The Robert Bales - Afghan Massacre Case

[killadoob]

Afghan lawmakers are furious the US opted to fly its soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians to Kuwait. The legislators have urged Kabul not to sign a strategic partnership pact with Washington unless the suspect faces justice in Afghanistan.

*The US soldier accused of slaying 16 villagers was held by the US military in Kandahar until Wednesday evening, when he was flown out to Kuwait, a US official said on condition of anonymity.

"We do not have appropriate detention facilities in Afghanistan," Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain John Kirby said later on Wednesday. He added that meant a facility for a US service member "in this kind of case."

Kirby added the transfer did not necessarily mean the trial would be held outside Afghanistan. US officials had previously said it would be technically possible to hold proceedings in the country. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, meeting with troops and Afghan leaders on Wednesday, said the serviceman could face the death penalty.

Panetta arrived for his unannounced visit three days after the massacre in Kandahar province.

Afghan lawmakers had previously demanded that the soldier be publicly tried in their country to show that he was being brought to justice.

"It was the demand of the families of the martyrs of this incident, the people of Kandahar and the people of Afghanistan to try him publicly in Afghanistan," said Mohammad Naeem Lalai Hamidzai, a Kandahar lawmaker who is part of a parliamentary commission investigating the shootings.

Now the officials want to deadlock talks on the strategic partnership agreement between Kabul and Washington unless the suspect faces justice in Afghanistan. The pact is supposed to regulate US involvement in Afghanistan beyond 2014, when the last foreign combat troops are to leave Afghanistan. The US wants to maintain advisers there as it tries to wind down its military presence on the ground. The Strategic Partnership Agreement, which the two countries have been discussing for over a year, was supposed to become a key part of the strategy.

Meanwhile, American military defense lawyer Michael Waddington says the decision to remove the soldier from the country may complicate the prosecution.

The prosecutors won't be able to use statements from Afghan witnesses unless the defense is able to cross-examine them, he said.

Waddington added the decision to remove the suspect was likely a security call.

Sixteen Afghan villagers, including nine children, were shot in their houses by at least one US serviceman on Sunday, March 11.

The soldier was caught on a US surveillance video that showed him walking up to his base, laying down his weapon and raising his arms in surrender, according to an Afghan official who viewed the footage.

The official said Wednesday there were also two to three hours of video footage covering the time of the attack that Afghan investigators are trying to get from the US military.

US authorities showed their Afghan counterparts the video of the surrender to prove that only one soldier was involved in the shootings, the official said.

Witnesses to the atrocity however say that several drunken American servicemen were involved.

Since then, Afghanistan has been shaken by mass protests against the rampage. About 1,000 Afghans took to the streets on Thursday to protest the massacre of civilians.

http://rt.com/news/afghanistan-us-soldier-kuwait-617/

It amazes me how the US will murder suspected terrorists, put them in jail without a trial yet this guy and a few other seemly get off every time.

 

[LazyLion]

They were screwed either way not matter how they handled this... from here on out their name is mud anyway.

They should just pack up their bags in Afghanistan and leave.

 

[Fudzy]

It's only fair that he stands trial in the country where he committed the crime. Same as anywhere else in the world.

 

[froot]

It's only fair that he stands trial in the country where he committed the crime. Same as anywhere else in the world.

+1.
Except in Afghanistan he will most assuredly not survive.

 

[sand_man]

And neither does he deserve to

 

[wily me]

http://rt.com/news/afghanistan-us-soldier-kuwait-617/

It amazes me how the US will murder suspected terrorists, put them in jail without a trial yet this guy and a few other seemly get off every time.

I hope he gets what he deserves. I just wonder what cracked to make him trigger happy.

PS:Your anti USA BS attitude is now getting really annoying. Why not also comment on the Syrian debacle when requested.

 

[Fudzy]

+1.
Except in Afghanistan he will most assuredly not survive.

Live by the sword, die by the sword and all that.

 

[TheHiveMind]

What happened to the good old days when people committed suicide after a rampage?

