I am quite confident it was all documented according to any military standard based on the fact the USA is at war. If we aren't then we need to deploy out of Afghanistan.
There are also aggravating circumstances. This is not a soldier waking up in the middle of the night and simply deciding it was time to massacre 17 people because he wanted to and he thought he could get away with it.
This soldier was in a war environment where American military were be assassinated. It was over the fact PRISONERS in an Afghanistan prison were plotting against their jailers and their Qurans were removed to prevent organization of the prison population. That was a legitimate thing to do. Removing organizational materials to prevent violence is a legitimate method of oppressing a prison riot which are more common than not in Afghan prisons.
The method the PRISONERS used were to exchange Qurans. They used their holy books to plan a prison riot and murders of American soldiers. If they communicated on toilet paper there would be no uprise over the burning of toilet paper, but, THE PRISONERS choice was Qurans. Let that be clearly understood. The American soldiers that removed the Qurans did so because they had no other recourse. The fact they were burned was to prevent the words of prisoners to reach the outside world to find empathy among Taliban sympathizers.
This is in the environment whereby American soldiers were gunned down by their own helicopter pilot before the bin Laden mission. So, is there reason to believe the American soldiers were acting rationally in burning the Qurans? Damn right they did. The uprising with the people of Afghanistan is due to Taliban propaganda. The events following the PRISONER PLOT to kill Americans took on a 'snowball' characteristic because the Taliban wanted the undermining of the Karzai government yet AGAIN.
So, now Bales finds himself on a fourth tour of duty he didn't anticipate and there are assassinations happening around him. He comes from a controversial base that tends to be outlaws in their own military leadership. He has the resolve to 'stay alive' so he decided for what reason he understands to kill Afghans. I can pass judgement, but, it isn't necessary as the media is already ramping up the rhetoric so why fuel it?
There are a lot of motives exercised within the ranks of the American military surrounding this dynamic that is justified.
To make a reference to reality I am sure many remember the My Lai Massacre. The people dead in that war theater were between 347 and 504 because there was no official record of the dead in Vietnam. The dead included the elderly, women and children, too. I look forward to a fair trial for Sgt. Bales, whom I believe is STILL Sgt. Bales. I look forward to a fair trial for him realizing the pressure on a man on his fourth tour while members of the military are being assassinated. His act is nearly one of self defense more than anything else considering all that is going on in Afghanistan including corruption and a government that can't protect its own or stop the Taliban criminals.
