Political India: Engaging America

From The Hindu

It might have been the U.S. army's sheer embarrassment or perhaps a desire to protect the family of the suspect. But whatever it was, the Pentagon's clumsy attempt to wipe their websites clean of all fingerprints leading to the Afghan civilian massacre suspect, Staff Sergeant Robert Bales (38), only raised more questions about the army's motives.


With some questioning why five days had passed before the Pentagon identified Bales as the suspected killer of a group of Afghans including nine children and three women, the army's fumbling attempt to delete photographs and information about Bales' military service proved futile. A personal blog by Bales' wife Karilyn was also discovered.

With cached pages and other sources of information available online to those skilled in the art of data mining on the Internet, McClatchy news reported that within minutes of the Pentagon leaking Bales' name last Friday, “news organizations and others found and published his pictures, the account of the battle — which depicts Bales and other soldiers in a glowing light — and excerpts from his wife's personal blog.”

According to reports quoting unnamed military officials, the thinking behind the attempted deletions was that “Protecting a military family has to be a priority.” That official reportedly added, “I think the feeding frenzy we saw after his name was released was evidence that we were right to try. ... Of course the pages are cached; we know that. But we owe it to the wife and kids to do what we can.”

With the nation riveted by the question of Bales' motive for embarking on the alleged shooting spree, news emerged on Thursday that a U.S. defence official had said the number of fatalities was not 16, as the army had insisted it was for the past week, but 17. No explanation was provided yet for why the toll had risen.

Meanwhile media outlets managed to obtain court records that reportedly showed that Bales ad been prosecuted 10 years ago for assaulting a security guard at a casino in Tacoma, Washington state. “The charges, filed in local court there, were dismissed after Bales attended 20 hours of anger management courses,” a report in the Chicago Tribune noted.

In her blog, simply titled “The Bales Family,” Karilyn Bales had, until recently, written mainly about the joys of married life and the frustrations of being a military spouse. Yet her more recent entry was in stark contrast to these, as she spoke of the Afghan killings.

As reported by ABC News Mrs. Bales said, “What happened on the night of March 11 in Kandahar Province was a terrible and heartbreaking tragedy... My family including my and Bob's extended families are all profoundly sad. We extend our condolences to all the people of the Panjawai District, our hearts go out to all of them, especially to the parents, brothers, sisters and grandparents of the children who perished.”

She also asked for privacy, saying “Our family has little information beyond what we read and see in the media. What has been reported is completely out of character of the man I know and admire. Please respect me when I say I cannot shed any light on what happened that night, so please do not ask. I too want to know what happened. I want to know how this could be.”

From The Hindu

The attorney of Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, the only suspect so far in the killing of 16 Afghan civilians, including nine women and three children, earlier this month, has questioned the case against Bales saying there was “no forensic evidence” of his client's actions.


Bales, who was hastily pulled out of Afghanistan and whisked back home to a prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, has been held in an isolated cell. He was said to have met his attorney, John Henry Browne, for over 11 hours over two days. While the killings led to angry protests in several parts of Afghanistan, the Obama administration indicated that it would not set back U.S. plans to draw down troops by 2014. Yet combined with the Koran-burning incident last month there is a growing perception that U.S.-Afghan relations are in a tail-spin.

Mr. Browne told media, “I don't know about the evidence in this case. I don't know that the government is going to prove much. There's no forensic evidence. There's no confessions.” He added that he was not saying that “we're not taking responsibility for this in the right way, at the right time. But for now, I'm interested in what the evidence is.”

Mr. Browne is renowned for defending, and some argue humanising, those who have been described as notorious criminals, including serial killer Ted Bundy and the teenage thief known as the Barefoot Bandit.

The attorney also alluded to broader legal, social and political issues associated with the case and its prosecution. He said, “I'm not putting the war on trial, but the war is on trial.”

Bales is expecting to be charged in the case this week, according to reports.

From The Hindu

Robert Bales, Staff Sergeant alleged to have killed 16 Afghan civilians — including nine women and three children — to death may be charged within a week, according to reports.


Even as the incident rocked U.S.-Afghan relations and inflamed passions in a country already stinging from last month's Koran-burning episode, Afghan President Hamid Karzai questioned the theory that Bales acted alone.

The U.S. army pulled Bales off Afghan soil last week and, after a brief stopover in Kuwait, brought him back to a prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

While he is held in solitary confinement there, he may have the opportunity to meet his family, who were moved out of their home in Lake Tapps near the Tacoma area of Washington State for safety.

Family stunned

His family was said to be “stunned in the face of this tragedy, but they stand behind the man they know as a devoted husband, father and dedicated member of the armed services,” according to attorney Emma Scanlan.

Meanwhile, the Guardian quoted a legal expert with the U.S. military saying charges against Bales “are expected to be filed within a week, and any trial would be held in the U.S.”

The news on Bales' trial came as U.S.-Afghan relations appeared to suffer from a widening trust deficit and Mr. Karzai was quoted saying to a group of journalists, “In four rooms people were killed, children and women were killed, and then they were all brought together in one room and then put on fire; that one man cannot do.”

From The Hindu

The U.S. army has identified the soldier allegedly behind the killing of 16 Afghan civilians, mostly women and children, as Staff Sergeant Robert Bales (38) from Lake Tapps near the Tacoma area of Washington state.


Bales is currently being held in solitary pre-trial confinement at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, home to another well-known prisoner, Private Bradley Manning, accused of supplying government data to WikiLeaks. On Friday officials confirmed that Bales had been flown out of Kuwait, even as Afghan President Hamid Karzai expressed outrage at his removal from Afghan soil.

