US Army Sergeant Goes Berserk (6 Viewers)

[Enron]

U.S. Army statement about Staff Sgt. Robert Bales:



This Army statement was released Friday night about Staff Sgt. Robert Bales:

The Army confirms that Staff Sgt. Robert Bales was transferred to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Bales is being held in pre-trial confinement at the Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, a state-of-the-art, medium/minimum custody facility.

The JRCF provides pre-trial confinement and post-trial confinement for U.S. military inmates sentenced to up to five years of confinement.

Also located on Fort Leavenworth is the United States Disciplinary Barracks, which houses U.S. military inmates sentenced to more than five years of confinement. Bales will be in special housing in his own cell and not in a 4-person bay.

He will be afforded time outside the cell for hygiene and recreational purposes as governed by Army Regulation 190-47. He will be afforded religious support, if desired.

The JRCF has a 464-bed capacity, but it is not possible to provide the number of current inmates as it is ever-changing. However, the number of inmates in pre-trial confinement is typically around one dozen.

 

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[Enron]

He's charged with 16 counts of murder. Death penalty is on the table.

Also, proceedings have a possibility of happening in Afghanistan. Afghanistan government wants the trial in Afghanistan.

They'll argue venue in the pre-trial. Which will happen in the next 7 to 10 days. I doubt they move him out of the US though.

 

[GordoDeCentral]

no way he gets the death penalty

 

[X Æ A-12]

They'll probably try and hide him in some military or Psych facility for the rest of his life.

 

[ALC]

I can see him getting it. Just as a way to set an example. I doubt the military court will accept an insanity plea.

 

[GordoDeCentral]

No. It's often difficult to see whether someone is mentally ill or not. Besides, psychopaths are notorious for deceiving everyone around them as that is what they've been doing ever since they were little kids. Goes for personality disordered people in general anyway. Psychopaths and narcissists do everything they can to uphold a certain image and they will succeed in doing so. I don't know what was wrong with this guy, but screening for mental illness is tough. Furthermore one can be mentally sane when entering the army and become ill at another point in time.

As a last point: if you're declared insane, you're still punished. And in a lot of cases the punishment is actually more severe, in the sense that they can do whatever the hell they want with you. You're declared a danger for society and put away in an asylum for years. Not good. What is claimed to achieve freedom is temporary insanity. The succes rate of such claims is extremely low and escaping punishment on those grounds rarely happens. The man will be punished.

That is what should happen, but on ground nobody will be considered accountable.

That's a good point, actually. How about this: if you're the commander of a soldier who does something like this and is then declared insane, ie. can't be punished, then you go to jail.

mental illness is not always chronic or to that extreme; combat fatigue or any other stress disorder is a known and common condition. You dont have to be "insane" to get stressed out of your mind and experience psychotic episodes. I think if the detractors were really shrewd they'd go after the forest, army and war in afghanistan, and and not get hung on the tree, this guy.

---------- Post added 17.03.2012 at 11:30 ----------

I can see him getting it. Just as a way to set an example. I doubt the military court will accept an insanity plea.

heres the deal, defense is going to hammer the shit out of the fact that this is his fourth tour, and in all other 3 his behavior, record, and service were pristine, not to mention his reluctance to go on the 4th realizing that he didnt have in him. Though this might not have jury, the real jury will be the american public and i dont think they'd let this guy get it.

 

[ALC]

Hmm, good point with it being his 4th tour. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Seven]

mental illness is not always chronic or to that extreme; combat fatigue or any other stress disorder is a known and common condition. You dont have to be "insane" to get stressed out of your mind and experience psychotic episodes. I think if the detractors were really shrewd they'd go after the forest, army and war in afghanistan, and and not get hung on the tree, this guy.

---------- Post added 17.03.2012 at 11:30 ----------




heres the deal, defense is going to hammer the shit out of the fact that this is his fourth tour, and in all other 3 his behavior, record, and service were pristine, not to mention his reluctance to go on the 4th realizing that he didnt have in him. Though this might not have jury, the real jury will be the american public and i dont think they'd let this guy get it.

Agreed with everything you said.

 

[Enron]

I can see him getting it. Just as a way to set an example. I doubt the military court will accept an insanity plea.

You can use an insanity plea in military court and the jury is made up of officers.

---------- Post added 17.03.2012 at 16:27 ----------

mental illness is not always chronic or to that extreme; combat fatigue or any other stress disorder is a known and common condition. You dont have to be "insane" to get stressed out of your mind and experience psychotic episodes. I think if the detractors were really shrewd they'd go after the forest, army and war in afghanistan, and and not get hung on the tree, this guy.

