Murder in Afghanistan

Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales named as suspect in Afghanistan massacre.

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, left, in Fort Irwin, CA 2011. (U.S. Army)

(MELBOURNE) - The revelation of Sgt. Bales’ identity comes (The Lookout) after criticism from Afghan President Hamid Karzai about the lack of U.S. cooperation in investigating the massacre. Karzai also questioned whether just one American soldier was involved.

I guess the Sgt. Bales identity has broken and is all over the web and Front Pages by now. (This Ain’t Hell)

This is a massive coverup for negligent failure of leadership, and an attempt to hide a major control and command problem in a runaway renegade Army which is operating on the verge of “out of control” and “out of command.”

In his exchange with President Obama, President Karzai mentions that Obama asked him whether he had “seen the video.” “The Video” which the US Army claims came from the security cameras at the “Fort” showing evidence of the “lone, single perpetrator of the murders” surrendering with his hands in the air to the sentries as he returned to the gate.

As if it proved anything, Karzai responded by questioning the legitimacy of the video as a forgery or staged video.

He said, and I paraphrase, that when he asserted to Obama that he had evidence that more than one man did the jobs, that Obama became upset, impatient and terse with him, and belligerently asked had he not seen “the evidence” (of the one man scenario) in the security video from the CCTV cameras at the gate, to which he replied, “You mean the alleged video?”

It is unlikely that anyone in the general public will ever see the video inasmuch as every time the US or Israel has tried to use videos to prove an event they have always fallen apart under technological examination as forgeries. And, you can wager that, if you ever get to see this one, the features of the “individual” will be too obscure to make positive identity possible.

Against this “evidence,” Karzai has the testimony of a large number of people who were witnesses at the scene of the murders.

Honestly, I would believe any Afghan, however incredible his story, before I would believe anything uttered by a lackey of the DOD or the IDF for that matter. It is a case of proven liars versus innocent victims.

Afghan leader blasts US over probe into shootings

By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Warning he’s at the “end of the rope” over civilian casualties, Afghanistan’s president angrily accused the U.S. on Friday of not sharing information about how an American soldier allegedly shot and killed 16 Afghans in two villages.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai listens to speeches of a family member,unseen, of Afghan civilians who were killed Sunday by a US soldier in Panjwai in Kandahar province at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, March 16, 2012. Afghan President Hamid Karzai lashed out at the United States on Friday, saying he is at the “the end of the rope” because of the lack of U.S. cooperation into a probe of a killing spree allegedly carried out by an American soldier. (AP Photo/Ahmad Jamshid)

The incident has reverberated through the already complicated relations between the U.S. and Afghanistan, endangering talks over a long-term relationship after most U.S. and NATO combat troops withdraw by the end of 2014.

In an emotional meeting with relatives of the shooting victims, Karzai said the villagers’ accounts of the massacre were widely different from the scenario depicted by U.S. military officials. The relatives and villagers insisted that it was impossible for one gunmen to kill nine children, four men and three women in three houses of two villages near a U.S. combat outpost in southern Afghanistan.

Karzai pointed to one of the villagers from Panjwai district of Kandahar province and said:

“In his family, in four rooms people were killed — children and women were killed — and then they were all brought together in one room and then set on fire. That, one man cannot do.”

Karzai said the delegation he sent to Kandahar province to investigate the shootings did not receive the expected cooperation from the United States. He said many questions remained about what occurred, and he would be raising the questions with the U.S. military “very loudly.”

The U.S. military had no comment on Karzai’s remarks.

Read the full report here: The Salt Lake Tribune

More sources:

• Soldier accused in Afghan massacre ID’d

• Taliban talks off; Karzai tells NATO to pull back

• Karzai Lashes Out at NATO Over Deaths

Special thanks to MyCatBirdSeat.com