Robert Fisk
I'm getting a bit tired of the "deranged" soldier story. It was predictable, of course. The 38-year-old staff sergeant who massacred 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children, near Kandahar this week had no sooner returned to base than the defence experts and the think-tank boys and girls announced that he was "deranged". Not an evil, wicked, mindless terrorist – which he would be, of course, if he had been an Afghan, especially a Taliban – but merely a guy who went crazy.
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I'm getting a bit tired of the "deranged" soldier story. It was predictable, of course. The 38-year-old staff sergeant who massacred 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children, near Kandahar this week had no sooner returned to base than the defence experts and the think-tank boys and girls announced that he was "deranged". Not an evil, wicked, mindless terrorist – which he would be, of course, if he had been an Afghan, especially a Taliban – but merely a guy who went crazy.
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The official line appears to be shaping up as Bales being strained by multiple deployments. How do they think the Afghanis feel? Yet no such excuses are offered to Afghanis when they protest occupation and these kind of atrocities. This is a massive crock. I've never actually read a description of Bale's rampage which they first reported as shooting. One early report said the US burned some of the victims bodies. Now it appears--but is not confirmed--that Bales and whoever else was involved actually shot and lit people on fire. It's a war crime, with no ifs, ands, or buts.
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