---------- Post added 17.03.2012 at 11:30 ----------




heres the deal, defense is going to hammer the shit out of the fact that this is his fourth tour, and in all other 3 his behavior, record, and service were pristine, not to mention his reluctance to go on the 4th realizing that he didnt have in him. Though this might not have jury, the real jury will be the american public and i dont think they'd let this guy get it.

He won't be going back to home for a while that's for sure.

 

[JuveJay]

He won't get the death penalty, considering the Army put him into that position both physically and mentally.

 

[king Ale]

I pity the guy. Something else is to blame. He is going to be punished for what he's actually himself a victim of. To kill 16 innocent civilians and live with the consequences of this crime (even if left unpunished) will ruin his entire life and those who sent him to where he shouldn't be are to blame.

This is what prolonged wars could turn the sanest people into. You kill and you see your friends getting killed beside you. Talking about humanity or crying over it in the most inhuman product of mankind is ridiculous.

 

[Martin]

I pity the guy. Something else is to blame. He is going to be punished for what he's actually himself a victim of. To kill 16 innocent civilians and live with the consequences of this crime (even if left unpunished) will ruin his entire life and those who sent him to where he shouldn't be are to blame.

This is what prolonged wars could turn the sanest people into. You kill and you see your friends getting killed beside you. Talking about humanity or crying over it in the most inhuman product of mankind is ridiculous.

Exactly. This is what war is. There is no such thing as an ethical war.

 

[Fred]

So we should just forget that he randomly killed 15 innocent civilians then?

Bullshit, he should get the death penalty, he's a criminal, whichever way you wish to sugar coat it. If those responsible for sending him there are held accountable too, that will be great, but i'm not optimistic.

 

[king Ale]

No, kill him and everything's fine.

 

[Fred]

Nothing will bring back the dead to their families again. But it would be nice if justice were served and if the families of the deceased were to have closure, knowing that the mad man that killed their loved ones without a reason, is no longer living among us.

 

[X Æ A-12]

I pity the guy. Something else is to blame. He is going to be punished for what he's actually himself a victim of. To kill 16 innocent civilians and live with the consequences of this crime (even if left unpunished) will ruin his entire life and those who sent him to where he shouldn't be are to blame.

This is what prolonged wars could turn the sanest people into. You kill and you see your friends getting killed beside you. Talking about humanity or crying over it in the most inhuman product of mankind is ridiculous.

 

[Fred]

Bookmarked for future reference.

 

[king Ale]

Nothing will bring back the dead to their families again. But it would be nice if justice were served and if the families of the deceased were to have closure, knowing that the mad man that killed their loved ones without a reason, is no longer living among us.

The man is clearly not suited for living in the society for which the ones who sent to and kept him in the war are to blame. He needs to be treated in the right way because he is obviously ill, mentally but even if he ever recovered, he'd surely have to live his entire life with the consequences of this crime so he's never going to have a normal life again for which again those who sent him to the war are to blame.

The main focus has to be on the US getting the hell out of Iraq and Afghanistan instead of looking for a scapegoat in the poor guy who's himself a victim of the US government stupid policies.

 

[Fred]

The man is clearly not suited for living in the society for which the ones who sent to and kept him in the war are to blame. He needs to be treated in the right way because he is obviously ill, mentally but even if he ever recovered, he'd surely have to live his entire life with the consequences of this crime so he's never going to have a normal life again for which again those who sent him to the war are to blame.

The main focus has to be on the US getting the hell out of Iraq and Afghanistan instead of looking for a scapegoat in the poor guy who's himself a victim of the US government stupid policies.

That i agree with, as it would prevent future incidences like this from happening again hopefully. But this guy should be trialed and held accountable, without a doubt. I personally believe he deserves nothing less than the death penalty, taking into consideration the pain he has caused to the families of the deceased(which a lot of you seem to disregard), and taking into consideration, the fact that it was completely unprovoked. If this was an Afghan man, who killed Western civilians, the whole world would be singing a different tune, he'd probably end up in Guantanamo, getting tortured and wishing they'd have killed him instead.

 

[king Ale]

That i agree with, as it would prevent future incidences like this from happening again hopefully. But this guy should be trialed and held accountable, without a doubt. I personally believe he deserves nothing less than the death penalty, taking into consideration the pain he has caused to the families of the deceased(which a lot of you seem to disregard), and taking into consideration, the fact that it was completely unprovoked. If this was an Afghan man, who killed Western civilians, the whole world would be singing a different tune, he'd probably end up in Guantanamo, getting tortured and wishing they'd have killed him instead.

Can't you look for the truth and have an independent & consistent opinion regardless of what the whole world think? Do you approve of the hypothetical treatment the hypothetical Afghan would have to be subjected to?