S/Sgt. Robert Bales had been deployed four times to combat areas in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past 10 years when he went berserk last week and murdered 16 Afghan civilians, mostly women and children, then turned himself in. He is now in prison in Fort Leavenworth, awaiting trial.
Sgt. Bales was in the infantry. It was not, Army spokesmen said, unusual for him to be sent back into harm’s way, time after time. Since Sept. 11, 2001, more than 107,000 soldiers out of 570,000 — the peak strength of the army during those years — have been deployed three or more times. The stress of repeated combat experiences destroyed very few of them.
It cannot be concluded that the traumas of war twisted Sgt. Bales into a mindless killer. What causes anyone to commit mass murder is an equally baffling mystery that also demands a case-by-case solution.
But because Sgt. Bates’ massacre came at a time when the United States and Afghanistan are working their way toward an end to the U.S. war against the Taliban and has made those discussions more difficult, the tragedy takes on an added dimension.
For Americans, it reinforces the growing feeling that we can’t get out of there soon enough. And the incident has given the Taliban all the reason they needed to cancel talks and, at least for now, refuse to agree to the agreements sought to allow the U.S. to leave without confessing failure.
This new stalemate may be the last. The Afghans have won — if showing the world that a new Afghanistan ruled by laws establishing and protecting human liberty and human rights is an impossible dream is a victory.
The Taliban can continue to use Pakistan as a safe haven as far into the future as can be seen. The Karzai regime wants no part of the reforms government for the people requires. The kind of victory America could celebrate isn’t within our grasp.
We should gather up our people and go home.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
