Posted on Jun 9, 2015
"Soldier who killed 16 Afghans says he was 'consumed by war'"
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Originally published on news.yahoo.com:
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TACOMA, Washington (AP) — The U.S. soldier who murdered 16 Afghan villagers in 2012 says he had lost compassion for Iraqis and Afghans over the course of his four combat deployments.
The News Tribune newspaper of Tacoma used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain an eight-page letter former Staff Sgt. Robert Bales wrote to the senior Army officer at Joint Base Lewis-McChord requesting that his life sentence be reduced.
"My mind was consumed by war," Bales wrote late last year.
"I planted war and hate for the better part of 10 years and harvested violence," he added. "After being in prison two years, I understand that what I thought was normal was the farthest thing from being normal."
In March, Lt. Gen. Stephen Lanza rejected the request to overturn Bales' conviction or modify his sentence, an Army spokesman said Friday. That automatically sends the case to the Army Court of Criminal Appeal, where it might be considered again by military judges one day.
Bales, an Ohio native and father of two from Lake Tapps, Washington state, shot 22 people in all, including 17 women and children, during pre-dawn raids on two villages in Kandahar Province in March 2012. The massacre prompted such angry protests that the U.S. temporarily halted combat operations, and it was three weeks before Army investigators could reach the crime scene.
Bales pleaded guilty in a deal to avoid the death penalty, and he apologized in a statement at his sentencing in 2013. He described the perpetual rage he felt, his heavy drinking and reliance on sleeping pills, and his steroid use. He also said he couldn't explain what he did, a sentiment he repeated in the letter.
"Over my past two years of incarceration, I have come to understand there isn't a why; there is only pain," he wrote.
The letter provides additional detaila about the paranoia Bales says he felt during his last deployment and the toll financial worries were taking on him.
"I didn't want to make a decision on the ground and lose one of my guys," he wrote. "Normally that would be a good thing, but now I know it made me paranoid and ineffective."
Over his combat tours he came to hate "everyone who isn't American," he wrote, and he became suspicious of local residents who might be supportive of those fighting Americans.
"I became callous to them even being human; they were all enemy. Guilt and fear are with you day and night. Over time your experiences solidify your prejudice," he wrote.
Since his confinement, Bales has been baptized and focused on his Christian faith, he said. He's also taking classes to finish a bachelor's degree and learning to be a barber.
The newspaper also obtained letters from Bales' wife, his in-laws and several soldiers who knew him on his earlier Iraq deployments when he was regarded as a sound infantryman.
His veteran friends described the qualities that led them to trust Bales during earlier tours in Iraq.
"My only regret in life is that I wasn't there in Afghanistan when Robert really needed a friend to see that he was struggling and pull him from the edge," a staff sergeant wrote on Bales' behalf.
http://news.yahoo.com/soldier-killed-16-afghans-says-consumed-war-205118088.html
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TACOMA, Washington (AP) — The U.S. soldier who murdered 16 Afghan villagers in 2012 says he had lost compassion for Iraqis and Afghans over the course of his four combat deployments.
The News Tribune newspaper of Tacoma used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain an eight-page letter former Staff Sgt. Robert Bales wrote to the senior Army officer at Joint Base Lewis-McChord requesting that his life sentence be reduced.
"My mind was consumed by war," Bales wrote late last year.
"I planted war and hate for the better part of 10 years and harvested violence," he added. "After being in prison two years, I understand that what I thought was normal was the farthest thing from being normal."
In March, Lt. Gen. Stephen Lanza rejected the request to overturn Bales' conviction or modify his sentence, an Army spokesman said Friday. That automatically sends the case to the Army Court of Criminal Appeal, where it might be considered again by military judges one day.
Bales, an Ohio native and father of two from Lake Tapps, Washington state, shot 22 people in all, including 17 women and children, during pre-dawn raids on two villages in Kandahar Province in March 2012. The massacre prompted such angry protests that the U.S. temporarily halted combat operations, and it was three weeks before Army investigators could reach the crime scene.
Bales pleaded guilty in a deal to avoid the death penalty, and he apologized in a statement at his sentencing in 2013. He described the perpetual rage he felt, his heavy drinking and reliance on sleeping pills, and his steroid use. He also said he couldn't explain what he did, a sentiment he repeated in the letter.
"Over my past two years of incarceration, I have come to understand there isn't a why; there is only pain," he wrote.
The letter provides additional detaila about the paranoia Bales says he felt during his last deployment and the toll financial worries were taking on him.
"I didn't want to make a decision on the ground and lose one of my guys," he wrote. "Normally that would be a good thing, but now I know it made me paranoid and ineffective."
Over his combat tours he came to hate "everyone who isn't American," he wrote, and he became suspicious of local residents who might be supportive of those fighting Americans.
"I became callous to them even being human; they were all enemy. Guilt and fear are with you day and night. Over time your experiences solidify your prejudice," he wrote.
Since his confinement, Bales has been baptized and focused on his Christian faith, he said. He's also taking classes to finish a bachelor's degree and learning to be a barber.