 

[hawker]

What happened to the good old days when people committed suicide after a rampage?

It got too mainstream, hipsters yo!

 

[killadoob]

I hope he gets what he deserves. I just wonder what cracked to make him trigger happy.

PS:Your anti USA BS attitude is now getting really annoying. Why not also comment on the Syrian debacle when requested.

I did if you fail at reading replies don't come blame me . If you are tired of it by all means don't click the link.

 

[wily me]

I did if you fail at reading replies don't come blame me . If you are tired of it by all means don't click the link.

[video=youtube;1uwOL4rB-go]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uwOL4rB-go[/video]
I Kill you!

 

[killadoob]

Breaking news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Afghan Taliban says it has suspended talks with the United States. This comes from the group’s spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid. Earlier, Afghanistan President Karzai had said NATO forces should leave rural areas and pull back to the main bases.

Zabiullah Mujahid said they suspended talks with the United States because of "shaky, erratic and vague" US position.

Taliban and US negotiators were to have preliminary talks aimed at establishing an office for the Taliban in Qatar, which was seen as a symbolic step towards ending the war. An exchange deal involving five Taliban being held in Guantanamo and one US soldier was also mooted.

“The Americans initially agreed to take practical steps regarding the exchange of prisoners and to not oppose our political office but with the passage of time, they turned their backs on their promises and started initiating baseless propaganda portraying the envoys of the Islamic Emirate as having commenced multilateral negotiations for solving the Afghan dilemma,” the statement reads.

There would be no move in negotiations “until the Americans clarify their stance on the issues concerned and until they show willingness in carrying out their promises instead of wasting time.”

Earlier on Thursday Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that NATO should withdraw its troops from villages and rural areas and move them back to the main bases.

He said, "Afghan security forces have the ability to keep the security in rural areas and in villages on their own,'' in a statement after the meeting with the US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Kabul.

Panetta arrived in Afghanistan unexpectedly on Wednesday following the deaths of 16 women and children shot by at least one US serviceman.

Talking to Panetta, President Karzai has called to do everything possible to prevent such incidents the future.

Meanwhile, the US soldier accused of slaying 16 villagers was held by the military in Kandahar until Wednesday evening, when he was flown to Kuwait, as, according to a Pentagon spokesman there are no appropriate detention facilities in Afghanistan.

Well it seems the US are now well and truly in a country that no longer wants them there.

As gary says pack up and leave, perhaps they need better PR people.

 

[Fudzy]

Well it seems the US are now well and truly in a country that no longer wants them there.

As gary says pack up and leave, perhaps they need better PR people.

It's sad to think about the 11 years of development, not to mention the dead soldiers all will probably be in vein thanks to the US's management of this situation.

 

[Apache]

It's sad to think about the 11 years of development, not to mention the dead soldiers all will probably be in vein thanks to the US's management of this situation.

Things don't look good for Obama.

 

[Fudzy]

Things don't look good for Obama.

Nope, nor America on a whole. Given how much effort was put into hiding war atrocities during the 8 years that he wasn't president you probably wouldn't have even heard about this.

 

[killadoob]

Up to 20 US terrorists behind Kandahar bloodbath - Afghan probe

An Afghan parliamentary investigation team has implicated up to 20 US troops in the massacre of 16 civilians in Kandahar early on Sunday morning. It contradicts NATO's account that insists one rogue soldier was behind the slaughter.

*The team of Afghan lawmakers has spent two days collating reports from witnesses, survivors and inhabitants of the villages where the tragedy took place.

“We are convinced that one soldier cannot kill so many people in two villages within one hour at the same time, and the 16 civilians, most of them children and women, have been killed by the two groups,” investigator Hamizai Lali told Afghan News.

Lali also said their investigations led them to believe 15 to 20 US soldiers had been involved in the killings. He appealed to the international community to ensure that the responsible parties were brought to justice, stressing the Afghan parliament would not rest until the killers were prosecuted.

"If the international community does not play its role in punishing the perpetrators, the Wolesi Jirga [parliament] would declare foreign troops as occupying forces,” he said.

