A Devil's Bargain

A US soldier has avoided the death penalty for murdering 16 Afghan civilians last year, after a military judge accepted his guilty plea.

Sergeant Robert Bales, 39, pleaded guilty over the massacre in southern Afghanistan in March last year.

[...]

His lawyer said last week he would admit guilt in exchange for prosecutors not seeking his execution. The judge was required to approve any plea deal.

[...]

Seventeen of the 22 victims were women or children and almost all were shot in the head.

  alJazeera

Whether you believe in the justification of a death penalty or not, the fact that a person can bargain away that particular punishment by admitting slaughtering other people is mind boggling. And then why do we have ANYone on death row? I’ve heard of pleading guilty to other charges to avoid a death penalty, but pleading guilty to murder to avoid death?

Prosecutors did not confirm that they were no longer seeking the death sentence.

??

Asked if Bales was sorry, Browne said: "Absolutely. And I think that will become clear as the process goes forward. He's very relieved that the death penalty is not on the table."

And luckier than the people he slaughtered.

The prosecution, the judge and jury are all relieved, too.  Can you imagine the uproar if they attempted to give the death penalty to a US soldier who killed mere Afghanis?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Justin Raimondo Would Like Some Attention

I was going to defend Chris Hayes, the MSNBC host whose pre-Memorial Day comments [wondering if the word hero when used to describe our troops is really an attempt to justify our foreign policy] provoked the wingnut-osphere into one of its frequent paroxysms of hate.

[...]

I was going to defend him, but he apologized so quickly after the chickenhawk brigade started squawking that he’s taken the fun out of the whole project.

[...]

I’ll defend Hayes anyway, in spite of himself: no doubt his corporate masters at MSNBC forced him to issue his (unconvincing) retraction. And I’ll go him one better: it isn’t just that our troops aren’t heroes, it’s that a good number of them are monsters. Yes, you heard me: monsters.

  Justin Raimondo

Sadly for Justin, he won't get the high profile blowback Chris Hayes encountered, because he's not a TV personality, or even a mainstream media blogger, but he will get some hate mail.  His normal quota, no doubt.

Let’s take an emblematic example: Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who killed 17 Afghan civilians, most of them women and children, in the Panjwai district of Kandahar Province. In the early morning hours of March 11, 14-year-old Rafiullah – a mere slip of a boy – woke to the sound of gunfire. He looked outside and saw an American soldier walking to a shed that housed the family’s prized cow: the soldier opened fire, killing the animal, and then approached the house.

[...]

“Terror unfolded in the crowded space, the frightened faces of women and children illuminated only by a light that Rafiullah said appeared to be affixed to an assault rifle. The shooter drove everyone before him, herding and hunting his victims like animals.”

[...]

Bales’ rampage is just the latest in a long series of atrocities carried out by our “heroic” centurions. Remember the “Stryker” gang that went around shooting helpless civilians and collecting fragments of bones as “souvenirs”? Should we give those “heroes” a medal?

[...]

There is growing evidence the [Bales] massacre wasn’t just an isolated incident, but part of a larger pattern of “no knock” retaliatory raids conducted by US troops in Afghanistan. Those who are now coming up with exculpatory rationales for Bales’ murderous rampage – and even those who think Bales is monster – take refuge in the argument that his behavior is the exception, and that most of our soldiers are upstanding examples of All That is Good and True. Yet what Bales did is what is occurring on a nationwide scale in Afghanistan: a “special operations” campaign to sow terror among the Afghan populace so that fear outweighs their natural hatred of an occupying army.

[...]

Instead of defending the United States from attack, military recruits in the 21st century are joining a global Praetorian Guard whose mission is to fight wars of conquest. Rather than standing guard at the border, as they should be, they are busy pushing back the frontiers of the Empire. While not each and every one of them is a war criminal, the conduct of US foreign policy has now reached the point where they are all willing aggressors to some degree or other.

You can read Justin's post for an update on the case of Sgt. Robert Bales, because otherwise, it's being kept very quiet, and move on, there's nothing to see here.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Military (In)Justice

[Robert Bales' defense] team has made little progress on the ground in Afghanistan. “When we tried to interview the injured civilians being treated at Kandahar Hospital, we were denied access and told to coordinate with the prosecution team,” it said.

