By Gene Johnson / Associated Press / June 5, 2013
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — The American soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians, many of them women and children who were asleep in their villages, pleaded guilty to murder Wednesday and acknowledged to a judge that there was ‘‘not a good reason in this world’’ for his actions.
Staff Sergeant Robert Bales’ plea ensures that he will avoid the death penalty for the middle-of-the-night slayings that so inflamed tensions with the Afghan population that the American military suspended combat operations.
Prosecutors say Bales slipped away before dawn on March 11, 2012, from his base in Kandahar Province and attacked the Alkozai and Najiban villages with a 9mm pistol and an M-4 rifle equipped with a grenade launcher.
Relatives of the victims were outraged at the idea that Bales could escape execution when they spoke to the Associated Press in April in Kandahar.
‘‘A prison sentence doesn’t mean anything,’’ said Said Jan, whose wife and three other relatives were slain. ‘‘I know we have no power now. But I will become stronger, and if he does not hang, I will have my revenge.’’
A jury will decide in August whether the soldier is sentenced to life with or without the possibility of parole.
Wednesday’s proceedings at Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle marked the first time Bales, 39, provided a public account of the massacre.
At one point, the judge, Colonel Jeffery Nance, asked Bales why he killed the villagers.
Bales responded: ‘‘Sir, as far as why — I’ve asked that question a million times since then. There’s not a good reason in this world for why I did the horrible things I did.’’
The massacre prompted such angry protests that the United States temporarily halted combat operations in Afghanistan, and it was three weeks before Army investigators could reach the crime scene.
The deaths also raised questions about the frequency of combat deployments and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Bales was serving his fourth deployment. Until the attacks, he had a good, if undistinguished, military record in a decade-long career.
The Ohio native suffered from PTSD and a traumatic brain injury, his lawyers say, and he had been drinking contraband alcohol and snorting Valium — both provided by other soldiers — the night of the killings.
Given Bales’ prior deployments and apparent PTSD, defense attorney John Henry Browne had sought to place blame with the military for sending Bales back to war in the first place.
© Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — The American soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians, many of them women and children who were asleep in their villages, pleaded guilty to murder Wednesday and acknowledged to a judge that there was ‘‘not a good reason in this world’’ for his actions.
Staff Sergeant Robert Bales’ plea ensures that he will avoid the death penalty for the middle-of-the-night slayings that so inflamed tensions with the Afghan population that the American military suspended combat operations.
Prosecutors say Bales slipped away before dawn on March 11, 2012, from his base in Kandahar Province and attacked the Alkozai and Najiban villages with a 9mm pistol and an M-4 rifle equipped with a grenade launcher.
Relatives of the victims were outraged at the idea that Bales could escape execution when they spoke to the Associated Press in April in Kandahar.
‘‘A prison sentence doesn’t mean anything,’’ said Said Jan, whose wife and three other relatives were slain. ‘‘I know we have no power now. But I will become stronger, and if he does not hang, I will have my revenge.’’
A jury will decide in August whether the soldier is sentenced to life with or without the possibility of parole.
Wednesday’s proceedings at Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle marked the first time Bales, 39, provided a public account of the massacre.
At one point, the judge, Colonel Jeffery Nance, asked Bales why he killed the villagers.
Bales responded: ‘‘Sir, as far as why — I’ve asked that question a million times since then. There’s not a good reason in this world for why I did the horrible things I did.’’
The massacre prompted such angry protests that the United States temporarily halted combat operations in Afghanistan, and it was three weeks before Army investigators could reach the crime scene.
The deaths also raised questions about the frequency of combat deployments and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Bales was serving his fourth deployment. Until the attacks, he had a good, if undistinguished, military record in a decade-long career.
The Ohio native suffered from PTSD and a traumatic brain injury, his lawyers say, and he had been drinking contraband alcohol and snorting Valium — both provided by other soldiers — the night of the killings.
Given Bales’ prior deployments and apparent PTSD, defense attorney John Henry Browne had sought to place blame with the military for sending Bales back to war in the first place.
© Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.