Tag Archive: Lake Tapps


Sgt. Bales attorney: ‘He is broken and we broke him’

Filed under: Costs of War, Fundamental Rights, Government Overreach, Human Rights, Hypocrisy, Indoctrination, Irrational Violence, Mental Instability, Military Maneuvers, Murder, Politics, Politics, Legislation and Economy News, Power Struggle, Provocation / Incitement, Special Interests, Unethical, War Crimes, War on terror, Wars and Rumors of War, World News — 19 Comments
May 31, 2013

by CHRIS DANIELS / KING 5 News

 

Posted on May 30, 2013 at 9:49 PM

Updated yesterday at 11:18 PM

SEATTLE –  John Henry Browne says the memories came flooding back over time.

“He understands the nature of the proceedings,” Browne says about his client SSgt. Robert Bales. “He broke down considerably. The magnitude of it hit him very forcefully.”
Bales has been facing the death penalty, after the Army charged the Lake Tapps soldier with murdering 16 Afghan villagers during an early morning alcohol and drug fueled rampage in March of 2012. Most of the victims were women and children.  Bales is accused of sneaking away from his post to commit the atrocity.
But Browne said, in his only local television interview, that his client will admit to the killings in a plea deal to take the death penalty off the table. The plea is expected to come at a military hearing on Wednesday, June 5th.
If a judge accepts the deal, Browne says at a subsequent sentencing hearing could argue for the possibility of parole. The attorney says the JBLM soldier was under the influence.
“There were steroids. There was alcohol, and sleep aids,” says Browne. “They were provided to him, at this small base, by special forces.”
Browne also argues Bales had a concussive brain injury, prompted by his fourth deployment.
A German filmmaker says some Afghans do believe the system was a problem.
“They are mad at Bales, and mad on the systems. They know Bales as part of the system came out going crazy,” said the 2470media.com journalist Lela Ahmadzai.
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Staff Sgt. Robert Bales has agreed to plead guilty in a deal to avoid the death penalty for Afghanistan massacre

Filed under: bureaucracy, Costs of War, Fundamental Rights, Government, Human Rights, Irrational Violence, Mental Instability, Military Maneuvers, Murder, Politics, Legislation and Economy News, Provocation / Incitement, War Crimes, War on terror, World News — 1 Comment
May 29, 2013

SEATTLE (AP) — The Army staff sergeant charged with slaughtering 16 villagers during one of the worst atrocities of the Afghanistan war has agreed to plead guilty in a deal to avoid the death penalty, his attorney told the Associated Press on Wednesday.

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is scheduled to enter guilty pleas to charges of premeditated murder June 5 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle, said lawyer John Henry Browne. A sentencing-phase trial set for September will determine whether he is sentenced to life in prison with or life without the possibility of parole. The judge and commanding general must approve a plea deal.

Browne previously indicated Bales remembered little from the night of the massacre, but he said the soldier will give a full account of what happened before the judge decides whether to accept the plea.

Bales, an Ohio native and father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., slipped away from his remote southern Afghanistan outpost at Camp Belambay early on March 11, 2012, and attacked mud-walled compounds in two slumbering villages nearby.

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Afghan Massacre Trial On Hold Until the Pentagon Comes To Grips With Reality

[The Army trial of Staff Sgt Robert Bales of Ohio for the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians is in complete disarray.  The big point of contention is that “the Army is confused about how to deal with the issue of PTSD, formerly known as ‘battle fatigue,’ or ‘shell shock.”‘  They consider it a disipline problem, men unwilling to grow-up on command.”  The Big Brass are afraid to let this media trial proceed, if it will expose the shockingly cruel callous Pentagon culture of “machismo,” which refuses to believe in or to accept the concept of “post-traumatic stress disorder.”  It is the macho delusion that this Army possesses superhuman capabilities, which prevents its generals from accepting the high toll that their polices have exacted upon American personnel (SEE: Army Shuts-Down Unmanly “New Agey” Therapy At Madigan Army Center ).  This delusional mindset led America directly into a quagmire, before the first forces were ever deployed, because the Generals pretended that their “all-volunteer force” was sufficient to fight two full-scale ground wars, even though the volunteer force could not supply sufficient manpower for one major war, without calling-out all of the reserves.

Staff Sgt. Bales did not want to deploy to Afghanistan, after serving three tours in Iraq.  If anybody ever had a reason to suffer traumatic stress, it was Sgt. Bales and every other overworked soldier like him.  Just like the case of My Lai and Lt. William Calley, how could they be faulted for civilian massacres, when they saw similar slaugter taking place everyday?  As far as they knew, they were just being “gung ho” in the service of their country.  Gooks, towelheads, Chincs, Japs, these are all derogatory racial epethets which were supplied by the Pentagon chain of command to the men on the front lines.  Killing as many of them as possible, has always been the soldiers’ primary mission.]

Defense seeks new expert in Afghan killings case

seattletime times

Attorneys for the U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians during a 2012 rampage have asked that a new psychiatric expert be appointed in the case.

By GENE JOHNSON

Associated Press

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. —

Attorneys for the U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians during a 2012 rampage have asked that a new psychiatric expert be appointed in the case.

Emma Scanlan, an attorney for Robert Bales, made the request during a hearing Tuesday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle.

Citing attorney-client privilege, Scanlan did not say why the request was made. The defense team provided its reasons to the judge – but not prosecutors – in a confidential court filing.

Prosecutors objected to the motion, saying it smacked of witness shopping.

Outside experts believe a key issue going forward will be to determine if Bales suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Bales served tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

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