US soldier apologizes for murdering Afghan civilians
Iran Press TV
Fri Aug 23, 2013 8:39AM GMT
A US soldier who murdered 16 Afghan civilians last year has apologized for the massacre, saying he is sorry for his “act of cowardice.”
“What I did was an act of cowardice, behind a mask of fear, bull**** and bravado,” Staff Sgt. Robert Bales told a courtroom packed with his friends, family members, fellow soldiers and reporters on Thursday.
"I'm truly, truly sorry to those people whose families got taken away," 40-year-old Bales said. “I murdered their families."
His apology went unheard by the Afghan villagers who had testified in detail how the US soldier methodically slaughtered 16 of their relatives. Earlier this week, they described how Bales opened fire on children, women and the elderly in two villages outside of his remote military outpost in Kandahar province.
All nine afghan boys and men flown in for the sentencing declined to attend Bale’s Thursday proceedings, Army officials said.
In June, Bales pleaded guilty in order to avoid capital punishment for killing the Afghan villagers.
A panel of six high ranking soldiers will decide if Bales should be charged with life in prison or be eligible for parole after 20 years once Army prosecutors make their closing arguments Friday.
Bales had earlier expressed a desire for revenge after a fellow soldier had been wounded in a roadside bomb blast in the Asian country and lost his leg.
The defense team repeatedly tried to make the case that Bales suffered from PTSD and traumatic brain injury before the massacres.
The March 11, 2012 massacre prompted fierce protests and forced US to temporarily halt combat operations, according to USA Today. The severity of the issue was such that it took three weeks for Army investigators to be able to reach the crime scene.
Family members of the Afghan civilians who were murdered by Bales have demanded the death penalty for him.
“A prison sentence doesn't mean anything,” said Said Jan, who lost his wife and three other relatives in the massacre.
“My last request from the world, all the countries, is that as a family of the victims we want our killer to be hanged,” said Haji Baran, whose brother was killed in the massacre.
“If someone entered your house and killed the children and old men and women of the family, what would your response be?” Haji Baran asked.
AN/ISH
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