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Sympathy for Accused Afghanistan Killer Robert Bales?
Staff Sergeant Robert Bales is accused of killing 16 people in a village in Afghanistan, including nine children and three women. Most people suspected of such a heinous crime garner very little, if any, sympathy from the public. Yet it appears the Bales case could be an exception.
Bales served three tours of duty in Iraq before being deployed to Afghanistan late last year. He may have sustained what is being called a "traumatic" brain injury during his final tour in Iraq, and he may be suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Some are speculating that these factors led to Bales "snapping," and if that turns out to be the case, they don't blame Bales at all.
"(Afghan war veterans) believe that this incident is not a case of one 'bad apple' but the effect of a continued U.S. military policy of drone strikes, night raids, and helicopter attacks where Afghan civilians pay the price," wrote Aaron Hughes, one of the organizers of the website Iraq Veterans Against the War.
"I kind of sympathize for him, being gone, being sent over there four times," Beau Britt, a neighbor of Bales in Washington state, told The Associated Press. "I can understand he's probably quite wracked mentally, so I just hope that things are justified in court. I hope it goes okay."
But not everybody feels this way. Retired Army Lt. Col. Fred Wellman said the idea of the "broken veteran" is nonsense.
"That may play well with certain circles of the civilian community, which doesn't understand our lives," Wellman said. "But he's going to be tried by a military court ... and chances are three or four of those guys had things happen to them, may have had three or four tours, may have lost people, may have been blown up. And NONE of them snapped and killed 16 people." He added: "It's just too easy, and a lot of us, we're not buying it."
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Comments
I do have sympathy for him.
I do have sympathy for him. He, and all of the combat troops, have been through a lot over the last decade. This type of impact on the troops should be considered when deciding whether to go to war. Money isn't the only cost of war and death isn't the only sacrifice the soldiers make.
That said, my sympathy and the difficulties he's gone through do not absolve him of his crimes. He should face trial and if found guilty should be put away for life.
We need, as we needed during
We need, as we needed during and post-Vietnam, a better system of treatment of our vets, and particularly our combat vets.
As a Vet, myself, I see these guys all the time, from as far back as WWII, some of them, but we do not tend to take care of the psychological needs, post combat, of those that have seen the worst of mankind; Warfare.
Even with that, what happened is not something excusable. By all standards of warfare, since the 1800's civilians are non-combatants and not targets. We have violated that rule too easily, though, and while it is sometimes understandable as to why, just arbitrarily killing people in a war zone is still not acceptable and should be punished.
Our soldiers have an obligation to uphold our nation's values while deployed, both in peace and in war; how are we to gain friends in these countries if we do not hold our own people to our own rules.
If he is found guilty, then he will deserve his punishment, but if he is innocent, then he will still have that black stain on his record that he will have to overcome.
The insanity principle is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. The far right, the far left, vegans, creationists and other extremists believe in the insanity principle, religiously.
Anyone who goes out and
Anyone who goes out and shoots 16 innocent people is by definition, insane. Whether he is insane enough to be excused for his actions is the only question. Since he came back and surrendered, at least implicitly acknowledging he needed to surrender, I would assume he would fail the sniff test for not guilty by reason of insanity.
The military has a much higher bar for excusing bad behavior in most cases than civilian court, so I would assume this man will get the death penalty. I feel no sympathy for him. Instead, I feel sorry for his family and the families of his victims. These people are the ones worthy of sympathy.
We need to get our troops out
We need to get our troops out of these sandbox countries and give better care to our combat troops. Sympathy yes with treatment.
"`Afghan war veterans)
"`Afghan war veterans) believe that this incident is not a case of one 'bad apple' but the effect of a continued U.S. military policy of drone strikes, night raids, and helicopter attacks where Afghan civilians pay the price', wrote Aaron Hughes, one of the organizers of the website Iraq Veterans Against the War."
Bull. He's just using that for propaganda. None of those military policies has anything to do with the coldblooded point-blank murder of babies. In fact, we have shown much more concern about civilian lives in this war than anyone did in WWII.
What he went through with his multiple tours of duty was no doubt harsh, and perhaps that was a factor, but presumably he had a choice along the way as to whether he could continue, and in any event it's no excuse for what he did. (I'm sure German soldiers along the eastern front also endured harsh treatment, but that didn't absolve _their_ atrocities in Poland and the Ukraine -- did it?)
Lt. Col. Wellman should curb
Lt. Col. Wellman should curb such a definitive description of one man just because no other man has fallen apart in this way during trauma of war. He, above all others, should know and understand that each human is different - each handles stress in the way that is understandable to that individual. There have been cases in the past of military personnel raping women in other countries - that is another example of the horrors of war. Until we stop pigeon holeing every person as what has been happening in the past, there will be no justice or concern for these senseless wars.