Posted on 03/18/2012 3:37:43 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the Army soldier who is set to be charged in the mass murder of 16 Afghan civilian men, women and children, spent the weekend in pretrial isolation as military prosecutors prepared a case that may carry the death penalty.
Staff Sgt. Bales, 38 years old, was brought to the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., late Friday to await the charges, which military officials said could come sometime this week. Meanwhile, a Seattle-based criminal attorney retained to defend Staff Sgt. Bales traveled to Kansas Sunday and planned to meet Monday with the soldier.
Staff Sgt. Bales has been in military custody since he surrendered following what U.S. officials described as a rampage through villages in Kandahar province in which he allegedly shot, stabbed and set ablaze men, women and children. Prosecutors have said nothing publicly about the case against him, although it has leaked out that Staff Sgt. Bales had been drinking. President Barack Obama said he has instructed the military to prosecute the case aggressively and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the suspect could face the death penalty.
The killings have stoked Afghan anger toward the U.S., especially coming after other incidents in which U.S. personnel burned the Quran and urinated on the corpses of Taliban fighters.
Staff Sgt. Bales's lawyers haven't denied the charges against the married father of two, but have said they would comb through his military history to determine what factors involved. That suggests a possible defense based on mental-health problems that were out of his control. They point out that he served three tours in Iraq and a tour in Afghanistan, and suffered traumatic brain injury as well as a severe foot injury.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
“don’t remember death penalty talk from the Obama administration when Major Hassan murdered about 15 fellow US soldiers at Ft. Hood. Sunday, March 18, 2012 6:53:05 PM by Capt. Tom”
Nope, he didn’t say it. In fact, he urged everyone not to jump to conclusions. Quite a sickening contrast!
From what I have read on FR, Bales is from a family of means. I think he and his family will have to pick up the tab. History shows that a civilian lawyer is better in these cases than a military lawyer. In particular, I am thinking about a book I read about Son Thang. It’s been about 10 years since I read the book, so I won’t go I to details because I will most likely distort the facts.
Yeah, I got that from reading the linked article. Liberal scum.
I, along with others like Sen. Susan Collins, jumped to the conclusion it was a Muslim jihad problem, but the Defense Dept said it was "workplace violence.
'During a joint session of the Senate and House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday, the Maine Republican referenced a letter from the Defense Department depicting the Fort Hood shootings as workplace violence. She criticized the Obama administration for failing to identify the threat as radical Islam.
...stabbed and set ablaze too? This is the first time I’ve seen that.
and will stand strong with Robert Bales and support him during this horrible time for him and his family...
Barack Hussein Obama never served in time of War, nor did he do any military service, he can not possibly understand what this man has been through..and I say to Hussein Obama, try walking in this mans shoes..
Bet he sees a GCM befor Maj Hassan, the FT Hood Killer..any bets?
Wasn’t the last soldier to be executed in WWII..Pvt Slovack (sp) who was found guilty of desertion? He faced a firing squad I believe. Guess the kid was shell shocked and ran, was captured and found guilty and during wartime, got a bullet for his attempt.
So this unfortunate man will be put on trial, while the true traitors to America are running the country. Go figure.
So this unfortunate man will be put on trial, while the true traitors to America are running the country. Go figure.
/johnny
I believe your conclusion is spot-on. “Workplace violence” is as ridiculous as an inexperienced Marxist senator being elected president.
Fact: A terrible civilian massacre in Afghanistan, a nation we liberated, has occurred. No evidence exists to the contrary.
Fact: This was not an islamist extremist gathering, nor a nest of armed Taliban or AQ terrorists or their sympathizers. No evidence exists to the contrary.
Fact: This was not an official US government operation. No evidence exists to the contrary.
Fact: This was an act of mass murder against civilians, some as young as 2 or 3 years old, who were shot in the head and then had bodies partially set aflame. (I have seen some of the uncensored photographs). No evidence exists to the contrary.