The next day, prosecutors interviewed the injured civilians, but Browne’s office found out shortly afterward that “the civilians were all released from the hospital and there was no contact information for them.

“In addition, we are being denied access to the injured civilians medical records that are in the possession of the government which makes it even more impossible for us to try to locate and interview these crucial witnesses,” it said.

“The prosecution is withholding the entire investigative file from the defense team while the potential witnesses scatter into unknown and potentially inaccessible areas in Afghanistan.”

  

Which makes it all the more suspicious that Robert Bales did not act alone, and the US military/government does not want any witness testimony to that effect revealed. Perhaps the defense team will have to spring for some investigators to go to the actual villages where the slaughter occurred. It will not be an easy discovery, nor a cheap one, but if they are going to defend their client, they're going to have to come up with the resources. Otherwise, he's going to take the fall for a very likely common policy. Another bigot patsy like Lynndie England.  Or maybe he can have a never-ending trial which never gets resolved because eventually those witnesses will die and nobody here really cares anyway.  Other than the fact that he'll have to spend some confinement time: win-win, as they say.  Lynndie who?  And by the way, what was the name of her bigot, prisoner-abusing boyfriend?  Anybody remember? 

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

First, the "Apology", Then the "Payoff"

The United States has paid $50,000 in compensation for each Afghan person killed by Staff Sergeant Robert Bales in southern Afghanistan two weeks ago, according to The Associated Press.

Kandahar provincial council member Agha Lalai and community Jan Agha confirmed that the victim’s families received payments Saturday, with those who were wounded also receiving compensation in the form of $11,000. A U.S. official would not confirm or deny the amount paid out but did indicated that payments have been made to families.

[...]

The families previously received compensation, $2,000 for each death and $1,000 for each person wounded, from Afghan officials.

  

Make of that what you will.

"Rogue Soldier"

The plot further sickens.

Residents [near the villages where Staff Sergeant Robert Bales allegedly killed 17 Afghan civilians in their homes in the middle of the night] have given similar accounts to both The Associated Press and to Afghan government officials about an alleged bombing in the vicinity, which they said occurred March 7 or 8, and left U.S. troops injured. The residents also said they are convinced that the slayings of the [...] villagers just days later was in retaliation for that bomb.

[...]

[They] say U.S. troops lined them up against a wall after a roadside bombing and told them that they, and even their children, would pay a price for the attack.

[...]

"It looked like they were going to shoot us, and I was very afraid," Khan said. "Then a NATO soldier said through his translator that even our children will pay for this. Now they have done it and taken their revenge, " [reported Mokhoyan resident, Ahmad Shah Khan.]

Neighbors of Khan gave similar accounts to the AP, and several Afghan officials, including Kandahar lawmaker Abdul Rahim Ayubi, said people in the two villages that were attacked told them the same story.

[...]

Naek Mohammad, who lives in Mokhoyan, told the AP that he heard an explosion March 8 and went outside. As he and a neighbor talked about what happened, he said, two Afghan soldiers ordered them to join other men from the village who had been told to stand against a wall.

"One of the villagers asked what was happening," he said. "The Afghan army soldier told him, 'Shut up and stand there.'"

Mohammad said a U.S. soldier, speaking through a translator, then said: "I know you are all involved and you support the insurgents. So now, you will pay for it — you and your children will pay for this.'"

  Christian Science Monitor

P.S. What a guy.

In 2002 he was ordered to complete an anger management course after drunkenly assaulting a casino security guard.

A second incident involving alcohol and violence emerged on Thursday. AP reported that Bales was accused in 2008 of shaking hands with a woman, pulling her hand into his crotch and then punching and kicking her boyfriend. No charges were filed but a Washington state sheriff department's report describes Bales as "extremely intoxicated" at the time.

  UK Guardian

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

"Rogue" Soldier Update

The lawyer defending a US soldier accused of killing 16 Afghans has said there is little hard evidence against his client.

Attorney John Henry Browne said Staff Sergeant Robert Bales cannot remember much about the night of the shooting, and that there is little evidence that could stand up in court against him.

  alJazeera

I smell big trouble in the air.

..but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

"Rogue" Soldier: The Plot Sickens

The US soldier accused of murdering 16 Afghan civilians in this month's unprovoked shooting spree was $1.5 million (£950,000), in debt and in danger of losing his home, according to reports yesterday.