The newspaper also obtained letters from Bales' wife, his in-laws and several soldiers who knew him on his earlier Iraq deployments when he was regarded as a sound infantryman.
His veteran friends described the qualities that led them to trust Bales during earlier tours in Iraq.
"My only regret in life is that I wasn't there in Afghanistan when Robert really needed a friend to see that he was struggling and pull him from the edge," a staff sergeant wrote on Bales' behalf.
http://news.yahoo.com/soldier-killed-16-afghans-says-consumed-war-205118088.html
Army
Warfare
UCMJ
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 14
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It's sad. He really needed help, I hope he finds some peace while he sits in his cell. Don't read into what I said as if I am defending his actions, there is a reason he's locked up and I completely agree with it, I just recognize the pain he's going through and hope he can eventually find a way to let go of his anger.
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SGT Mike Brown
Its not exclusive to US troops. And not only those who serve in the military. Until we admit that trauma and situations causes one to change. I had a platoon sgt that said, "pressure bust pipes" later in my in my life i learned that we are all based on the same carbon molecule. Pressure also makes diamonds....under the right scenario.
This soldier under this enormous pressure allowed it to effect his humanity in such a way he devalued lifestyle. ..even his own
This soldier under this enormous pressure allowed it to effect his humanity in such a way he devalued lifestyle. ..even his own
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I hope he gets the help he desperately needs, and I hope his family is being taken care of.
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- Former SSG Bales committed a crime for which he received due process and an appropriate conviction and sentence (life in prison vice a death sentence).
- PTSD is a matter of extenuation and mitigation but not justification. I believe, but the article does not show, that his lawyers brought this up during sentencing when the judge/jury properly considered and rejected it.
- The efforts to overturn or modify his conviction, while predictable, should not be allowed to succeed.
- Let's not forget that, beyond the 16 Afghans killed, Bales' crimes had a significant and negative impact upon the war effort thus placing all other Soldiers within the AO at increased risk.
- Former SSG Bales self reflection, contemplation and efforts at self improvement while in prison are a good thing but can never make up for the crimes that he committed.
- The Army taking a look at this case to see if and what the Army should do to prevent something like this is the future is a good thing but this organizational self assessment should not be seen as the Army being partly culpable for Bales' crimes. Bales, and only Bales, is responsible for the crimes he committed.
- PTSD is a matter of extenuation and mitigation but not justification. I believe, but the article does not show, that his lawyers brought this up during sentencing when the judge/jury properly considered and rejected it.
- The efforts to overturn or modify his conviction, while predictable, should not be allowed to succeed.
- Let's not forget that, beyond the 16 Afghans killed, Bales' crimes had a significant and negative impact upon the war effort thus placing all other Soldiers within the AO at increased risk.
- Former SSG Bales self reflection, contemplation and efforts at self improvement while in prison are a good thing but can never make up for the crimes that he committed.
- The Army taking a look at this case to see if and what the Army should do to prevent something like this is the future is a good thing but this organizational self assessment should not be seen as the Army being partly culpable for Bales' crimes. Bales, and only Bales, is responsible for the crimes he committed.
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SMSgt Bryan Raines
COL Jason Smallfield, PMP, CFM, CM So there is no not guilty by reason of insanity? Extreme PTSD is insanity, not an extenuating circumstance. I do not condone what this man has done but I have seen people reach their snapping point and do things that would not normally do. Weather or not he is just making this up or truly was in his own world of "insanity" is the job for mental health professionals. All I am saying is that if he truly snapped, he should be given treatment and yes according to US law he would be "not guilty". Then again I was not in court so I do not know if this was all hashed out.
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COL Jason Smallfield, PMP, CFM, CM
SMSgt Bryan Raines,
- I do not know if guilty by reason of insanity is allowed under UCMJ. Good question for a military lawyer. I do not believe the question/issue is "what should have happened in Bales case". The question/issue is what was allowed by UCMJ and was this followed in this case. The answers are: don't know and yes.
- Whether extreme PTSD is insanity is an issue for mental health professionals, military lawyers, and possibly Congress if changes to the UCMJ is required.
- My baseline assumptions are that former SSG Bales received due process, his lawyers were competent, and the conviction/sentence were justly arrived at. I need facts to the contrary before I will adjust my thoughts/opinions. The article only talked about Bales in the two years he has been imprisoned and provided nothing along these lines.
- I do not know if guilty by reason of insanity is allowed under UCMJ. Good question for a military lawyer. I do not believe the question/issue is "what should have happened in Bales case". The question/issue is what was allowed by UCMJ and was this followed in this case. The answers are: don't know and yes.
- Whether extreme PTSD is insanity is an issue for mental health professionals, military lawyers, and possibly Congress if changes to the UCMJ is required.
- My baseline assumptions are that former SSG Bales received due process, his lawyers were competent, and the conviction/sentence were justly arrived at. I need facts to the contrary before I will adjust my thoughts/opinions. The article only talked about Bales in the two years he has been imprisoned and provided nothing along these lines.
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SPC Larry Boutwell
4 deployments?? Dude should be getting help.. Not sitting in prison......thats fucked...any one who has been on multiple deployments will tell you it grinds at you after a while.....
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