Prosecutors seek death for U.S. soldier charged in Afghan rampage
Source: Reuters
By Bill Rigby
TACOMA, Washington | Mon Nov 5, 2012 7:00pm EST
(Reuters) - Military prosecutors said on Monday they would seek the death penalty for a U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers when he ventured out of his camp on two drunken forays earlier this year.
The lead prosecutor, Lieutenant Colonel Jay Morse, told a preliminary hearing he would present evidence proving "chilling premeditation" on the part of Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, a veteran of four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The shootings of mostly women and children in Afghanistan's Kandahar province in March marked the worst case of civilian slaughter blamed on an individual U.S. soldier since the Vietnam War and eroded already strained U.S.-Afghan ties after more than a decade of conflict in the country.
Bales faces 16 counts of premeditated murder and six counts of attempted murder, as well as charges of assault and wrongfully possessing and using steroids and alcohol while deployed.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/06/us-usa-afghanistan-trial-idUSBRE8A407T20121106
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Last edited Tue Nov 6, 2012, 09:40 AM - Edit history (1)
the man snapped. He's not superman/woman like bushmonkey, rumsfeld, ricenotnice, darthcheney. After thirteen months in a combat zone, in the boonies, I was crazy for a few years after, this guy needs help.
sorry about the afghans, yet things like this happen in the very stressful place like a war zone... until a person serves in a combat zone for 26-38 months, don't condemn this guy.