Robert Bales, a 38-year-old Staff Sergeant, was found guilty of securities fraud before joining the army, and still owed his victims hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation and punitive damages.

[...]

A former victim called Gary Liebschner described Bales as a smooth-talking conman who had caused him to lose $1.2million (£756,000) in savings. Working as a stockbroker, he had sold AT&T shares on Liebschner's behalf, but disappeared with the proceeds. "He robbed me of my life savings," Mr Liebschner told ABC News. "We didn't know where he was. We heard the Bahamas, and all kinds of places."

  UK Independent

And well he should have gone to the Bahamas instead of the Army.

He turns out to have been living between deployments in Washington State, with a wife and children, where he owned several properties that were underwater on their mortgage.

Much more background on this guy is going to make it difficult for his defense to paint him as a great guy who snapped under (admitted) pressure of a fourth deployment.

Compare & Contrast

[At Ft. Leavenworth Army prison, likely] there will be some substantial interaction between Bales and Manning [during meal and recreation times]. Think about that: if you expose to the world previously unknown evidence of widespread wanton killing of civilians (as Manning allegedly did), then you will end up in the same place as someone who actually engages in the mass wanton killing of civilians (as Bales allegedly did), except that the one who committed atrocities will receive better treatment than the one who exposed them. That’s a nice reflection of our government’s value system (similar to the way that high government officials who commit egregious crimes are immunized, while those who expose them are aggressively prosecuted).

  Glenn Greenwald

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Compare and Contrast

Here’s a summary of the Western media discussion of what motivated U.S. Staff Sgt. Robert Bales to allegedly kill 16 Afghans, including 9 children: he was drunk, he was experiencing financial stress, he was passed over for a promotion, he had a traumatic brain injury, he had marital problems, he suffered from the stresses of four tours of duty, he “saw his buddy’s leg blown off the day before the massacre,” etc.

Here’s a summary of the Western media discussion of what motivates Muslims to kill Americans: they are primitive, fanatically religious, hateful Terrorists.

[...]

Note, too, that in the case of Sgt. Bales (or any other cases of American violence against Muslims), people have little difficulty understanding the distinction between (a) discussing and trying to understand the underlying motives of the act (causation) and (b) defending the act (justification). But that same distinction completely evaporates when it comes to Muslim violence against Americans. Those who attempt to understand or explain the act — they’re responding to American violence in their country; they are traumatized and angry at the continuous deaths of Muslim children and innocent adults; they’ve calculated that striking at Americans is the only way to deter further American aggression in their part of the world — are immediately accused of mitigating, justifying or even defending Terrorism.

  Glenn Greenwald

[The] US almost immediately whisked the accused out of Afghanistan and brought him to an American army base in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

The rapid exclusion of Afghans from the process of trying the accused shooter has, predictably and understandably, exacerbated the growing anti-American anger in that country.

[...]

President Obama's most swooning supporters love to credit him with "ending the war in Iraq," but that is simply not what happened. It was President Bush who entered into an agreement with the Iraqi government mandating the removal of all US forces by the end of 2011. Rather than comply with that agreement, the Obama administration tried desperately to persuade and pressure the Iraqis to allow American troops to remain beyond that deadline. But those efforts failed because of one cause: the refusal (or, more accurately, the inability) of the Malaki government to agree that US troops would be immunized and shielded from Iraqi law for any future crimes they commit on Iraqi soil.

[...]

That was the imperial principle that finally compelled America's withdrawal from Iraq, and it is apparently what caused the US to quickly remove the accused shooter from Afghanistan.

  Glenn Greenwald

"Rogue" Soldier Update

[Staff Sergeant Robert] Bales is a highly decorated soldier and trained sniper who had served four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[...]

What precisely happened to the "good, fun guy" – as Bales's neighbours described him – will be the focus of his defence amid suggestions both from officials and his own lawyer, John Henry Browne, that they would suggest that post traumatic stress disorder may have been a contributory factor.

[...]

The picture of Bales that is emerging is a long way from the man who spoke to the Northwest Guardian three years ago after the battle of Zarqa in Iraq, when he insisted that what differentiated soldiers like him from those they were fighting was the ability to distinguish between combatants and civilians. "I've never been more proud to be a part of this unit than that day," Bales said in that article. "We discriminated between the bad guys and the non-combatants, and then afterwards we ended up helping the people who three or four hours before were trying to kill us.

