A statement from Bale's attorney:

[gsvol]

Lawyer for soldier accused of Afghan slaughter:

John Henry Browne, the attorney for Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, the man accused of single-handedly massacring 17 Afghan villagers, is now accusing the United States government of “an almost complete information blackout” which is blocking him from preparing a proper defense for Bales.

Browne alleges that he and his legal team has been prevented from being able to interview the witnesses to the tragic incident as well as the injured civilians in southern Afghanistan.
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Furthermore, child witnesses provided accounts to a journalist for Australia’s SBS Dateline which completely contradict the U.S.’s official account.

Yalda Hakim, the journalist who covered the story, says that American investigators attempted to prevent her from interviewing the children, although she gained access through appeals directly to Afghan village leaders.

The eyewitness testimony of the children is quite detailed and it seems to be in line with the testimony of other Afghans who have cast doubt on the official story.

[Vols520]

I thought he turned himself in?

[gsvol]

Originally Posted by Vols520

I thought he turned himself in?

He never signed a confession.

[BearCat204]

This "black-eye" could get a bit bigger if there are indeed "15-20" other soldiers involved. Does cast a bit of doubt of him acting alone.

[YorkVol]

Originally Posted by BearCat204

This "black-eye" could get a bit bigger if there are indeed "15-20" other soldiers involved. Does cast a bit of doubt of him acting alone.

I wouldn't believe an Afghan Parliamentary Investigation over a US Army CID investigation at this point.

[gsvol]

Originally Posted by YorkVol

I wouldn't believe an Afghan Parliamentary Investigation over a US Army CID investigation at this point.

Do you believe Bale's attorney?

Originally Posted by BearCat204

This "black-eye" could get a bit bigger if there are indeed "15-20" other soldiers involved. Does cast a bit of doubt of him acting alone.

FWIW, about fifteen years ago a young man stopped by my house and visted for about four hours. He had just flown in from Kiev, Ukraine and had been in Russia teaching Russian troops field triage.

He talked about a lot of things he had encountered around the world. One of the things was a low level war not reported in the media going on in Germany.

Recently when he had been there, a group of immigrant Turks had raided a German army base and killed about twenty German soldiers. The following night some German soldiers went into a sector populated mostly by Turks and killed about thirty.

He said it didn't happen every day but it did happen occasionally. I've never known him to lie to me and I've known him since he was a small child, his dad is a preacher, I think he was telling me the truth.

Sadly, for some people/cultures, meeting violence with violence is the only thing they understand and ultimately is the only deterrent.

[bamacheats]

Originally Posted by gsvol

Do you believe Bale's attorney?









FWIW, about fifteen years ago a young man stopped by my house and visted for about four hours. He had just flown in from Kiev, Ukraine and had been in Russia teaching Russian troops field triage.

He talked about a lot of things he had encountered around the world. One of the things was a low level war not reported in the media going on in Germany.

Recently when he had been there, a group of immigrant Turks had raided a German army base and killed about twenty German soldiers. The following night some German soldiers went into a sector populated mostly by Turks and killed about thirty.

He said it didn't happen every day but it did happen occasionally. I've never known him to lie to me and I've known him since he was a small child, his dad is a preacher, I think he was telling me the truth.

Sadly, for some people/cultures, meeting violence with violence is the only thing they understand and ultimately is the only deterrent.

Preachers are the biggest liars in history.

[tim]

He murdered 17 people and we are going to spend millions in his defense. I say no, mentally ill or not.

[GoBigOrangeUT]

Color me surprised that GS will defend the guy who killed some Muslims.

[n_huffhines]

Originally Posted by GoBigOrangeUT

Color me surprised that GS will defend the guy who killed some Muslims.

Hmmm....

I would say this is actually uncharacteristic of GS. If Bale was acting with a dozen or so other soldiers, it would be more damning to the good vs evil foreign policy we attempt to portray. If GS is into killing Muslims, he should want Bale to jump on the grenade so opposition to the war efforts doesn't grow.

[Thrasher865]

Originally Posted by n_huffhines

If GS is into killing Muslims, he should want Bale to jump on the grenade so opposition to the war efforts doesn't grow.

