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US soldier shoots nine children dead in rampage that kills 16 civilians

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i hope U.S army will not repeat it in future.You are not here for killings of children and replace the soldiers if they are willing to go.

U.S army has been doing this since 9/11....before that you did this in vietnam war,korean war and world war 2.......what makes u think that his will not happen again?:what:
 
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PTSD are now evident in the deployed US troops , either this guy had served on battelfeild for too long or havent got leave or in some way depressed from the situation back home , Serving in Armed Forces is certinly not the job of the week, Everybody is to blame here , including the US Military Recruitment Criteria..!
 
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Afghan massacre US soldier 'reluctant to serve'

The US soldier accused of shooting dead 16 Afghans had received body and brain injuries while serving in Iraq and was unhappy about going for another tour of duty, a lawyer has said.

John Henry Browne said the soldier - who has not been named - had already completed three tours in Iraq.

He also said the accused had witnessed his friend's leg blown off the day before the killings.

Sunday's shootings have placed new strains on the US in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, a Nato helicopter carrying Turkish troops has crashed into a house on the outskirts of the capital Kabul killing at least 12 soldiers and two children on the ground.

The death toll is the heaviest single loss of life so far for Turkish troops in Afghanistan, of whom there are currently more than 1,800.

Police told the BBC a technical fault was to blame.

The Taliban called off peace talks in the wake of the deadly rampage - in which men, women and children were shot and killed at close range - although they made no mention of the massacre in the statement.

However, the US later stressed it remained committed to Afghan reconciliation despite the move by the Taliban.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has also told the US that it must pull back its troops from village areas and allow Afghan security forces to take the lead in an effort to reduce civilian deaths.

'Treat him fairly'


Speaking in Seattle, where the accused soldier is based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Mr Browne said his new client was a "mild-mannered" man who bore no antipathy towards Muslims.

He described him as "a decorated soldier" with an exemplary record before the shooting.

The lawyer also suggested the soldier was not fit to serve in Afghanistan because of injuries he had suffered on previous tours of duty.

"I think it's of interest that we have a soldier who has an exemplary record, a decorated soldier who was injured in Iraq, to his brain and to his body and then despite that was sent back," he said.
Mr Browne, who has represented a number of high-profile clients including serial killer Ted Bundy and a teenage thief known as the Barefoot Bandit, said his client was a happily married man with two children, aged three and four.

He denied reports that the accused had problems either with alcohol or his marriage, which Mr Browne described as "fantastic".

The US military has not yet charged the soldier, and Mr Browne said he would not release the accused's name until it was made public by officials.

However, despite the shock of the killings, Mr Browne called for calm and for the soldier to receive a fair hearing.

"It's a tragedy all the way round, there's no question about that.

"I think the message for the public in general is that he's one of our boys and they need to treat him fairly."

'Snapped
'

Separately, an un-named US military official told the New York Times that the suspect had simply "snapped", and confirmed that he was on his fourth combat tour.

"When it all comes out, it will be a combination of stress, alcohol and domestic issues - he just snapped," the official said.

The soldier was flown out of Afghanistan on Wednesday and taken to a US military base in Kuwait.

According to the New York Times, he may be moved to a US facility, such as Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, as early as Friday.

The newspaper said Kuwaiti protests over the presence of the accused soldier within their borders had prompted the US to move him quickly.

The attack, in Kandahar province, was the latest in a string of damaging incidents involving US troops in Afghanistan.

Last month, the burning of Korans by troops sparked a string of deadly protests and violence in which at least 30 Afghans and six US soldiers were killed.

The latest attack has also caused uproar, with about 2,000 people demonstrating in the southern province of Zabul on Thursday, the second major protest outside Kandahar this week.

How many people must die in Afghanistan? Is this worth all the loss of life? Just bring your troops back.....
 
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I will say one thing: Pakistanis genuinely feel if innocent Afghans are killed. This is, despite all the apparent negativity Afghans may be feeling about Pakistan due to Pakistan's acts of omission and commission. The feelings are deep. Much like an American or an Englishman would feel if he sees his counterpart being killed by some invading country. Much like what a Jew would feel for an Israeli Jew to be killed by a non-Jew. And so, Pakistanis grieve. In a genuine way. Not out of some geopolitical considerations.
As to why this guy (with or without associates) killed so many innocent young ones, I don't know. May be, he could not take the high-stress of a war-zone. Or may be, he came from a society where 'Muslim' is fast becoming a curse-word--much like the 'Jew' or the 'Hun' or the 'Gook' or the 'Jap' or the... and so he couldn't be immune to his milieu.

