The Obama Administration’s promises to prosecute Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales over the Kandahar massacre seem to be in serious doubt today, as US military officials revealed that they haven’t been able to access the sites of any of the killings.
Officials say that “security issues” have kept them from going to any of the locations in the two villages near their base, and that they haven’t been able to get formal permission from the villages in the district to do so either.
Bales’ lawyer, John Henry Browne, is expecting these circumstances to dramatically change the face of the trial, noting that “they haven’t been back there. So there’s no crime scene, there’s no DNA, there’s no fingerprints, there’s no confession.” Bales is facing 17 counts of murder and other charges over the massacre.
The narrative surrounding the massacre has gotten considerably more complex in recent days, with officials now trying also to explain how Bales returned to base mid-massacre to take a break, and was able to wander off for a second round of killings.
There are a lot of questions to answer about the massacre, and Bales claims he doesn’t remember anything about it. With the military so far unable to secure any solid evidence, the entire case seems shaky.
If I were a gambling man I'd bet that Staff Sergeant Bales will get no more punishment than did Lt. William Calley – if he get's any punishment at all.
Only in America, the land of the Free, the Brave, and the Liars.
Regards, Alex
Probably the same time that Marine staff sergeant Frank Wuterich got for murdering 24 Iraqis in Haditha in 2005. That would be NONE. Pround to be an Amerikan !!!
Can't or won't access?
Won't.
ten years of winning and they can't get to the village just outside their base.
I'll wager that the Pentagon is not too unhappy about not being able to access the kill zone – assuming they even want to. "Security Issues"…yup, that's what happens when you piss on your neighbors' front door and then expect them to invite you to dinner…
Security Issues don't seem to prevent them going wherever else they please – whenever they please.
Massacre was Army fiction — No Afghan shot killed or burned
Come prove me wrong, for here is my logic:
(1) Special Forces kill squads with their night raids, as the only purpose is to terrorize the public into fearful submission, the most effective, low cost and zero-casualty way is to make it a staged performance.
(2) Under absolute secrecy, with only mainstream media allowed in and embedded with the friendly forces, impossible is for us to ever known even 10% of the facts in our wars of aggression.
(3) Sgt. Bales has a $300,000 fine pending for his employment on Wall Street, has a second investment home that is $100,000 under water, surely give the man a debt-free future with a cushy desk job in the Army for life and he would claim amnesia in a heartbeat.
(4) Give $1 million each to 16 Afghan families for a harmless lie about make-believe relatives, in such a war-torn environment could anything be more doable?
Bales is the fall guy, he will be paid off.
Delay, delay, delay.
If American officials can keep this up long enough, they may just succeed in getting this guy off with a slap on the wrist. Support our troops indeed.
This could be a cynical new strategy of real U. S. terror in an attempt to frighten the Afghan public into cooperating against the unrelenting Taliban IED attacks.
Do you really believe that if US forces wanted to go to the villiages to look for clues, they would just go there! They need permission by the civilians?….yeah sure…..pull the other one.
More of Obama's promises… ~sigh~