A Brief History
On March 11, 2012, a single US Army sergeant did more to hurt the US war effort in Afghanistan than all the politicians and generals combined! Robert Bales killed 16 or 17 Afghan civilians in the incident known as the Kandahar Massacre. NOTE: The number of victims killed has been reported as either 16 or 17. Many articles from 2012 have the death toll as 17 whereas later articles reduced the number to 16.
Digging Deeper
Digging deeper, we find a deeply disturbed Staff Sergeant Robert Bales based in Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington.
It is worth noting that soldiers at this base have a disproportionate history of cracked behavior, with several shooting police officers, waterboarding their own children and domestic violence! The main medical facility on that base had been accused of glossing over cases of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and giving a less serious diagnosis.
Around midnight on March 11, 2012 SSGT Bales left his base in the Kandahar area of Afghanistan, put on traditional Afghan civilian clothes over his uniform went to the nearby village and commenced killing civilians. Half way through his killing spree he apparently went back to the base and then left again around 0300 hrs (3:00 am) for part II of his mad mission. Bales wore night vision goggles during his killing spree, allowing him to move about with stealth.
Bales shot the majority of his victims in the head, which according to Afghan survivors meant putting his gun barrel in the mouth of children and then shooting them! Bales then desecrated the corpses by setting them on fire, which is an insult and sacrilege to Muslims.
When Bales left the base the second time Afghans reported to US Army personnel about the soldier walking off the base in the middle of the night, which resulted in a base alert and a head count. Before a hastily mounted patrol could find him, Bales returned to the base and immediately surrendered, admitting what he had done, which of course was murder 17 civilians and wound 6 more. Sadly, 9 of the victims were children.
Bales was returned to the US and faced a General Court Martial at which he pled guilty to the murders in order to avoid the death penalty. He was reduced in rank to private E-1 and dishonorably discharged, as well as being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. This punishment, however, was deemed insufficient by the Afghan people, the Afghan government, and the families of victims. Afghans demanded that Bales be executed, and between the murders and the lack of a death sentence relations between the US forces and the Afghans were monumentally damaged.
The US government provided $50,000 to the family of each person killed and $10,000 to each injured person. Although the payment was for “assisting” those people and not as compensation for their loss, many Afghans thought the amounts were an insult.
Disturbed behavior by American forces was not limited to this terrible incident. Other allegations of murders and accidental (or as Afghans say careless) killing of civilians with bombs and artillery had arisen, and well publicized incidents of US forces burning Qurans and urinating on dead Taliban fighters made the news around the world. The Afghan government was under great pressure to kick US troops out of the country, but they needed American money and military protection to stay in charge. By August of 2021, American and Afghan desire for the American military presence in Afghanistan had reached the breaking point, and President Biden ordered a withdrawal of US combat troops. Question for students (and subscribers): Should the US pull out military forces? Even in the US there is heated debate. What do you think? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information on the American war in Afghanistan, please read…
Hastings, Michael. The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan. Plume, 2012.
Jones, Seth G. In the Graveyard of Empires: America’s War in Afghanistan. W. W. Norton & Company, 2010.
The featured image in this article, a United States Army photograph by Specialist Ryan Hallock (28th Public Affairs) of Staff Sgt. Robert Bales pictured at the National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, California, August 23, 2011, is a work of a U.S. Army soldier or employee, taken or made as part of that person’s official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, it is in the public domain in the United States.
You can also watch a video version of this article on YouTube.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="1348 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=1348">40 Comments
I think we should bring our troops back home, but then again I don’t know much about what they do over there.
I had no idea this happened, neither did my sister, who joined the National Guard last year.
Soldiers who have severe mental problems like this give the U.S. military a bad name.Our involvement in Afghanistan has not improved their feelings toward us and the country is still in disarray. We probably would be better served if we were not there.
Wow, this is so saddening to me. And I’m sorry but no amount of money could ever “pay someone enough” to make up for the death of a loved one.
I also don’t know much about our US troops in Afghanistan, but agree that measures should be taken to prevent these incidents from happening. Perhaps brining our troops home would be the best solution.
I understand that soldiers go over to Afghanistan, give their lives to protect us in the United States, and then comes home and is scarred of what happened over their. This then puts danger to their loved ones and those around them. Then they get deployed back there and those memories come back to haunt them and then this can happen. The government has tried all that they can, they should pull our troops out and bring them home.
