RT NewsA military jury has sentenced the United States soldier responsible for the ambush on two Afghan villages last year that left 16 civilians dead to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
One day after Staff Sgt. Robert Bales apologized in court for the 2012 rampage, a jury said Friday that he’ll have to spend the rest of his life behind bars without the option of ever petition for his release.
Bales was the only soldier involved in storming two small Afghan villages before dawn on the morning of March 11, 2012. He pleaded guilty to the murders earlier this year in exchange for a deal that let him escape the possibility of being executed for the crimes. In turn, the jury was asked to determine whether Bales should be sentenced to life in prison with or without the option of an eventual release pending good behavior. On Friday, the jury elected to decide the latter.
“What I did is an act of cowardice,” Bales said at his court-martial on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington on Thursday. “I’m a mass of fear and bullshit and bravado. I’m truly, truly sorry to those people whose families got taken away.”
Earlier in the proceedings, Army prosecutors called on witnesses to testify against Bales, including the family members of those killed during the rampage.
“What did I do wrong against Sgt. Bales that he shot my father?” a 5-year-old child identified as Kahn asked the court, the LA Times reported.
“There’s not a good reason in this world for why I did the horrible things I did,” Bales said when he entered his guilty plea this past June.
Bales, 40, is a father of two and served three tours in the Iraq War before last year’s rampage in the villages of Balandi and Alkozai in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. Although he apologized to the court and his victims during a statement earlier this week, prosecutors called into question Bales’ sincerity and said they had a recording of him laughing about the charges during a phone call with his wife.
“I’m a mass of fear and bullshit and bravado. I’m truly, truly sorry to those people whose families got taken away,” he said Thursday.
Sentencing in the Bales case was announced moments after jurors on a court-martial in Texas convicted Army Maj. Nidal Hasan on 16 counts of murder and 32 counts of attempted murder for a 2009 massacre at the Fort Hood military base. Following the penalty phase of the proceedings, Hasan could be sentenced to death for his crimes.
Ok…let me see if I have this right. Manning gets 35 years in prison for exposing war crimes perpetrated by U.S. military. Not only exposing it but it’s on video of U.S. military gunning down unarmed civilians and children from a helicopter…ON VIDEO.
Now Sgt. Bales gets a life sentence for going off the reservation and killing innocent civilians?
What happened to the soldiers in the helicopter killing innocent civilians and children? Am I the only one smelling the hypocrisy? Is it a juxtaposition of sanctioned killing verses un-sanctioned killing? Is it because Manning exposed the crimes verses Sgt. Bales who said “yeah…I did it”????
I’ll answer my own questions…there is no Law. There is no Justice. You can’t win a war on terror for the simple fact that war is terror. The PTB are fighting themselves and dragging the rest of us into oblivion with them.
I do not buy this one bit, the ONLY one responsible? Last time I checked NO ONE goes in alone, NO ONE! They go in FIRETEAMS or SQUADS, especially in a village. So we are supposed to believe this guy went Rambo TWO times in two different villages as if this is NORMAL? I do not buy it, there were A LOT more responsible but this is their way of trying to keep up the old lie of “there are only a few bad apples.”
F#@k him! He should be cut up into 16 pieces.
The honorable duty of killing the enemy in war should NEVER be confused with the evil, vile, wonton murder of non-combatants.
I spit on this demonic psycho. He dishonors every noble warrior that wears the uniform and selfishly puts all such good men in grave jeopardy regarding their treatment under the Geneva Convention should they be captured and taken prisoner.
F#@k him!
James, I will not assume that you believe everything you read(cough). Were you there? Done three tours? You and George, and Dick, and Mitt, and Donald should all go there with your weapons and rucksacks, while holding hands. If you are lucky enough to come back, then talk smack.
General Jooodaaa,
While entirely avoiding rational rebuttal to the points regarding ethical conduct in war and its ramifications to fellow troops, you do elect to engage entirely and solely in ridicule. That smell is a familiar one…
“Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counteract ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.”
— Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky (Jew)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_for_Radicals
You may now pick up your thirty shekels awaiting you at the front desk for services rendered.