Fact: This is an act or series of acts not representative of the United States of America, nor of the millions of fine young men and women who serve with honor in our US armed forces in the Afghan and other fields. I think of many a young soldier bringing a frisbee or football to an Afghan village and establishing rapport with little Afghan kids and building trust with these kids and villagers and becoming big heroes in their eyes, and then somebody else in the military destroying these efforts of goodwill right overnight in a flash, ending in the garrisoning of US troops in Afghanistan and positioning every Westerner in that country in considerable danger.
Fact: It cannot be rationalized anymore you can rationalize a guy not in uniform going into a stateside Denny's because of personal emotional problems and him just killing everyone in sight (this happened in San Diego, at Luby's in Texas and elsewhere). Someone should have been able to "double tap" the assailant on the spot and take him out. If captured alive, 95% of FR would call for the electrocution or lethal injection of such a mass murderer stateside. And there would be champagne toasts on this site at the moment of the Governor of the state announced the sentence was carried out.
Fact: Whomever is found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of these crimes in those Afghan villages, and all legal appeals are exhausted, particularly if the convicted criminal is found to not be insane AND had engaged in some kind of advance planning, then I would say, this person does not represent the USA and should indeed be given the maximum penalty under law: Death.
Fact: The man or persons who did these things, are no heroes.
The policy of straining our military with such foolish multiple deployments to no-win war theatres is also worth of due review and reflection.
However, we are a nation of responsibility, of good, of justice, of Christianity, and the person who did these things will likely have to pay the price with his own life. If that happens, there will be justice in my book.
If however we believe this doesnt amount to anything, then we have no more business being in foreign countries as a nation with a deployed military and I would say it is morally unsustainable and time to bring them all back. (I know from the three black servicemembers fresh in from "da hood", 2 Marines, one Navy seaman) guilty of violently gang-raping an innocent, small 12-year old Okinawan girl--who probably has since committed seppuku, (with duct tape and condoms purchased in advance with a rental car for the act also rented with that purpose--and later one of these men release killed his girlfriend before committing suicide, still incorrigible after 7 years in a Japanese prison) that just putting on a military uniform of the finest, most compassionate and upstanding, exceptional nation on the face of the earth does not automaticaly make any one of us an instant saint, above reproach no question. (If anything, the sacred uniform of our Armed Forces adds even more accountability and responsibility to our deeds, as protected and defender of the weak, defenseless and liberated. "We are, after all" as President Reagan would say, "AMERICANS".).
And a final word: Yes, the DEATH PENALTY for Islamist Enemy Combatant and Traitor Nidal Hassan if found guilty of the Ft. Hood jihad massacres. First that trial should be concluded, and this this Afghan Massacre trial concluded, in that order)
Rule 303 (5.56) applies here.
If he did it, it is indefensible. You stated it well. Sadly.
Also- we never "liberated" Afghanistan. We essentially bought off the warlords who hold the true power. Karzai and his puppet government have no power outside of Kabul.
As you stated, this joker is not representative if the US outside of the fact that he wears the uniform.
Those little village kids were born years after 9-11 occurred and yet were gunned down while they slept. At the very least, I hope being asleep meant they felt no pain nor sensed any fear of death, at any way, they are now spirits in Christ's hands as innocents killed, those little kids didn't do nothing to nobody, and deserved none of that. What is so freaking strange is that if this allegaged whacked out gunman had little kids of his own around the same age, shooting up these kids, it just does not fit. A lot of it does not make sense and is stomach turning in fact.
A better question is how can I donate to Sgt Bales defense fund?
Normally, the death penalty is reserved for crimes without any mitigating circumstances. This crime is horrible, and the soldier DOES need to face the evidence.
However, his actions following the shootings and the circumstances leading up to it indicate someone who snapped. He made no attempt to conceal what he did...it seems he went, he shot, he gave himself up. Based on what little we know now, a defense based on insanity may work. It certainly seems enough to look at life in prison, and not death.
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