I think that we should have been out of there a long time ago. We did what we had to do but our government loves to stick their noses in places that it does not belong and give money to places that hate us. I think we did to butt out and let those places hate us for free. That is just my opinion though.
This is such a sad story, the U.S. was very wrong in trying to pay them off.
I think we have overstayed our time there. We killed the guy who effected our country, so we should of pulled out after we got him and all that were involved.
This is a sad story . There is so much more that happens that is covered up. But it shows why a lot of Americans are losing faith in the govt.
Wow this story is a bit disturbing and crazy to think an american would so such a thing. There is something wrong with this soldier and i think that it was crazy that the government paid the families money in return. I think the US military has stayed long enough over in their country and should return home and leave the area.
I feel that there is a need for our presence… If we pull out, it is only a matter of time until terror follows us home! — DAVID WARDLE
Sad story.
There’s always one person that seems to ruin it for everyone else! What a sicko killing and (attempting to kill) children and families–innocent civilians. I think that the U.S. staying does more harm than good.
That’s what war does to a person. They go crazy and don’t realize what they did.
Difficult topic but that soldier did a terrible thing. His behavior is beyond mental
I’m not sure if the US should pull out. As much as I think that would be good, who knows what the world wide effect of doing that would be.
I believe we never should have went to the middle east because it seems that in general we have been a destabilizing force but you never know peace may one day come.
If the US wasn’t planning to declare war in Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks, it should have issues letters of marque and reprisal and gone that route instead of creating another Korea. Too much blood and treasure has done into that dump; we should cut losses and pull out, and keep guns pointed outward from our own borders.
I say Shit happens! he’s just doing what he’s told to do.
Yes he is killing the enemy people but what he did is uncalled for. If he was not ordered to do that then he should be killed. What a terrible American solider.
I have to agree with a previous comment, “He’s just doing what he’s told to do.” this man was not following orders and it seems he literally just snapped and went crazy. This man was not under orders or doing what he was told to. I think the monetary amount given to the families is extremely low but I am not sure what the cost of living is like in Afghanistan.
I don’t think that this man was following orders. Killing civilians is a serious war crime.
I am not sure if we should pull out. I would like us to, but I don’t have enough information about the potential negative impact of that. Bales clearly suffered from PTSD and needed help. What he did was a serious war crime that a sane person wouldn’t commit. Hopefully someone investigated those who are supposed to assess the mental stability of the troops.
Killing a civilian is unacceptable. Plus, this seems more as if he just went crazy and wasn’t thinking sanely. The US government probably could’ve given more to the affected families but at least they made some sort of atonement for a horrible incident.
Its awful to think one person could do this that we trained of all things
Any civilian regardless of race, religion, or anything else personal should never be killed In vein.
War is always a messy subject. Each side try to justifies its means but what ever happens it both sides are going to lose at the end. Killing civilians should be off limits but in War the soldier is always on high alert no telling what they will do in or out of combat.
It’s so sad that he caused this much pain but his mind was probably messed up, but still no excuse. Both sides are wrong for their efforts in the war and no one person should be singled out. He may have killed those people alone but the rest of our military is killing people right now probably as I type this.
THink its unfair i dont like military unless they’re protecting us, i hink if it was a disorder or something he shouldnt havehad been there.
This is pretty disturbing and sick.
That is sick I do believe that he should have been executed for his crimes. He will get what he has coming to him he has life inside a prison then after his death he gets to explain to his creator why he killed 16 people. Wouldn’t want to be him once he dies.
Sometimes it’s hard to make judgements on people in these situations, but it’s never justifiable to murder people..
That is so sick! such a waste
This was an interesting read! I never knew about this taking place.
Bales returned to the base and immediately surrendered. Thats really sad
Just disgusting… I’m surprised I never learned about this growing up.
I don’t remember this and this wasn’t that long ago either. A guy I went to high school with was in the Army and was overseas, not sure where, I know he seen a lot and that affected him. When he came home he wasn’t the same, he had PTSD bad. He tried taking his own life and ended up in the hospital because of it. He was there seemed like a long time. This June it will be a year since he has been gone.
It just makes me mad that he would do something like this. I’m just glad there was some justice done.
Soldiers should be more thoroughly screened for mental health problems. This could have been avoided.