Adding further intrigue to the impending charges against Staff Sgt. Robert Bales for the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians in Kandahar Province, his lawyer now says Bales “doesn’t remember” carrying out any massacres that night.
Bales’s attorney, John Henry Browne, went on to say that Bales appeared “confused” and that he had memories of that evening before and after the massacre, but nothing during the time of the attack. Bales apparently also downplayed the reports he was drunk, saying he had only a “few sips” of alcohol.
In commenting on the impending charges, Browne seemed to think the military had an uphill battle, noting that “they don’t have much proof of anything” and that the military hasn’t provided him with any evidence.
The military’s version has Bales wandering off base, hitting two villages some 8 km apart, massacring 16 Afghan civilians and burning a number of their corpses, then returning and immediately being captured by troops. The US insists Bales acted alone, while the Afghan government’s probe says more than a dozen of attackers were involved. Bales’s lack of memory will make it even more difficult to sort out this major difference.
Doesn't remember? I'm sure with enough psychotropic drugs and psychological conditioning you can be relieved of your memories and plenty of fresh and all too convenient ones substituted.
Don't forget about the waterboarding!
And you thought MKULTRA was over with- HA!
Where is ICC and that Italian Mafiosi when you need them. Almost every other country in this world has something to do with act against humanity and there is a file in ICC for it, how come that these puppets attorneys don't try that on US or England or Sweden or Norwegians militarism regimes when they were killing innocent people in Libya, or for that matter this solder, com on you educated specialized and have a degree on Human rights and human abuses, how about this abuse and act against humanity by US and EU militarism regimes in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Libya and……….. is ICC acting only for the world that is situated outside the Western civilization? Is ICC was created only for Arab, African, Serbian nationals…? How about George W. Bush….. or Bill Clinton, or Madeline Albright, or Tony Blair? What happened to that report that supposedly investigating Tony Blair and some more of the British Labor party for lying to English people regarding Iraq war… is that “investigation” part of the hush hush memo sent by HalfMoon to Hillary Clinton or for that matter Paul Wolfowitiz to silence the entire hush hush project. This solders and others who take their life are the victims of US militarism regime being at war for last 60 years.
It is quite possible that Sgt. Bales doesn't "remember" because he may not have been there. Think of a scenario in which possibly "they" got Sgt. Bales drunk, he passed out, and fell in for the night right inside the base. Meanwhile, some psycho special ops team went out and did the dirty deed. Next morning when Bales stood up from his stupor, the cuffs went on, and whamo; they got their man as members of the psycho team were enjoying their morning coffee and donuts. Plausible? Such a scenario makes more sense than the one being spun in the mainstream press. Sgt. Bales might be just a dupe. He may be totally innocent of the crimes.
I agree with your scenario. Something is not right there. To wonder off the base and walk 8 km in the night with the Taliban fighters could have been anywhere makes no sense. As drunk soldier it would have taken him at least 3-4 hours of walk + massacring civilians and burning their corpses would have taken another 3 hours should have he been doing it alone. Hmmmm..I don't believe the story a bit. He was drunk of course but his bodies went on a killing rampage then burned the corpses of the victims. Alas..the commanders would have been all knowing what was going on but closed their eyes to get their cowardly revenge for their wounded soldiers from armless and innocent victims. This of course will add the hatred toward American and NATO by the Afghanis.
If Bales did it, all the bullets in all the corpses, and embedded in the crime scene will match Bales's weapon.
My problems with the story are the memory loss, the two villages 8km apart, the Afghan reports of multiple soldiers, and the video record of Bales coming back to base, but no video record of him leaving.
If Bales was drunk, the 8km walk would have sobered him up, and he would remember what happened.(Of course, the most likely explanation of the "memory loss" is that its a lie meant to lay the foundation for an insanity/diminished capacity/mental incompetence plea.
The two villages 8km apart suggest ***possibly*** a special forces night raid on one village, and a drunken Bales night raid on another. I'm waiting for the ballistics report and the "departure" video.
"If Bales did it”… what is different if Bales did it or 10 other US solders were doing it together…? what makes it different if bluets are from his gun or his army friend, what makes you even think as an attorney questioning the obvious facts twisting the entire matter with yet another question mark, what you are talking about is in fact the BS by an attorney trying best to ignore the fact that these people are killed in cold blood, these children are killed while they were sleeping,
It is not a question of this man being drunk or not, this is pure and simple premeditated murder, "walking 8 mils would have sobered him".., the answer is this, depending how drunk you are and how much you been drinking, how long were he on the spot engaged killing these people, how long time did he had shooting each and every man women and children in that house or the next, how long did he had to move the bodies and burn them.., the questions are many, each and every answer have a question if you want to ignore the facts.
