Witnesses to Afghan massacre say Robert Bales was not alone

[Yogi]

Here are two versions of what happened the night of March 11, when 17 Afghan villagers were shot to death.

First, the Army version: Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, troubled by marriage woes, drunkenly left Camp Belambai, 12 miles from Kandahar, with a pistol and an automatic rifle and killed six people as they slept. Bales then returned to the base and left again for another village, this time killing 11. He acted alone and he admitted to the killings, according to the Army.

Then there is the account that child witnesses provided Yalda Hakim, a journalist for SBS Dateline in Australia. Hakim, who was born in Afghanistan and immigrated to Australia as a child, is the first international journalist to interview the surviving witnesses. She said American investigators tried to prevent her from interviewing the children, saying her questions could traumatize them. She said she appealed to village leaders, who arranged for her to interview the witnesses.

In the video, the children told Hakim that other Americans were present during the rampage, holding flashlights in the yard.

Noorbinak, 8, told Hakim that the shooter first shot her father’s dog. Then, Noorbinak said in the video, he shot her father in the foot and dragged her mother by the hair. When her father started screaming, he shot her father, the child says. Then he turned the gun on Noorbinak and shot her in the leg.

“One man entered the room and the others were standing in the yard, holding lights,” Noorbinak said in the video.

A brother of one victim told Hakim that his brother’s children mentioned more than one soldier wearing a headlamp. They also had lights at the end of their guns, he said.

“They don’t know whether there were 15 or 20, however many there were,” he said in the video.

Army officials have repeatedly denied that others were involved in the massacre, emphasizing that Bales acted alone.

Bales, who was flown to a maximum-security military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., was charged last week with 17 counts of murder and six attempts of attempted murder.

The massacre came several days after a roadside bomb attack that cost one soldier his leg. Village residents told reporters and Afghan government officials that after the roadside bomb attack, U.S. troops lined up men from the village against a wall and told them they would pay a price. The Pentagon has denied those allegations.

Gen. Karimi, assigned by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to investigate the murders, told Hakim that he, too, wonders whether Bales acted alone and how he could left the base without notice.

“Village elders said several soldiers took part and that there is boot prints in the area,” Karimi told Hakim. He said villagers told him that they saw three or four individuals kneeling and that helicopters were overhead during the rampage.

“To search for him?” Karimi said he asked them.

“No,” he said they told him. “They were there from the very beginning.”

Aaaand, things take a turn for the fucking wonderful. While a child isn't the most reliable witness, I see very little reason to blindly believe the military's version of events. Perhaps an investigation will reveal more information, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Bernkastel]

Oh great, this is not a development I wanted to read. I do hope more information comes out, as the incident is had enough as it is without more people being added to the list of perpetrators.

[Ryan Thunder]

This April Fools prank is in amazingly poor taste.

[thejester]

Er...it's not an April Fools? Original story is here.

[Ryan Thunder]

Oh, its from the 29th. God damn it. Just when it seems like these guys have hit rock bottom they find a way to keep digging.

[Beowulf]

If there was more than Bales, why hasn't he said anything about being part of a group, instead of his lawyer trying to use PTSD and TBI as a defense?

[weemadando]

Misguided loyalty?

Incompetent or complicit defence?

Blackmail and threats?

[Block]

Misguided loyalty?

Incompetent or complicit defence?

Blackmail and threats?

The last two... no. Not a chance, given the crime the guy is going to have one of the best defense lawyers possible, and he's facing 17 counts of murder, not much you can do to blackmail him. I suppose you could say they threatened his family, but that's highly unlikely. Loyalty is a possibility.

[weemadando]

Incompetent and complicit defence isn't a comedy option.

Let's not forget the bullshit career long punishment that the military defence lawyers of Gitmo inmates who actually mounted a defence on behalf of their clients faced.

[Beowulf]

You'd have a stronger argument there if Bales hadn't hired a civilian lawyer (at his own expense). You may be able to swing incompetent, but that requires cosmic incompetence on the lawyer's part.

[weemadando]

Fair enough, thought he still had a military appointed lawyer.

[Sea Skimmer]

Well, he almost certainly does still have the military appointed lawyer or more likely lawyers, I don't think they go away just because you hire a civilian, you just don't have to actively cooperate with them or let them make any motions if you don't want to do so.

As for more then one attacker; children seeing lights outside isn't very convincing one way or another and other accounts of more then one attack vary. Also its known that at least Afghan guards were outside the perimeter, and US troops appear to have left the perimeter to arrest Bales. I doubt this mess will be sorted out any time soon unless the reported aerosat video really did show the shootings and gets released.

[Edi]

It could have been Bales alone or it could have been him and several others and Bales just taking the fall for it as a scapegoat. That would not be at all unusual. We'll see how it goes when he finally does face a trial, whether in six months or six years from now.