Posted on Oct 22, 2015
Robert Bales claims his massacre of 16 civilians in Afghanistan is uniquely different from those mass shootings in the US. Agree?
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“I was so angry at these [Afghani] guys for putting their families in harm's way like that,” he said. “So I blamed them, but I took it out on [the women and children]. I was just raging.” Bales was an army staff sergeant aged 39 on his fourth deployment to a combat zone in 2012.
Military officials said he had been drinking before creeping away from base in the Panjwayi district of southern Kandahar, armed with a pistol, a rifle and a grenade launcher. Witnesses said he opened fire on sleeping families before burning some of dead bodies.
At one point he returned to tell a fellow soldier, “I just shot up some people.”
In the interview he said he been suffering from stress, non-stop anger – caused by guilt at failing to prevent an attack that maimed a friend when Bales was on sentry duty - and was using steroids, when he went into “autopilot” and launched his murderous raid. He said he thinks about his actions again and again.
“I can't take it back,” he said. “If I could, I would. Not just because I'm gonna be in prison for the rest of my life. Because of the cost. No conscious person wants war. No conscious person wants to kill people.”
But he also said he feels he let down his fellow troops.
“I want to say to those guys that I hurt—my guys, the patriot brotherhood—I want them to know I'm sorry,” he said. “I don't want nothing but good things for my soldiers. I hope that in some way they can understand how sorry I am. They're my family, and I love them.”
He also tried to distance himself from other American mass shooters such as James Holmes, who murdered 12 people at midnight screening of Batman film The Dark Knight Rises.
“It wasn't like I was looking to go into a school and open up on a bunch of kids,” he said. “That doesn't make it right. I'm not trying to make it right. I can't make it right. The difference between a soldier and a thug is authority, and I didn't have authority. But it's not the same as walking into a movie theatre and opening up on a bunch of people in a Batman movie.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/11947019/Robert-Bales-says-he-was-on-autopilot-when-he-massacred-16-Afghan-civilians.html
Military officials said he had been drinking before creeping away from base in the Panjwayi district of southern Kandahar, armed with a pistol, a rifle and a grenade launcher. Witnesses said he opened fire on sleeping families before burning some of dead bodies.
At one point he returned to tell a fellow soldier, “I just shot up some people.”
In the interview he said he been suffering from stress, non-stop anger – caused by guilt at failing to prevent an attack that maimed a friend when Bales was on sentry duty - and was using steroids, when he went into “autopilot” and launched his murderous raid. He said he thinks about his actions again and again.
“I can't take it back,” he said. “If I could, I would. Not just because I'm gonna be in prison for the rest of my life. Because of the cost. No conscious person wants war. No conscious person wants to kill people.”
But he also said he feels he let down his fellow troops.
“I want to say to those guys that I hurt—my guys, the patriot brotherhood—I want them to know I'm sorry,” he said. “I don't want nothing but good things for my soldiers. I hope that in some way they can understand how sorry I am. They're my family, and I love them.”
He also tried to distance himself from other American mass shooters such as James Holmes, who murdered 12 people at midnight screening of Batman film The Dark Knight Rises.
“It wasn't like I was looking to go into a school and open up on a bunch of kids,” he said. “That doesn't make it right. I'm not trying to make it right. I can't make it right. The difference between a soldier and a thug is authority, and I didn't have authority. But it's not the same as walking into a movie theatre and opening up on a bunch of people in a Batman movie.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/11947019/Robert-Bales-says-he-was-on-autopilot-when-he-massacred-16-Afghan-civilians.html
Warfare
Crime
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 42
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I'm so sick of adults blaming their actions on everything and everyone but who is really to blame themselves!!!
He is a murder that killed innocent families that included Women and children same as the equally sick civilian mass murders here at home.
Taking steroids in a combat zone isn't too smart knowing their effect on one mood but that was his choice same as go on a killing rampage.
I pray for his victims and that he truly repent for his senseless murders..