"I think that's the real difference between being an American as opposed to being a bad guy, someone who puts his family in harm's way like that." If there was any hint that Bales was suffering problems, it was not picked up. He had been charged with assault in 2002 and asked to attend an anger management course, while in 2008 he is reported to have fled the scene of a car crash.

And in the end, and by his own criteria, it appears that Bales became one of the bad guys.

  UK Guardian

Wait a minute. “Became” one of the bad guys? Not suffering problems. Assault, anger management class, fled the scene of an accident (or, at least I'm supposing it was an accident). Do those things paint a picture of a “good guy”?  (Not to mention someone who sees himself and his fellow Americans as the good guys "as opposed to being a bad guy.")

I'd think the “hint” of problems would be any of that list of things immediately following the statement that there wasn't any hint of problems. I don't know if it's me or the reporter who's having a disconnect here, but I think it's the reporter.

The killings in Afghanistan have come amid escalating concern over an epidemic of suicides and PTSD among US military veterans of the decade-long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Last Wednesday another Iraq veteran, Abel Gutierrez, killed himself after murdering his 11-year old sister and his mother after police said "he just snapped" having suffered nightmares and periods of aggression since his return to the US.

[...]

[A]ccording to a recent study by the US Armed Forces Health Surveillance Centre in Silver Spring, Maryland, PTSD during a third deployment is double the rate, among male members of the armed forces, than that found after a single combat deployment. While its incidence appears to decline in fourth deployments, that is only because of the significant dropout after three tours of those already diagnosed with problems.

And the drop dead of those whose luck ran out on that fourth deployment.

"Rogue Soldier" Update

The American soldier accused of killing 16 civilians in Afghanistan last weekend is Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, a US official said on Friday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to provide additional details about the soldier.

[...]

Bales has not yet been charged in the incident.

  UK Guardian

I can only guess that after three tours and injuries in Iraq, just having been sent to an even more savage front in Afghanistan and seeing a fellow soldier's leg blown off, Staff Sergeant Bales believed an American prison (or possibly a psych ward) would be preferable to the hellhole he was now in. Or maybe he had truly "snapped" as is being said of him. Or, like the Ft. Lewis club before him that went out killing for kicks, he is just another sick American psycopath. That seems less likely to me than other possibilities, but I suppose time will reveal more as the defense and the prosecution gear up.

It strikes me that in comparing the military's treatment of these soldier murderers and the group at Abu Ghraib prison with its treatment of Brad Manning, that in effect the military is letting its personnel know that it condones, if not encourages, the abuse, torture and killing of Iraqis and Afghanis, including civilians.

Bales was flown from Kuwait to a military base in Kansas where he will be held in solitary confinement awaiting charges, the US army said.

"The Army confirms that Staff Sergeant Robert Bales was transferred to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Bales is being held in pre-trial confinement," the army said in a statement on Friday.

[...]

A senior US defence official said the suspect was drinking alcohol in the hours before the attack on villagers, violating a US military order banning alcohol in war zones.

  alJazeera

Laying the groundwork for the Army's rebuttal to Bales' attorney's attempt to blame the Army for Bales' actions.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai complained earlier on Friday that the US military had not co-operated with the Afghan team dispatched to investigate the massacre.

Yeah, the Army doesn't cooperate that well with outside investigations from anyone.

The leader of the delegation investigation the massacre said he wanted to ask the soldier whether he acted alone, or was part of a team, as has repeatedly been claimed by tribal elders who believe that a single gunman could not have killed so many people and in different places some distance apart.

“They killed so many of our loved ones, and do you have an answer why?” one elder asked Karzai. The president said he did not.

"I don't want any compensation. I don't want money, I don't want a trip to Hajj [pilgrimage], I don't want a house. I want nothing but the punishment of the Americans.” [...] another elder said.

Giving us a nicely laid out summary of the usual response to Afghans when we blow up innocent civilians.

The leaders insisted the soldier met no resistance because villagers were used to frequent night raids, as reported earlier by Al Jazeera.

