Retired Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel David “Bull” Gurfein, a decorated combat veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan and the Chief Executive Officer of United American Patriots, Inc., an organization which has garnered the support of hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens to preserve the Rights of military personnel convicted or accused of crimes in combat, provides additional context and a compelling overview of justifications for Bales’s commutation:
As a starting point, it must be understood that, unlike a mass murderer whose acts with the intent to harm innocent men, women, and children, SSG Bales did not. SSG Bales, while serving in a combat zone, went into known enemy safe houses with the intent to kill enemy combatants and, as far as we know, he did. Unfortunately, as far as we know, he also killed some women and children. While this is horrible, based upon what SSG Bales told others prior to acting and what he has told me and others since, it was not his intent to harm innocent women and children.
This is believable since his actions on March 10, 2012 in Kandahar, were not consistent with his actions as the father of two young children who he very much loves… and who very much love their “Daddy” right back; his actions as noncommissioned officer who, while deployed, would request his wife send soccer balls and candy to share with the local Afghan and Iraqi children; nor his actions as a high school football player who would wake up early every day to help dress a young, handicapped. child next door and get him ready for school.
As a matter of fact, SSG Bales is in such a loving and committed relationship, his strong, independent, and educated wife, moved close to Ft Leavenworth so she could be close to SSG Bales and he could maintain his nurturing and fully involved relationship with his very well-adjusted, polite, and intelligent young children (yes, I have met them all, they are awesome!).
So, when someone acts in a manner which seems to be such a significant disconnect from their normal everyday actions it begs the question, “what went wrong?” Mass murderers in the United States are evaluated for their “mens rea” to determine whether they had the mental awareness that what they did was wrong.
One would have expected, knowing the unusual details of Bales’s case, i.e., a Soldier leaving the security of his outpost, by himself, to hunt down Taliban in Afghanistan, that the Government would have demanded SSG Bales’s “mens rea,” be evaluated. But, they didn’t.
One would have expected, knowing that SSG Bales was ordered to take Mephloquine (a.k.a. Larium) an anti-malaria drug which is no longer issued by our military because it has been proven to cause such extreme negative psychotic side-effects including hallucinations, acute paranoia, etc… that the Government would have demanded SSG Bales’s mens rea be evaluated. But, they didn’t.
Additionally:
* The US Government never conducted any forensics, i.e., there were no autopsies nor checking of the biometrics (fingerprints and DNA) by the US Government to confirm exactly who or how many were actually killed. The US Government simply took the word of the Afghans. That is why, when discussing the casualties, I say “as fare as we know.” Because we really only know what we have been told by the Afghan Government with regard to civilians being killed (they claim 16, all civilians) and what we have been told by SSG Bales with regard to enemy combatants being killed (he claims 20, not all civilians).
* The U.S. Government’s prosecutors, Bales’s own defense attorney, and Bales’s wife, all pressured Bales to accept a plea and admit to facts which were inaccurate to avoid facing a death sentence.
* The US Government flew in “impact witnesses” from Afghanistan for the sentencing portion of SSG Bales’ trial. This in and of itself is not problematic. The problem is… we know, for a fact, that those who were flown in were not all simple “farmers,” as the prosecution claimed. They were enemy combatants! Their DNA and fingerprints were identified on IEDs which had been used previously to kill American servicemen. Not only were these enemy combatants flown to the US but, after arriving in America, they were put on Delta Airlines with US citizens, put up in hotels, taken out to eat, and provided an opportunity to enjoy Sea World.
Assuming SSG Bales acted with the intent to kill enemy combatants, it is important to maintain perspective by considering the following:
* The US Warriors flying the Enola Gay who dropped a Nuclear Bomb on Hiroshima during WWII, which unintentionally killed thousands of children, were not accused of murder by our Government.
* The US Warriors who fire-bombed Dresden Germany during WWII, which unintentionally killed thousands of children were not accused of murder by our Government.
* The US Warriors who dropped bombs on the Haska Meyna wedding party in Afghanistan which unintentionally killed 47 (39 women and children) to take out an insurgent “target of opportunity” were not accused of murder by our Government.
* Our US Warriors on the ground, in the air, flying drones, etc…engage and kill scores of our enemies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and elsewhere… also, unintentionally and tragically, they kill non-combatants, including women and children. Consistent with the Laws of War, non-combatants who are killed are considered “collateral damage,” and for the most part, our Warriors are not accused of murder by our Government.
So, why was the US Government so quick to accuse SSG Bales of murder for going after enemy combatants and unintentionally killing women and children? And why was our Government so unwilling to review all the facts, investigate the details, and, present all the evidence, but instead, pressured SSG Bales to confess to a questionable accounting of the events?
One possible explanation may very well be the fact that the Obama administration was feeling pressure to establish a partnership with the Karzai administration for a way ahead. This which include a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) which would focus primarily on how the two countries would address crimes committed by US forces operating in Afghanistan.
While dealing with the pressure to conclude these agreements in 2012, several incidents occurred which created wide-spread demonstrations in both countries and challenges for the negotiations, to include:
1. A video of US Marine urinating on dead Taliban enemy combatants
2. A report of US Soldiers burning Qurans prisoners were using to pass notes
3. Photographs of US Soldiers posing with dead enemy making the front page of the Los Angeles Times. And then…
4. SSG Bales is accused of killing women and children.
With all this going on as a backdrop, it was highly unlikely SSG Bales was going to receive a fair trial. The deck was stacked against him. As a matter of fact, it was not until after SSG Bales was convicted and sentenced to life in prison that the Status of Forces agreement was signed between President Obama and President Karzai.