LOL….Jews and radicals? You can have the 30 shekels and stick them. You, obviously, are the one that will give up Liberty to save your own ass. Ridicule can be ignored/and/or refuted. Real combat time……..well…….. I don’t think you would ever, never know or even have a clue. OK with me if you had 30 shekels for every soldier(or civilian) that has died for lies and deception. Spend it on an education.
Hey there James W. When you ridicule some one you are being a common A-Hole and you are asking to get F`ed up. You want to ridicule somebody or trying to be a jerk with somebody then I hope that they take your balls and ripp them off with their own hands and stuff your balls right down your arrogant throat. I am not taking sides here but get a life and think about it James.
James Woroble Jr.
http://www.fromthetrenchesworldreport.com/defense-department-guide-calls-founding-fathers-extremist/55039
“The Obama administration has a nasty habit of equating basic conservative values with terrorism. And now, in a document full of claptrap, its Defense Department suggests that the Founding Fathers, and many conservative Americans, would not be welcome in today’s military,” said Fitton. ”And it is striking that some the language in this new document echoes the IRS targeting language of conservative and Tea Party investigations. After reviewing this document, one can’t help but worry for the future and morale of our nation’s armed forces.”
James, how would you like a ride on the next drone missile that hits a farming village? POS Idiot.
James Woroble jr.
My post below lets you know where our military now stands.
While you may be right, we won’t know how many, if any lives were saved by Staff Sgt. Robert Bales.
My Dad who served during the Korean “Conflict” didn’t tell me about anyone he saved.
Approached by a man (In a grocery parking lot after speaking with my Dad) do you know who that guy is? Yeah, my Dad. “He saved my life”…………………………………………..
How many more had he saved?
Well, Hell this post didn’t go where it was supposed to. Sorry!
Is it too late to really see what is going on, here in the good old Zionist Nation of America? What is it exactly that these young men and women are trained to do in the military? I’m talking about 18-21 year olds. Just kids in my eyes. Let me answer my own question……………Trained to be subordinate to authority, respect authority without question, kill, maim, acquire land and resources, WITHOUT QUESTION!!!. This is how they are “broken-down” and then, retrained. Do as you are told, or, the best thing to happen is a huge “authority” in your face humiliating you. Why do you think our soldiers are loosing it and committing suicide in record numbers? This man is not a young kid. Would you rather kill someone you don’t even know in a foreign country or get jailed and publicly humiliated in front of your family and countrymen? Just asking. I agree with Vekar, Bales is not alone in this. A whole “army” of people are with him. Thing is, the real killers at the top of command get pardons/promotions. Kinda’ makes you feel sick? It should. Syria is about to be the next shame on Zionist America. I’m pissed. I used to be proud of America. NO MORE…….NO MORE…………War Criminals are not people like Bales. Go figure. It is much higher up than that. The people that don’t have a dam clue about actually being in a battle need to go for three tours The warmongers need to go to the frontline, hopefully, they will come back with a totally new outlook, if that is, they come back at all. Yet, sometimes I am just full of wishful thinking.
And how about O-bomb-a?? How many innocents have been killed by the drones that he signs off on, including an American who was not given a chance for a trial, and his 16 year old AMERICAN son whose only crime was to share some genetic material with his father?? As Smedley Butler said “war is a racket”, and a deadly one at that. All these wars for the Zionist bankster gangsters are only for their pockets. The “cannon fodder”, as noted by Henry Kissinger, bear the brunt of all the atrocities of war. We need a whole lot of good strong hemp rope for the day when justice is handed out to the REAL war criminals
Save the rope for something useful and just starve them to death. Well……I dunno, we could reuse the rope….over and over…again….
This is a start, now let us get to all of the people that was in the Bush administration, the AKA administration.
Richard….do you mean the cabal that started all this? Need to work from the top down, I would think. Let’s start with the Rothschilds., who just happen to own 70% or so of the worlds wealth. And…….they don’t wanna’ share. The greedy bastards could do wonders if they wanted to. Problem is, “IT’S ALL MINE AND F#&K YOU” attitude. What will they do when it’s all gone? Thanks to Fukushima, and, the next nuclear breakdown, our ancestors will be looking like ET. That is, if anyone is left.