What will be the impact on the war in Afghanistan from this incident? Hard to say. Apparently, the reaction inside Afghanistan is more limited than the one from the Quran burning. May be people there are tired? May be divided along tribal lines to really care? After all, there ARE powerful non-Pashtun tribes who would not be anywhere if Americans leave.

Anyway, RIP. The pictures of young, beautiful babies dead was too much to watch. As to this soldier, fat chance he would see the gallows. After all, he was 'insane'.
 
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President Karzai casts doubts on US version of Afghan village massacre

President says US has not co-operated with his investigations and he questions whether there was only one attacker

The President of Afghanistan warned he was frustrated over western killings of civilians, as he accused the US of obstructing an Afghan investigation into the massacre of 16 civilians last Sunday.

At a meeting with the investigation team and family members of the victims, most of them women and children, Hamid Karzai asked the army chief of staff to investigate villagers' claims that there was more than one attacker – contradicting the official US version of events. He also confirmed a demand made on Thursday that foreign forces leave Afghan villages.

"This has been going on for too long. You have heard me before, therefore, it is by all means the end of the rope here," he said of the killings, which he described as the latest of "hundreds" of such incidents nationwide. "This form of activity, this behaviour, cannot be tolerated." he said.

Karzai has always been outspoken about civilian deaths at the hands of foreign troops. But the latest broadside comes as his financial and military backers are grappling with the implosion of their strategy for Afghanistan. His words are likely to put more strain on the relationship between Washington and Kabul that some feel is already in crisis.

His call for an investigation into whether more than one person was behind the massacre implies that he does not trust the US military or political hierarchy to tell the truth about the killings.

"On the question of the account of the one person, supposedly, who has done this, the story of the village elders [in the Panjwai district of southern Kandahar province] and the affected people is entirely different. They believe it is not possible for one person to do that," Karzai told journalists after the meeting.

Many people in Afghanistan believe the US staff sergeant detained over the shootings did not act alone. "When I saw my wife's body, her hand had been cut off. This was not the work of one person," a man from a family who lost 11 members told the meeting. "Helicopters were over the village … we have witnesses that saw it was more than one person," he added, although, like all those who testified, he did not personally witness the attack.

Western military officials have said helicopters were sent to pick up the injured. Groups of soldiers seen later in the village were a search party sent out when the killer's absence was noticed, they said, and surveillance video backed up the conclusion there was a single killer.

Karzai said his investigators did not find the US surveillance video they were shown convincing. The army chief of staff reported to the meeting that a key US commander had not returned his calls while he was investigating the attack.

"The Afghan investigation team did not receive the co-operation that they expected from the United States, therefore these are all questions that [we] will be raising, and raising very loudly and raising very clearly," Karzai said, referring to whether the killer acted alone.

Afghans were weary of killings by foreign troops after "hundreds" of civilian casualty incidents, he told the meeting, a point he underlined when he told US President Barack Obama in a morning phone call that his call for foreign forces to leave Afghan villages was serious.

Rural settlements are not centres of terrorism, he added; the West should look instead to neighbouring countries, while Afghans could sort out their own disagreements.

The White House said later that during the conversation the two leaders "agreed to further discuss concerns voiced by President Karzai about the presence of foreign troops in Afghan villages".

If troops retreat to major bases and end patrols, as Karzai has demanded, it would mean an end to the western military approach in Afghanistan. Hopes of progress towards a political settlement were also dented by a Taliban announcement on Thursday that the group is suspending peace negotiations with the US.

Karzai and the Panjwai villagers also dismissed reports that before the shooting spree, the father of two had suffered some kind of breakdown. The New York Times quoted an unnamed US official saying he may have "snapped" after drinking alcohol illicitly.

"They said he was a madman, but how can a madman go out from headquarters? Why didn't he kill his friends there?" one village elder, who did not give his name, asked Karzai.