"They bring our own Afghan soldiers to secure them as they break down our doors like animals. If you resist, they will shoot you. And if you don’t resist, they will put a hood over your head and take you to Bagram,” another elder said.

[...]

Karzai once again reiterated that he would hold the US accountable and make sure the soldier was brought to justice.

"This has been going on for too long. This is by all means the end of the rope here,'' Karzai told reporters. “This form of activity, this behaviour, cannot be tolerated. It's past, past, past the time.'

[...]

Karzai met the elders a day after he demanded foreign forces pull back from Afghan villages. He also called for the full transfer of security responsibility to Afghan forces be completed one year ahead of the announced schedule in 2013.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The Unknown Serial Killer Soldier

The Unknown Soldier used to be a symbol of all our noble, self-less, American heroes-in-uniform, who put their lives on the line to protect the nation: now that we have entered the age of imperialism, he has become the Unknown Serial Killer, whose identity is kept secret as he’s rushed out of the country to escape the wrath of his victims’ families.

[...]

The Unknown Serial Killer isn’t the only one around here having a breakdown: our entire political and economic system is currently experiencing a massive breakdown, one that threatens to upend the country and plunge us into a dark age from which we may not soon emerge. His actions reflect the larger crisis of political and moral coherence gnawing at the very foundations of American civilization and threatening the peace of the world. How else could our politicians be clamoring for more war when the American public wants nothing to do with it? How else could I be hearing a Fox News "legal analyst" named Kimberly make excuses for a child-killing maniac on national television?

[...]

Think of it: he went out in the dead of night, at three in the morning, armed to the teeth, and snuck into a village where sleeping children were cradled in their beds. Taking careful aim, he knelt and started firing: one after another these young girls and boys had their heads blown off. One news account described a bullet hole right between the eyes of one young victim. That’s some pretty good shooting there, soldier: all that training, financed by the US taxpayers, paid off! His work there finished, our serial killer went to another house, where he repeated his grisly work.

  Justin Raimondo

I don't think that's the way the media will be playing it.

"Rogue Soldier" Update

He will now be media cast as "Victim Soldier" ....

The US soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers was upset by a serious injury sustained by an army comrade the day before the massacre, but held no animosity toward Muslims, his lawyer has said.

The 38-year-old army sergeant, being held in Kuwait, was also unhappy about being sent to Afghanistan, having earlier been told he would not be redeployed after three tours in Iraq, according to his Seattle-based civilian attorney.

  Raw Story

Wow. I'm guessing either this is not a highly paid lawyer, or he's got more up his sleeve. “Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, my client was unhappy and upset, but he harbors no grudge against Muslims.”

The soldier, a married father-of-two is not being named, and his family has moved to a military base south of Seattle because of security fears and concerns about possible retaliation for the attack.

No, they did it because their lawyer figured it would get more publicity and help his cause. Who the hell in this country is going to retaliate? Has any one of the war criminals to date been retaliated against on American soil?

“We have been informed that at this small base that he was at, somebody was gravely injured the day before the alleged incident, which affects all of the soldiers there,” attorney John Henry Browne said in Seattle on Thursday.

Yes, but not all of them went out and slaughtered innocent people in the middle of the night.

The New York Times said the suspect, a career soldier originally from the Midwest, had been drinking at the time of the shootings, was stressed over his fourth deployment and had been experiencing tensions with his wife.

Now, that makes more sense. He couldn't get at the wife.

But the Seattle lawyer, who has taken on high-profile cases before, questioned the report, saying there were no marital problems although stress could be a factor.

[...]

Browne is known for representing Colton Harris-Moore, the so-called “Barefoot Bandit,” who was found guilty of a string of audacious crimes across the United States and sentenced in January to six-and-a-half years in prison.

Let it be noted that Harris-Moore's crimes did not include murder or bodily injury to anyone, mostly they were stolen property and breaking and entering. Mostly he pissed people off because he evaded capture for two years. And he got six-and-a-half years for it. How good is this lawyer?

Well, at least he has more than just, “Your honor, my client was unhappy.” A lot more. Why in hell was this guy redeployed to Afghanistan?

The soldier had been injured twice during his three previous deployments to Iraq and was loathe to go to Afghanistan to begin with, Browne said.

In Iraq he had suffered a concussive head injury in a car accident caused by a roadside bomb, and sustained a battle-related injury that resulted in surgery to remove part of his foot.

