Afghanistan - U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians upset at fourth tour: lawyer.(HD).Afghan President Hamid Karzai on March 16 accused the United States of failing to fully cooperate with an investigation into the massacre of 16 Afghan villagers by a U.S. staff sergeant and questioned whether only one soldier could have been involved. The U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians was upset at having to do a fourth tour of duty in a war zone and was likely suffering from stress after seeing colleagues wounded, his defense lawyer said.
The day before the rampage, the U.S. soldier accused of the mass killings saw his friend’s leg blown off, Seattle attorney John Henry Browne said. “His leg was blown off, and my client was standing next to him,” he said. The suspect had been injured twice during his three previous deployments to Iraq, and didn’t want to go to Afghanistan to begin with, Browne said. Browne said the soldier has two young children, ages 3 and 4. The soldier is expected to be flown to a U.S. military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas as early as yesterday, a senior defense official said.
During tours in Iraq, the soldier suffered a concussive head injury in a car accident caused by a roadside bomb, Browne said, and he suffered a battle-related injury that resulted in surgery to remove part of his foot. The soldier is accused of going on a shooting rampage in villages near his base in southern Afghanistan early March 11, killing nine children and seven other civilians and then burning some of their bodies.Hmmm......ever heard of something called "Shell Shock".....it doesn't exists on Golf courses.Read the full story here.
His poor children!
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of the 'blindness' of the French and British Military command during WWI to soldiers affected by shellshock.Even today the British command will not exonorate British soldiers that deserted while suffering from shell shock.They were all killed by firing squadrons.
DeleteFrench high command did exonorate their cases.