” Karzai said in a statement, the AP reported.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said he spoke with Karzai on Sunday and reassured him that the U.S. military was working quickly to determine what happened and “bring those responsible to justice.”

[ekg]

damn..

didn't something like this happen a cpl years ago?

Is it stress ya think, that makes someone do this?

[FooFa]

There have been reports on both Fox and ABC showing troops helping and facilitating opium production. The mindset that a rifle is your best friend and the rest of it isn't exactly good bedrock. There have been more troops who commit suicide than die in combat lately.

http://news.yahoo.com/study-military-suicides-growing-alarming-rate-175000412.html

[Howey]

damn..

didn't something like this happen a cpl years ago?

Is it stress ya think, that makes someone do this?

Yes. Four soldiers from the same base as this guy killed some Afghan civilians. They're all in prison now.


At first I thought this guy was one of the thousands who entered the service under Bush's severely lax enlistment standards. Remember my post on the muche about that? Gang members and all that?

But it's obvious now he is a victim of PTSD; which in no way excuses his crime. And in no way dismisses the fact that we should have never been in Afghanistan (or Iraq) in the first place.

The Army staff sergeant who allegedly went on a rampage and killed 16 Afghans as they slept in their homes had a traumatic brain injury at one point and had problems at home after his last deployment, officials told ABC News.

But the soldier, who is based at Fort Lewis in Washington, was considered fit for combat duty and deployed to Afghanistan in December, officials said.

Details about the staff sergeant, who has not been identified, emerged as the Taliban vowed revenge against "sick-minded American savages" after the mass killing.

What has trickled about the suspect is that he was 38, on his fourth combat deployment in 10 years, the first three in Iraq. He was on his first tour in Afghanistan, where he'd been since December.

When the massacre took place he was assigned to Camp Belambay, a remote combat outpost where his job was to be protection for Special Operations Forces who were creating local militias. He was not a member of the special forces unit.

[ekg]

Yes. Four soldiers from the same base as this guy killed some Afghan civilians. They're all in prison now.


At first I thought this guy was one of the thousands who entered the service under Bush's severely lax enlistment standards. Remember my post on the muche about that? Gang members and all that?

But it's obvious now he is a victim of PTSD; which in no way excuses his crime. And in no way dismisses the fact that we should have never been in Afghanistan (or Iraq) in the first place.

damn..

I wonder if he was returned to duty instead of letting him retire and having to pay out benefits? or if he wanted to return

what a sad story.

[Howey]

At first I thought this guy was one of the thousands who entered the service under Bush's severely lax enlistment standards. Remember my post on the muche about that? Gang members and all that?

But it's obvious now he is a victim of PTSD; which in no way excuses his crime. And in no way dismisses the fact that we should have never been in Afghanistan (or Iraq) in the first place.

He may be a victim of PTSD, but my original hunch was right. Thanks, Dubya!

The U.S. soldier who now claims to have no memory of slaughtering 16 Afghan civilians is a “smooth talker” who defrauded an elderly Ohio couple out of their savings, records revealed Tuesday.

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales enlisted in the Army shortly after federal financial regulators found he “engaged in fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, churning, unauthorized trading and unsuitable investments,” according to a report on Bales filed in 2003.

Bales, who was then a stockbroker in Columbus, Ohio, and his partners, were ordered to pay Gary Liebschner and his wife $1,274,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.

So far, he hasn’t paid a dime, according to Liebschner.

“He robbed me of my life savings,” Liebschner told ABC News. “We didn't know where he was. We heard the Bahamas, and all kinds of places.”