  UK Guardian

And Browne's also setting the rest of the stage props, by moving the family, and shaping the backstory.

Browne and his co-counsel, Emma Scanlan, said they had met with the soldier's wife and other family members, and Browne said he spoke briefly by phone with the soldier, whom he described as stunned and distant. "[The family] were totally shocked," he said. "He's never said anything antagonistic about Muslims. He's in general very mild-mannered."

Browne said he knew little of the facts of the shooting but disputed reports that a combination of alcohol, stress and domestic issues caused him to snap. He said the family were unaware of any drinking problem and described the couple's marriage as "fabulous".

Fabulous, as any marriage might be expected to be considering the circumstances of the soldier's lot.

So maybe this lawyer isn't just a local yokel from Seattle, eh?

Browne once defended the serial killer Ted Bundy and recently represented Colton Harris-Moore, a youthful thief known as the Barefoot Bandit.

Oh-ho.  Ted Bundy.

Lieutenant Colonel Gary Dangerfield, a spokesman at the Lewis-McChord base, said the Pentagon would not release the name of the soldier until he was formally charged.

  UK Guardian

And he will not be charged until the Pentagon has had the scene, the evidence, and the witnesses (both eye and character) scrubbed as thoroughly as possible.  And that fellow soldier (the most likely source) who said the guy was having wife troubles will either shut up or recant.

This Kind of Case

The US soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers in a pre-dawn shooting spree has been flown out to Kuwait from  Afghanistan.

[...]

"We do not have appropriate detention facilities in Afghanistan," Kirby said, explaining that he was referring to a facility for a US service member "in this kind of case".

  alJazeera

No, I guess not.

So Leon Panetta flew to Afghanistan to talk to Karzai and to give a pep talk to the US troops.

The US marines who gathered at the tent to hear Panetta were asked to leave their weapons outside.

They don't even trust the soldiers to not kill their own leaders, but they're telling the world this latest killing was just another aberration.

Also, there was an attempted attack on the runway near the base when Panetta landed. The report doesn't say who made the attempt.

Who Are We

[Pentagon spokesman George] Little said the US Army sergeant alleged to have committed the Afghan killings is in his 30s, served three tours of duty in Iraq, and was deployed in Afghanistan for the first time.

“This is an isolated incident and we will pursue accountability for the alleged actions of this service member,” he said.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton added her voice to the revulsion at the killings, after Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called Afghan President Hamid Karzai to offer their condolences on Sunday.

“This is not who we are and the United States is committed to seeing that those who are responsible are held accountable,” said Clinton, speaking at the United Nations. She described the incident as “terrible” and “awful.”

  Raw Story

”An isolated incident.” “This is not who we are.” A few bad apples. How many times have they said that? You'd think after a while they'd figure out that indeed, this is who we are. I know the rest of the world has.

David Cameron and Barack Obama will on Wednesday agree to tentative plans for British and US troops to end their “lead combat role” in Afghanistan by the middle of next year.

[...]

Amid fears among Nato commanders in Afghanistan that the troop “draw down” may be moving too rapidly, the two leaders will discuss plans for British and US troops to move from “lead combat” to a support and training role by the middle of 2013. This could involve what is being described as a “support combat role”, though all Nato troops except those involved in training Afghan forces are due to be withdrawn by the end of 2014.

Cameron and Obama will hold discussions at the Oval Office on Wednesday, the most substantive part of a three-day official visit by the prime minister to the US, which begins on Tuesday. The president will signal a rekindling of the “special relationship” by welcoming Cameron to the White House with a 19-gun salute and a state dinner.

  Raw Story

Because pomp and pageantry between heads of state symbolizes democracy so aptly.

The White House talks on Afghanistan come amid warnings from Nato’s International Security and Assistance Force (Isaf) that it would be wrong for a change in western military tactics to be accompanied by an accelerated withdrawal.

[...]

[Military c]ommanders are anxious that Obama is saving up a voter-pleasing announcement as he enters the last six months before the presidential election in November.

Because it would be a terrible thing for a president of a democracy to bend to the will of the people.

Update on the "Rogue" Soldier

Australian troops are on high alert for revenge attacks after the cold-blooded murder of 16 innocent Afghan civilians by a rogue American soldier.