The lawyer for the staff sergeant accused of the killings said he is a decorated survivor from three tours of duty in Iraq. The Seattle attorney John Henry Browne said the soldier believed he would not return to a tour of duty before being sent to Afghanistan.

Originally from the US Midwest, the soldier had been injured twice in Iraq, and was loath to go to Afghanistan, Browne said. The day before the killings, he witnessed a friend having his leg blown off.

The staff sergeant was due to arrive at a detention facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, last night from Kuwait.
 
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'No proof' in Afghan massacre suspect Sgt Bales case

The lawyer representing a US soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians in their homes has said there is little proof of his client's guilt.

John Henry Browne said there was "no forensic evidence" against Staff Sgt Robert Bales and "no confession".

He also dismissed reports suggesting Sgt Bales, 38, was having financial troubles as irrelevant to the case.

Sgt Bales is being held a military detention centre awaiting charges, which are expected this week.

The killings have undermined US relations with Kabul and led to calls for Nato to speed up their planned withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

After meeting with Sgt Bales at a US army base in Kansas, Mr Browne told reporters: "We've all heard the allegations. I don't know that the government has proved much."
Sgt Bales is the only known suspect in the killings - despite repeated Afghan assertions that more than one American was involved.

Mr Browne said he now plans to travel to Afghanistan to gather his own evidence.

Money troubles


The lawyer also responded to questions about Sgt Bales' financial history.

He and his wife had reportedly struggled to make the payments on two properties they had bought.

It has now also emerged that - along with another man and his company - Sgt Bales owed a reported $1.5m (£950,000) from an arbitration ruling nearly a decade ago which found him guilty of securities fraud while he was working as a stockbroker.

Mr Browne told Associated Press "that doesn't mean anything".
"Sure, there are financial problems. I have financial problems. Ninety-nine percent of America has financial problems," he said.

"You don't go kill women and children because you have financial problems."

His wife, Karilyn, has issued a statement expressing her condolences to the victims and their families and saying what reportedly took place is "completely out of character of the man I know and admire".

Mr Browne first met his client at Fort Leavenworth on Monday to begin preparing his defence.

The Pentagon has previously said that Sgt Bales could face charges that carry a possible death penalty.

Such a trial could take years, contrasting with Afghan demands for swift and decisive justice.

Looks like American justice will mean he wont even be put on trial as there is "little proof of his guilt"!!! incredible American democracy!
 
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Due process is followed as part of the rule of law:

Charges against Sgt. Bates are expected to be filed this week. The defence lawyer is merely doing his duty to serve his client, that is all. The prosecuting lawyer will do his/her part, and the judge and jury will hear the case as the process proceeds.

Let's see what happens next.
 
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Due process is followed as part of the rule of law:

Charges against Sgt. Bates are expected to be filed this week. The defence lawyer is merely doing his duty to serve his client, that is all. The prosecuting lawyer will do his/her part, and the judge and jury will hear the case as the process proceeds.

Let's see what happens next.

VCheng - please why o why is every other post blessed with the same words of wisdom? So you simply cut and paste? - or do you have a standard response for every post i put on here? Its getting rather monotonous and boring for all.
Of course we will wait and see - what other choice do we have? Shall we do the "waltz" whilst we wait?
Goodness me VC - can a leopard change its spots or a zebra its stripes? - In your case i fear not!!
BTW Welcome back.
 
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The due process carries on, as it should:

Excerpt from: Lawyer: Alleged Afghan shooter likely to be charged with homicide Thursday - CNN.com


Washington (CNN) -- Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who is accused of shooting 16 Afghan civilians, is likely to be charged with homicide Thursday, his lawyer said.

Lead attorney John Henry Browne told CNN that he expects his client will probably be charged with "homicide and a bunch of other charges," and predicted that the case would last two years.

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His "prediction" is merely his opinion of course, lest anybody get upset about it.


Also note this from the same source:

The military will also conduct a separate investigation into the circumstances surrounding Bales' assignment to the combat outpost in southern Afghanistan, the top commander for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan said Tuesday.

The administrative review, which will take place separately from the criminal investigation, will be conducted by U.S. Forces Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen told the House Armed Services Committee.

The investigation will consider how Bales was assigned and why he was assigned to the combat outpost, Allen said. "It will look at the command relationships associated with his involvement in that combat outpost," Allen said.
 
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