The Staff Sergeant, who was said to have gone on a shooting spree after walking off his base in Kandahar Province’s Panjwai district, is a father of two. According to reports, Bales’ wife and children were moved from their home in Lake Tapps to Joint Base Lewis-McChord earlier this week, for their safety.

With reports suggesting that in most cases the victims of the Kandahar attack had either been shot or stabbed and then set on fire, passions have run high in Afghanistan since last weekend and Mr. Karzai openly accused the U.S. of not adequately cooperating on an investigation into the killings.

While the Obama administration has indicated that this would not set back U.S. plans to draw down troops by 2014, there is a strong perception that combined with the Koran-burning incident last month U.S.-Afghan relations are in a tail-spin.

Meanwhile Bales’ attorney, John Henry Browne, said that he had joined the U.S. Army shortly after the 9/11 attacks and was assigned to the Third Stryker Brigade in the Second Infantry Division. The New York Times quoted an unnamed U.S. government official who discussed possible motives for the violent killings saying that Bales had been drinking alcohol before the killings and that he might have had marital problems.

“When it all comes out, it will be a combination of stress, alcohol and domestic issues — he just snapped,” the official added. Mr. Browne however dismissed allegations of alcohol and domestic issues, attributing Bales’ stress to post-traumatic stress disorder, according to reports.

Describing PTSD as a mitigating factor Mr. Browne was quoted as saying “It is commonly used in military defence.” He noted that Bales was unhappy about returning to combat after being wounded twice in Iraq.

According to the U.S. Army, Bales spent 37 months on three separate deployments in Iraq between 2003 and 2010, and Mr. Browne said Bales “had seen a comrade's leg blown off the day before the massacre.”

From The Hindu

The United States administration has gone into a hyperactive damage-control mode following the weekend rampage by a U.S. military serviceman, who allegedly shot dead 16 Afghan civilians, nine of whom were said to be children.


While he stopped short of using the word “apology”, President Barack Obama said in a statement that he was “deeply saddened by the reported killing and wounding of Afghan civilians”, and offered his condolences to their families.

Mr. Obama described the incident as “tragic and shocking”, words that were echoed by senior military officials such as International Security Assistance Force Commander General John Allen.

Mr. Obama also spoke to Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday and promised a speedy response. According to a White House statement, Mr. Obama said on the phone to Mr. Karzai that his administration was committed to establishing the facts “as quickly as possible and to hold fully accountable anyone responsible”.

Defence Secretary Leon Panetta also spoke to Mr. Karzai to confirm that a full investigation was “already underway... a suspect is in custody”. He condemned such violence and said the “U.S. service member... alleged to be involved [was] clearly acting outside his chain of command”.

Other top military commanders, including General Allen and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey spoke of their shock and sadness at the shootings. In a Facebook post, General Dempsey said, “I'm confident that General Allen and his staff are taking the appropriate steps to quickly and thoroughly investigate the circumstances of this incident.”

From The Hindu

Tensions relating to Afghanistan again erupted at the highest political levels this week when Afghan President Hamid Karzai reacted angrily to civilian casualties in NATO strikes, warning the United States in particular that if they did not stop immediately his government would take “unilateral action” by way of response.

NATO officials admitted that their air strike last Friday against a residential compound in the restive Helmand province “inadvertently killed at least nine civilians.” Yet the actual number of civilians killed remained unclear due to varying official accounts, with some reports saying that 14 civilians, including up to 12 children and one woman, had been killed.

In a thinly veiled threat President Karzai said to media this week that the Afghan people could no longer tolerate these attacks on their homes, and “If you do not come to an understanding with us based on a negotiated solution... the Afghan government will be forced to take a unilateral action in this regard.”

Shortly after latest air strike a U.S. spokesman, Major General John Toolan, issued an official apology on behalf of top coalition commanders General David Petraeus and General David Rodriguez, adding that they would ensure that “we make amends with the families in accordance with Afghan culture.”

Nevertheless Mr. Karzai also alluded to his country's historical response to wars of occupation, warning NATO that it needed to “clearly demonstrate” its understanding that Afghanistan was “an ally, not an occupied country.” If it did not do so, he said, “then of course the Afghan people know how to deal with that.”

Following Mr. Karzai's remarks U.S. Secretary of Defence Robert Gates sought to downplay the criticism and deflect attention to the increasing number of attacks by the Taliban against Western and Afghan forces.

In comments to media Mr. Gates said he did not know the specifics of the Helmand incident, but noted that “this is a continuing challenge we face in the war that we fight in Afghanistan,” and a joint Afghan-coalition investigation would “get to the bottom of the incident.”

He also emphasised that it was the Taliban that had no regard for civilian lives and was responsible for roughly 80 per cent of the civilian casualties in Afghanistan. “They are not even seeking to shield themselves in civilian communities... but are actively using improvised explosive devices to kill men, women and children,” he said.

The Secretary was quick, however, to address Mr. Karzai's demand that Afghanistan not be treated as an occupied territory. He said Mr. Karzai “and the Afghan people recognize that we are their ally, we are their friend, and we are trying to develop the capability to protect themselves so that the Afghan people can see an end to the problem.”

The latest flare-up came even as there is barely one month left to U.S. President Barack Obama's planned troop drawdown. Back home Mr. Obama has come under pressure to hasten the withdrawal of troops as members of the U.S. Congress have grown increasingly concerned about the massive adverse fiscal impact of the war.

When initially announcing the plan for withdrawal last December, the U.S. and its allies set 2014 as a deadline for the transfer all security responsibility to Afghanistan. However Mr. Obama even then qualified the plan with the caveat that the U.S. would “continue to advise and assist Afghanistan's security forces to ensure that they can succeed over the long haul.”