[...]

After Sunday's shootings Australian commanding officers issued directives to troops to wear body armour at all times and mount extra security at night.

  Herald Sun. AU

I'm going to guess that the other NATO troops are feeling about the same way about US troops these days as the Afghan citizens.

Diplomatic and civilian premises in Kabul have been battened down tightly as the coalition braces for reprisals from the Taliban or even angry Afghan National Army troops or police.

Ah yes, the possibility that all our training of Afghan police and soldiers might actually be turned against us with enough of these types of incidents. There is already a sizable portion of them that drop out to join the Taliban (which they may already belong to when they enlist).

An angry President Karzai described the murders as "unforgivable".

He said a wounded 16-year-old, who had been shot in the leg, told him by phone that the soldier entered their home in the dark, woke up his family members and shot them.

[...]

The lone gunman, a staff sergeant, has been detained and questioned about the killings near Kandahar.

The 25-year veteran was attached to a special forces unit involved in village stabilisation - or "armed neighbourhood watch".

[...]

His home base [at Fort Lewis, Washington] was also the base for four soldiers convicted in the thrill killings of three Afghan civilians in 2010.

U.S. officials identified an army staff sergeant as the shooter and said he acted alone. But some villagers and Afghan officials are skeptical that one soldier could have amassed such a death toll on his own, and others may haven been involved.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai also raised doubts in a statement in which he at first confirmed that a single U.S. gunman was responsible but later referred to “American forces” entering houses.

[...]

The Taliban released a statement that vowed revenge for the killings.

  Voice of America

Little is known about the soldier who committed the atrocities, including his name, but a U.S. official said he is married with three children, and served three separate tours in Iraq.

He was assigned to support a special operations unit of either Green Berets or Navy SEALs engaged in a village stability operation.

Such operations are among NATO's best hopes for transitioning out of Afghanistan, pairing special operations troops with villagers chosen by village elders to become essentially a sanctioned, armed neighbourhood watch.

[...]

An AP photographer reported that he saw 15 bodies of Afghans - some of them burned and some covered with blankets - in the villages of Alkozai and Balandi in Kandahar province's Panjwai district.

[...]

Neighbours said they had awoken to crackling gunfire from American soldiers, who they described as laughing and drunk.

'They were all drunk and shooting all over the place,' said Agha Lala, who visited one of the homes where killings took place. 'Their [the victims'] bodies were riddled with bullets.'

A senior U.S. defence official in Washington rejected witness accounts that several apparently drunk soldiers were involved.

  Daily Mail. UK

Of course he did.

'This is an anti-human and anti-Islamic act,' said Mr Khan.  'Nobody is allowed in any religion in the world to kill children and women.'

He can be forgiven for not understanding Christians.

For the Love of God, Can We Leave Now?

A US soldier has killed more than a dozen civilians in a shooting spree in southern Afghanistan before being detained, officials say.

A member of the Kandahar provincial council who visited the site of the shooting in Panjwai district told Al Jazeera that at least 17 civilians were killed when the soldier left his base early on Sunday morning and opened fire.

[...]

"The soldier went through three separate houses, shooting at people as they slept in their beds. After the soldier shot these people, he turned himself in."

  alJazeera

UPDATE

There were 16 bodies -- including women and children -- in three Afghan houses in two villages only 500m from the US base in Panjwayi district in southern Kandahar province.

In one house in village of Alkozai there were 10 burned bodies, including women and at least two children aged two or three, in one room. The body of another woman was lying at the entrance to the house.

[...]

One other person died in a second house in Alkozai while four more were killed in nearby Najeeban village.

[...]

NATO's International Security Assistance Force said it has arrested a soldier "in connection to an incident that resulted in Afghan casualties in Kandahar province".

A spokesman for Kandahar Governor Ahmad Jawed Faysal, said the soldier walked off his base and started shooting at 3am (9.30am AEDT).

[...]

NATO officials apologised for the shootings.

  The Australian

Apologized. They always do. I'm sure it makes everything okay with the Afghanis.

The soldier has not been named, but is thought to be a staff sergeant.

[...]

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in a speech on Sunday that his government still expects to sign a strategic partnership with the United States in the next couple of months.

  BBC

He maybe ought to do it sooner than later before the entire country rises up and heads to his house.