This guy walked out of the gate and undertook massacre against women and children. In their beds sleeping. Not on a battlefield, but in a village. All on his own. I don't know a single current military, or ex military that thinks this is anything besides premeditated murder.
Of COURSE he needs medical evaluation and potentially treatment. Of COURSE this should remain under the control of the US Army...in all stages.
But if found sane, he must be hung or placed in front of a firing squad.
And, we need to withdraw from Afghanistan within 60 days from today.
Apologies should be given privately....we don't need the POTUS doing it in front of the rest of the world.
Nobody in any civilian capacity should point a finger at the alleged perpetrator and render any judgement against him. If I were in the same position I might have acted the same way.
I've been doing some research on the stories surrounding the special recon/commando unit known as Task Force Oregon ("Tiger Force") in the central highlands of Vietnam back in 1967. What I find striking about the whole thing is that there always seemed to be an implicit understanding -- on the part of both the soldiers in the unit as well as their superiors (who covered most of the incidents up for years afterwards) -- that they were going to operate as "loose cannons" while they were out engaging an enemy that had the support of many civilians in the countryside.
Agree with your last statement, but this man is obviously a victim of PTSD or perhaps a head injury.
We should express regret and we should feel regret, and we should apologize to the families involved but not the government.
And poison the poppy fields on the way out.