He is a murder that killed innocent families that included Women and children same as the equally sick civilian mass murders here at home.
Taking steroids in a combat zone isn't too smart knowing their effect on one mood but that was his choice same as go on a killing rampage.
I pray for his victims and that he truly repent for his senseless murders..
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1SG (Join to see)
SPC Marcell Gill, the war in Afghanistan is wrong? You do know why we are there, right?
Perhaps if I give you an opportunity to expand your thoughts, we can come to a better understanding. Are you suggesting the war in Afghanistan itself is wrong, morally or politically, or are you critical of it's conduct?
I would like to know how you came to believe the way you do.
There is not a drop of irony here or a gotcha game, just sincere curiousity on my part.
Perhaps if I give you an opportunity to expand your thoughts, we can come to a better understanding. Are you suggesting the war in Afghanistan itself is wrong, morally or politically, or are you critical of it's conduct?
I would like to know how you came to believe the way you do.
There is not a drop of irony here or a gotcha game, just sincere curiousity on my part.
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SPC Marcell Gill
1SG (Join to see) - I'd definitely have to say morally wrong but yes it was politically activated. Oil is the main reason, but we were lead to believe we were there to out Hussein. We're still there. You see everyone who doesn't want to accept the U.S. dollar and wants gold instead, we go after them and destroy them. I believe its a money thing and of course we want deployments for more pay
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1SG (Join to see)
SPC Marcell Gill, thank you for responding.
I would point out that there isn't any oil in Afghanistan.
I do concur that there were many reasons that we went into Iraq that were not entirely noble, and I have plenty of strong opinions on that.
An argument could be made that we went into Libya with oil as the motivating factor. As action in Libya spooled up, I was struck at the time by how eerily similar the talking points coming out of the White House in 2010 were to what they were in 2002. I mean nearly verbatim. Yet the politics of the occupants couldn't be much more different on each occasion.
I am a Soldier, and I am often ordered to do things I don't agree with, but I do them because those appointed or elected over me have a higher purpose than the opinion of Jerry. Over the years it has cost me dearly. Wounded. Lost four good men. My marriage...all casualties of doing my duty whether I agreed with it or not. I could have voted with my feet, but I know that NO ONE is going to go in my place if I have anything to say about it.
Let some score political points, make money, or burnish their resume by waging war. I am not there for them. I am there for my brothers and sisters on my left and right. I owe it to them to give them my maximum effort, and if need be my last full measure.
I would point out that there isn't any oil in Afghanistan.
I do concur that there were many reasons that we went into Iraq that were not entirely noble, and I have plenty of strong opinions on that.
An argument could be made that we went into Libya with oil as the motivating factor. As action in Libya spooled up, I was struck at the time by how eerily similar the talking points coming out of the White House in 2010 were to what they were in 2002. I mean nearly verbatim. Yet the politics of the occupants couldn't be much more different on each occasion.
I am a Soldier, and I am often ordered to do things I don't agree with, but I do them because those appointed or elected over me have a higher purpose than the opinion of Jerry. Over the years it has cost me dearly. Wounded. Lost four good men. My marriage...all casualties of doing my duty whether I agreed with it or not. I could have voted with my feet, but I know that NO ONE is going to go in my place if I have anything to say about it.
Let some score political points, make money, or burnish their resume by waging war. I am not there for them. I am there for my brothers and sisters on my left and right. I owe it to them to give them my maximum effort, and if need be my last full measure.
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SPC Marcell Gill
1SG (Join to see) - thank you for responding. I completely agree that we here for our brothers and sisters in arms, but im sure we can also agree we are here for the politicians as well and because of them. Some have stakes in these corporations that benefit from war. It seems nowadays they just come up with anything to put boots on ground to show our influence in other countries. Yes we all do things that we don't want to do hence "details" but we still charlie mike. Im not saying im a peace hippie, but I'm also not saying I'm gung ho. I just feel like we've done enough and its time to go.
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