JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — A brother of the U.S. soldier who
slaughtered 16 Afghan civilians last year began making the case
Wednesday for why he should one day be eligible for parole, portraying
him as a patriotic American and indulgent father who let his son put
ranch dressing on chocolate chip pancakes.
"There's no better father that I've seen," William Bales said of his
younger brother, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales. "If you brought the kids in
here today, they'd run right to him."
Sgt. Bales, 39, pleaded guilty in June in a deal to avoid
the death penalty, acknowledging that he killed 16 people, mostly women
and children, during unsanctioned, solo, pre-dawn raids on two villages
March 11, 2012. A jury is deciding whether he should be sentenced to
life in prison with the possibility of parole, or without it.
The picture painted by the first defense witness, William Bales, 55,
severely contradicted that portrayed by the soldier's admissions as well
as by the testimony of nine Afghan villagers, including victims and
their relatives, about the horror Bales wrought.
Defense attorneys hope the contrast will convince jurors that Bales
simply snapped after four combat deployments and deserves leniency.
William Bales repeatedly referred to his sibling – once the captain
of his high school football team and class president in Norwood, Ohio,
where they grew up – as "my baby brother" and "Bobby."
He described how as a teenager his brother cared for a
developmentally disabled neighborhood boy, assisting him with basic life
functions. The boy's father also testified how helpful Bales was.
"I don't know too many 16-, 17-year-old boys who could do that," William Bales said.
He also described how the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, changed "good-time Bobby" and how he soon thereafter enlisted in the Army.
Prosecutors
noted, however, that Bales was also facing a fraud lawsuit when he
enlisted. An arbitrator eventually imposed a $1.5 million judgment
against Bales and his former stockbroking company.
One of Bale's lawyers, John Henry Browne, said after court Wednesday
that his client will speak to the jury at the end of the case, and he
will offer an apology for his crimes.
On Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, nine Afghan villagers who
traveled about 7,000 miles to testify at the hearing in traditional
garb spoke of their lives since the attacks.
Haji Mohammad Wazir lost 11 family members, including his mother,
wife and six of his seven children. He told the six-member jury that the
attacks destroyed what had been a happy life. He was in another village
with his youngest son, now 5-year-old Habib Shah, during the attack.
"If someone loses one child, you can imagine how devastated their
life would be," said Wazir, who received $550,000 in condolence payments
from the U.S. government, out of $980,000 paid in all. His son, now 5,
"misses everyone. He hasn't forgotten any of them."
"I've gone through very hard times," he added. "If anybody speaks to
me about the incident ... I feel the same, like it's happening right
now."
Wazir and a cousin, Khamal Adin, didn't get to say everything they
wanted to in court. Each asked for permission to speak after the
prosecutors' questions were finished, but the judge said it wasn't
allowed.
On Tuesday, a farmer who was shot in the neck cursed Bales before pleading with the prosecutor to ask him no more questions.
"This bastard stood right in front of me!" the farmer, Haji Mohammad
Naim, testified, through an interpreter. "I wanted to ask him, `What did
I do? What have I done to you?' ... and he shot me!"
Browne said Wednesday that on his way out of the courtroom, Naim used
an even angrier quote directed at Bales about exacting revenge upon his
mother.
Bales' attorneys, who have said the soldier suffered from
post-traumatic stress disorder, didn't cross-examine any of the Afghan
witnesses.
Two military doctors testified Wednesday, describing the treatment of
Bales' victims, including a young girl who had been shot in the head
and spent three months undergoing surgeries and rehabilitation at a
naval hospital in San Diego, relearning how to walk.
Bales, a father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., was serving his fourth
combat deployment when he left the outpost at Camp Belambay in the
pre-dawn darkness. He first attacked one village, returning to Belambay
only when he realized he was low on ammunition, said prosecutor Lt. Col.
Jay Morse.
Bales then left to attack another village.
The massacre prompted such angry protests that the U.S. temporarily
halted combat operations, and it was three weeks before Army
investigators could reach the crime scene.
A former brigade commander in Afghanistan, Col. Todd Wood, told the
jury about arriving at Belambay the morning of the attack to find an
angry crowd outside, with four makeshift trucks carrying 13 of the
bodies.
Halting combat operations in the area allowed Taliban personnel to openly carry weapons and lay roadside bombs, Wood said.
At the time of the killings, Bales had been under heavy personal,
professional and financial stress, Morse said. He had complained to
other soldiers that his wife was fat and unattractive and said he'd
divorce her except that her father had money. He had stopped paying the
mortgage on one of his houses and he was upset that he had not been
promoted.
During his plea hearing in June, Bales couldn't explain to a judge
why he committed the killings. "There's not a good reason in this world
for why I did the horrible things I did," he said.
If he is sentenced to life with the possibility of parole, Bales
would be eligible in 20 years, but there's no guarantee he would receive
it. He will receive life with parole unless at least five of the six
jurors say otherwise.
Thursday's testimony is expected to focus on Bales' mental health.
