I feel for Staff Sgt. Robert Bales

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I feel so sorry for Staff Sgt. Robert Bales. Bales is the soldier who has been charged with killing 16 afghanis.

I know that due process will be served and I want that. I also feel a great deal of sadness for his victims.

Having said that, everything I have read indicates that he was a normal, kind, compassionate, loving family man who just finally had enough and .... snapped. I think that he could have been almost anybody on this BBS.

He had been told after his third tour of duty that he was done and then, according to his family, that changed overnight and he was sent back a fourth time. Imagine what kind of feelings of rage/depression/anger/futility that might inspire in you. You watch your buddy get his legs blown off and you start to feel that you're in some terrible sort of dream that has no end. Or you just start feeling that the whole thing, your life included, is just pointless and ******.

Again, I am not apologizing for him. But I believe that he was also a victim in this, a victim of a stupid, strategically-pointless war. Now another family has been wrecked, 16 more people have died, and those responsible sit in air-conditioned comfort in their villas in New Mexico ( like Rumsfeld) and Texas. There is absolutely no fairness in life.

My heart goes out to his kids and his wife. They've lost a good father and a good man.
 
I agree. One wonders if this would have happened at all had he not been required to serve the war effort beyond his breaking point.
 
The problem is he was sent to war multiple times and finally snapped. The US needs to step up it's support system for those in uniform. Mental health of returning vets is an afterthought. It happens all the time and could very well be preventable in most cases if as much effort was focused on the returning soldiers as is focused on sending them out . Rumsfeld/Bush = straw men.
 
Rumsfeld deserves most any slap across the jowls that can reach him.

This guy sounds like he snapped for a variety of reasons.

He should not have been sent back to Afghanistan. The fourth tour is not on Rumsfeld, though Bales should get a chance to kick Rumsfeld in the balls for being sent to Iraq.

We should be trying to get out of Afghanistan. I understand Obama's belief that it is the 'right war,' and that some activity in Pakistan is necessary and abetted by our Afghan presence. Still, it will never really end and we are not likely to get a great deal of benefit from being there. Tour four goes mostly on Obama's back.

Regardless, this guy has all kinds of **** unravelling in his life and it is not simply a matter of military service subsequent to the point at which he was ready to get out.
 
Rummy was sent to Iraq in the 80s to get all chummy with Saddam. He probably would have gotten all chummy with the Taliban when they were fighting the Soviets too. Rummy and his ilk in Washington care only for political gain, not the American people or the people of Iraq or Afghanistan.

This is why Ron Paul, taking after the founding fathers mind you, says to stay out of entanglements with foreign countries. You usually end up doing more bad than good. You piss off one group in favor of another, and you end up making people mad at you who end up blowing up your buildings.

Commit only to honest and fair trade, AND NOTHING ELSE. We cant tell people how to live. They have to choose that for themselves.
 
Unlike current policies, back in the early 2000's going to Iraq or Afghanistan required the approval of Congress.

Again, your blame of who started this war shows your ignorance and blind allegiance to whatever the media tells you.

What political gain would Rumsfeld have gained by going to war in Afgahnistan or Iraq? You act like there is some blood lust in the guy that says he enjoys sending troops into harm's way?
 
Sorry guys. I don't feel for SSgt. Bales. He blew away a bunch of innocent people and put Americans in danger. Not justifiable or acceptable under any circumstances. I'm sure he saw and experienced some horrible things, but one of the reasons our troops perform so well is that they can conduct themselves even in the face of horrific circumstances. Most don't go ape$hit like Bales did.

He needs to be prosecuted. If he can prove up his insanity defense, then so be it. However, we can't give him a pass or go lax on him for two reasons.

First, it undermines the safety of the vast majority of troops who don't go postal. His actions endangered and still endanger American lives.

Second, when we have troops overseas, they inevitably screw up. When they do, we typically want whoever catches them to turn them over to the US for prosecution. Why? Because we don't want the foreign law enforcement officials to take a guy who's caught spitting on the sidewalk, sever his head, gift wrap it, and send it to his mother. We want them to let us discipline our own, so they can face a reasonable punishment and a reasonably fair process. Well, if we're lax on our troops, then foreign nations aren't going to be as willing to turn them over to us, and that's a very bad thing. We need to make sure they at least have a reasonable degree of faith in our process.
 
I agree with Shiner BI. It's rare I agree with you on anything political and I was 100% in agreement with what you were saying. Then in the end you showed your true colors once again and just couldn't help yourself.

I do think we need to speed up the exit strategy before there is a verdict. Because if he is found to have PTSD or even found that this decorated soldier had trama from a known head injury, those freaks in the other country will not by that. They want blood and we don't need our soldiers over there if he is found guilty of anything less than murder.
 
Makes sense, Rummy would have ordered this guy to do four tours overseas regardless of whether the WTC was leveled or not.
wtf.gif


This post makes me wonder what color the sky is in your world.
 
I'm no Rumsfeld fan, but he resigned over 5 years ago and he was winding down our efforts in Afghanistan before he left. He had no involvement in this guy getting redeployed to a missionless operation.
 
Whatever? There is no question about it. All you have to do is read Bush's own words to the nation:
"My fellow citizens, at this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.

On my orders, coalition forces have begun striking selected targets of military importance"

------- George Bush on March 19, 2003 announcing that he had ordered the attack that would ultimately culminate in the killing of 16 Afghanis 9 years later.


Would you have been mollified had I used "Bush" instead of "Rumsfeld?" It probably would have been a little easier case for me to argue given that we have the President's own admission that he gave the order to launch the invasion.
 
Jesus Christ, man, you are like a broken record. Yes, I understand that George Bush ordered both military actions. He did so with the authorization of the U.S. Congress and the United Nations. I also know that this Sergeant volunteered for Military duty shortly after 9/11 and re-enlisted after that. You think he's angry with Donald Rumsfeld?.
 
Of COURSE, Uninformed, Obama is responsible, too!

Sheesh! How many times do I have to write that I was using Rumsfeld as a METAPHOR for "those responsible for planning, ordering and executing our invasions" before you understand what I'm writing? I can only write it: I can't make you understand it.

It's Staff Sgt. Bales who is the victim. He was just a cog in the machine, poor guy.
 
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