Hearing set for soldier in Afghan rampage case

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales takes part in exercises at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., in this Aug. 23, 2011 file photo. / AP Photo/DVIDS, Spc. Ryan Hallock

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. A hearing for the soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians has been set for Nov. 5 at an Army base in Washington state, with villagers expected to testify by video from Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan.

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is expected to appear at Joint Base Lewis-McChord for the pretrial hearing, which is expected to last two weeks, Lt. Col. Gary Dangerfield said. The second week of the hearing will be held in the evening so villagers can testify during daylight hours in Afghanistan.

Defense lawyer John Henry Browne plans to fly to Afghanistan to cross-examine the witnesses, while other members of the defense team remain at Lewis-McChord, south of Seattle.

The hearing under Article 32 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice will determine whether Bales, of Lake Tapps, Wash., faces court-martial.

Bales faces 16 counts of premeditated murder; six counts of attempted murder; seven counts of assault; and one count each of possessing steroids, using steroids, destroying a laptop, burning bodies and using alcohol. He's being held in the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

• Afghan official: U.S. impeded Bales investigation
• General reviewing command of Sgt. Bales unit
• Sgt. Bales' wife: Murder charges "unbelievable"
• U.S.: Bales went on 2 shooting sprees

Investigators say Bales was armed with a 9 mm pistol and M-4 rifle outfitted with a grenade launcher when he walked off his base in southern Afghanistan March 11 and went on a nighttime killing spree.

Brown told The Seattle Times more than 10 Afghans could be called as witnesses, and some have been difficult to round up. Brown said the hearing is important because it may be his only opportunity to question them.

Bales could face the death penalty if convicted.

Bales grew up in suburban Cincinnati where he attended high school, then went to Ohio State University from 1993 to 1996, though he didn't graduate. He joined the Army two months after 9/11, after a Florida investment business failed and after he had worked with a string of securities operations.

Bales deployed three times to Iraq before being sent to Afghanistan with the 3rd Stryker Brigade. He was at a Special Forces outpost at the time of the killings.

• Sgt. Bales' lawyer: Afghan war "on trial"
• Army: Many treated for PTSD, returned to war
• Wife of Robert Bales, soldier accused in Afghan massacre, speaks out
• Lawyer: Bales won't participate in "sanity board"

[lifeduringwartime]

If you haven't walked in his boots, you cannot judge this man.

[fiddlestickawshucks]

The US government should be tried for this crime.

If soldiers suffering from PTSD, and Sgt. Bales who received a head wound in Iraq, had not been returned multiple times to war zones; this ight not have happened.

It has been widely publicized how many of our returning troops suffer from PTSD and the fact that suicide has greatly increased among the military.

Obama, the DOD and the Pentagon simply turn a blind eye to the numbers.

If Sgt. Bales did in fact commit this crime; while I do not condone the crime; I would like to see some trials for the traitorous Afghans who have slaughtered 52 of our troops on their own bases.

Even more, I would like to see the trial of the Muslim Hassan who murdered so many of our troops at Fort Hood.


It becomes more and more obvious every day that US military leaders have a weird sense of priorities.

Our troops were sent to Afghanistan to capture or kill bin Laden.

bin_Laden is dead and has been for more than a year.

I would like to see Obama get on television why the US has decided to keep our troops in this hell hole until the end of 2014.

The blood of 2000+ American soldiers is on the hands of Obama, Bush, the DOD and those in the Pentagon.

Guess it's still not enough.!!

Americans have been asking our "Commander in Chief" to being our troops home for quite some time now and asking that billions of dollars; sent to countries who aare our enemies be stopped in order to avoid the total and complete destruction of the US.

Obama only hears what he wants to hear, and it's obvious to everyone just where we are today because of him.

Once again he is criss-crossing the US asking for people to vote for him in November.

He wants the next four years to further tear the US from its foundations.

I have finally reached the conclusion that we cannot believe one word that comes out of his mouth or that of any politician.

How did we let our government get so totally corrupt and out of control.???!!!