Pretty sure he isn't capable of that sort of deep thought... or thinking that far ahead.

[Thrasher865]

Originally Posted by gsvol

Do you believe Bale's attorney?

I have pretty much determined that you should never believe anything an attorney says. Especially your own attorney. And even more especially, anybody elses attorney.

[n_huffhines]

Originally Posted by Thrasher865

Pretty sure he isn't capable of that sort of deep thought... or thinking that far ahead.

haha, maybe so

[YorkVol]

Originally Posted by gsvol

Do you believe Bale's attorney?

Of course not, especially not at this point in the process. What most people don't realize, or conveniently forget, is that the military justice system is one of, if not the best in the world. It is a speedy, impartial process where the rights of the accused are kept at the forefront. However, when a civilian attorney enters into the military system things may seem somewhat different at first and since they are free to speak to the media you will often here them make the worst complaints.

The biggest obstacles to getting this to trial will be CID completing its investigation and the judge figuring out the rules on the use of any classified information in the court. I would assume the second obstacle shouldn't be too bad for this case, however, CID sorting out all the physical evidence could take a while considering the number of victims, compounds and geography involved. Imagine just doing the ballistics tests on the hundreds of shell casings they would have collected--each one has to be tied to Bale's weapons--that alone would take a few weeks.

In my view, if there were more soldiers involved we would already have heard about from the U.S. side. CID is an independent command, no way they would let something that big stay covered up.

I think the Afghans are just having a hard time believing one man could do so much damage because they really don't know how much power one U.S. Infantry soldier carries no days. I once saw 4 SOF soldiers chase 20+ Talibs in the Maruk Valley. At the end of about 5km of chasing them down, they had killed 10 and captured the rest.

We are a well armed force, basic load is 240 rounds for an infantryman carrying an M4 carbine, but most carry 1.5BL or 360 rounds--unfortunately it would be all too easy for Bales to have committed this by himself--especially if he went back and reloaded as has been reported.

[gsvol]

Originally Posted by YorkVol

Of course not, especially not at this point in the process. What most people don't realize, or conveniently forget, is that the military justice system is one of, if not the best in the world. It is a speedy, impartial process where the rights of the accused are kept at the forefront. However, when a civilian attorney enters into the military system things may seem somewhat different at first and since they are free to speak to the media you will often here them make the worst complaints.

The biggest obstacles to getting this to trial will be CID completing its investigation and the judge figuring out the rules on the use of any classified information in the court. I would assume the second obstacle shouldn't be too bad for this case, however, CID sorting out all the physical evidence could take a while considering the number of victims, compounds and geography involved. Imagine just doing the ballistics tests on the hundreds of shell casings they would have collected--each one has to be tied to Bale's weapons--that alone would take a few weeks.

In my view, if there were more soldiers involved we would already have heard about from the U.S. side. CID is an independent command, no way they would let something that big stay covered up.

I think the Afghans are just having a hard time believing one man could do so much damage because they really don't know how much power one U.S. Infantry soldier carries no days. I once saw 4 SOF soldiers chase 20+ Talibs in the Maruk Valley. At the end of about 5km of chasing them down, they had killed 10 and captured the rest.

We are a well armed force, basic load is 240 rounds for an infantryman carrying an M4 carbine, but most carry 1.5BL or 360 rounds--unfortunately it would be all too easy for Bales to have committed this by himself--especially if he went back and reloaded as has been reported.

I agree the UCMJ is one of the finest documents ever written, (I accumulated six hours college credits in it and read further on my own), ranks right up there close to the declaration of indepence and the constitution imo.

However, political appointees and carreer officers who want to toe the line can get in the way of justice.

Attorney for Bales says military broke promise on witness access - CNN

John Henry Browne said he was "promised" that witnesses to the incident would be available for them to interview in Afghanistan, "and they were not."

"My staff on the ground is really upset with the promise they made to us," Browne told reporters.

The witnesses have been released from a hospital and were "scattered" throughout the country, Browne said in a Seattle news conference.