The head of the Afghan parliamentary investigation, Sayed Ishaq Gillani, told the BBC that witnesses report seeing helicopters dropping chaff during the attack, a measure used to hide targets from ground attack.

Gillani added that locals suspect the massacre was revenge for attacks carried out last week on US forces that left several injured.

In response to the massacre Afghan PM Hamid Karzai called for US troops to quit Afghan villages and confine themselves to their military bases across the country. Furthermore, the Taliban announced that talks with US forces would be suspended.

Meanwhile the US military has detained one soldier in connection with the massacre and transferred him to Kuwait amid outcry for a public trial in Afghanistan. Currently, the soldier is being flown to Kansas base, AFP reported.

US authorities are currently conducting an investigation into the motives behind the attack, but maintain that the soldier’s trial must be dealt with by the US legal system.

It is believed that the soldier may have had alcohol problems and been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

http://rt.com/news/massacre-kandahar-soldier-american-705/

Wow i can bet you right now that nobody will believe witness accounts and will believe the word of nato.

Insane to think up to 19 terrorists could be freely carrying on like nothing happened.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai slams Washington for its lack of cooperation over the probe into the killing of 16 Afghan civilians who were shot by at least one US soldier on Sunday. Karzai says the US stance has put him "at the end of the rope."

*President Karzai says the Afghan delegation he has sent to look into the incident has not received the cooperation Kabul expected from American officials, reports the Associated Press.

"The Afghan government didn't receive cooperation from the USA regarding the surrender of the US soldiers to the Afghan government. This (civilian casualties) has been going on too long. This is by all means the end of the rope here," Karzai said after meeting families of the civilians killed in the shooting spree.

During the meeting, the relatives of the deceased insisted there was more than one shooter and complained the Americans failed to provide all the information they requested. Earlier, Kabul said there was surveillance video Washington was not willing to share with Afghan investigators.

The families of the deseased demanded justice and repeated their call for a public trial of the American suspect in Afghanistan.

"I don't want any compensation. I don't want money, I don't want a trip to Mecca, I don't want a house. I want nothing. But what I absolutely want is the punishment of the Americans. This is my demand," one villager, whose brother was killed in the slaughter, told Reuters.

According to NATO’s probe, only one soldier was behind the slaughter in southern Afghanistan. Various reasons have been given for the rampage: abuse of alcohol, combat trauma, and even a troubled marriage. At the moment, the 38-year-old army staff sergeant, whose name is still withheld, is being moved from Kuwait to a military base in Kansas, reports Agence France Presse.

But Afghan investigators are convinced that it takes more than one to kill so many people in two villages within one hour. Currently, they are considering the possibility a number of American soldiers were involved in the massacre as 15 to 20 of them split into two groups.

"In (one) family, in four rooms people were killed, women and children were killed, and they were all brought together in one room and then put on fire. That one man cannot do," Karzai said as quoted by Reuters.

On Friday, the Afghan leader said he wanted to preserve good relations with Washington, but this is becoming increasingly difficult. The US should show more respect to Afghan culture and laws, he added.

"This form of activity, this behavior, cannot be tolerated. It's past, past, past the time," says Karzai.

On Thursday, Karzai had also demanded that NATO troops keep to their main bases withdrawing from rural areas and villages. The Afghan leader now also wants to take over security duties from the US in 2013, he said in his meeting with the US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. If agreed, this would come a year earlier compared to the US original plan to pull out its forces by 2014.

 

[d0b33]

Sounds like the work of terrorists to me.

 

[LazyLion]

Like I said.... if it was one or twenty... what difference is it going to make now?

 

[killadoob]

Like I said.... if it was one or twenty... what difference is it going to make now?

Hmmm so you would have no issue with say 20 criminals killing a family of 16 people and only one gets caught and the police don't bother with the other 19?

A bit odd but each to their own i guess.

 

[nivek]

20 soldiers to kill 16 civilians?
that doesnt sound very efficient