What you are doing is twisting the facts of murdering people into many scenarios for people to think twice before they could judge the US militarism regime that this is the result in being at war for last 60 years, people will become a professional murderer after a while. So stop the BS get on to the point maybe then you would have a solution for ending US-NATO atrocities around the world. That is the problem, war hasn't produce any FACTS or those whom their mission is to find facts or reasons for why this or that happens, what this man did is simply a war crime, as US solders killed many innocent people in Iraq, the old man in his wheelchair for example.., and wars are conducted by the government and their militarism regimes, not the people.
Why would a special ops team go out and kill a bunch of women and children? What would be the motive?
What hasn't been talked about…yet…is if (when) this goes to trial, it will be a military Courts Martial and as has been made evident over the past 10 years or so, normal rules of judicial conduct, procedure, and evidentiary rules that we might be aware of from our justice system, do not necessarily apply to a military trial. In other words, if the presiding Officer(s) deem it necessary that a guilty verdict be declared, that's what is going to happen, regardless of "evidence" or the lack thereof. The UCMJ allows a very large amount of subjective deduction.
If you don't believe me, take a look at what is going on with Bradley Manning…
I guarantee you his lawyers will not let him submit to a polygraph.
I must disagree with Curmudgeon about the UCMJ, although I do agree that Manning's case is an exception to the usual rule. I also remember reading a Reuters report right away asserting that the incident involved several soldiers. Bute he can't remember ANYTHING?? Was he THAT drunk?? Oh well, violating General Order # 1 is but another charge. It does seem very possible that SSG Bales may indeed be a "fall guy" for the massacre. But already we have PTSD, alcohol blackouts, and marital and financial stress being floated as possible defense theories. But others accused of horrible war crimes have been effectively acquitted (or never even tried, witness the chopper "Kill Team")
We know zilch. The original report said only that a soldier 'returning' to his base was apprehended and 'confessed'. Now we have to doubt the confession. There is nothing. Except of course what the always-sneaky-prolly-lying-savages claim.
There better be something better coming forth from that base real soon. Or else I'll have a tantrum.
Someone should tell Bales that he doesn't have a high enough pay grade to get away with the "I don't remember" answer.
Right now, the defense has plenty of ammunition for creating 'reasonable doubt' of Bales' guilt. The problem is, if Bales didn't do it… who did? Right now, the Afghans are pointing the finger at a GROUP of US soldiers committing the murders, and that's a whole new can of worms that I'm sure the government would rather not be opened.
Either way, I am just waiting for the Afghans to complete explode over this any day, and when it happens it won't be a pretty sight at all.
Perhaps it was not that US solder or solders committed this crime.., maybe is them……? or maybe a wodo from the Saharan desert in Saudis or UAE or Turkey are the one who planted some new kind of medical alcohol in Bales food that night that made him drunk for about 12 − 14 hours, making his mind bewildered ordering him to go and kill these sleeping people and then burning the bodies. BS.
A US government-contracted private security firm is helping the Syrian opposition to overthrow the Bashar al-Assad regime, leaked Stratfor emails indicate. The same firm earlier operated extensively in Libya. The private military company SCG International had been contracted to engage the Turkey-based Syrian opposition, according to correspondence released by WikiLeaks.
Their assignment was called a “fact finding mission”, but “the true mission is how they can help in regime change,”an email addressed to Stratfor VP for counter-terrorism Fred Burton says.
The source reporting the info is most reliable – it is SCG Chief Executive James F. Smith, who used to be director of notorious company Blackwater, now known as Academi. In a separate message Smith introduces himself to Stratfor as having background in CIA and heading a company “comprised of former DOD, CIA and former law enforcement personnel.” SCG’s mission with the Syrian opposition is said to have “air cover from Congresswoman [Sue] Myrick,” a Republican lawmaker from North Carolina, who is a member of the US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
The body is charged with overseeing the American intelligence community.
The email adds that Smith “intends to offer his services to help protect the opposition members, like he had underway in Libya.” Smith has an extensive record of sharing intelligence with Stratfor, according the Al-Akhbar, the Lebanese daily newspaper, which is one of the media outlets chosen by WikiLeaks as an information partner for disclosure of private Stratfor emails. RT.com
Of course he doesn't remember. He was too drunk.