U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales will be charged with 17 counts of murder and six counts of assault and attempted murder in connection with a March 11 shooting spree in Afghanistan, a senior U.S. official told CNN.
The charges are expected to be announced on Friday. The official did not explain why Bales is to be charged with 17 counts, as opposed to 16, which is the number of people reported to have been killed in the incident.
U.S. officials have alleged that Bales killed 16 men, women and children in two neighboring villages in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province, in southern Afghanistan.
Bales is being held in a military prison in Leavenworth, Kansas.
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The official did not explain why Bales is to be charged with 17 counts, as opposed to 16...
.
because one of the victims had a split persomality...
Well, he can take some comfort in knowing he wasn't tortured in Afghanistan, while they strap him into old sparky in about 20 years.
One charge of murder under the UCMJ; sixteen specifications (or "specs"), one for each victim. Thus a total of 17.
@bob:
Perhaps one of the women were pregnant?
I don't know how the military justice system works; you are probably right.
They should hold the Army accountable for letting another one fall through the cracks.
Obama should be on trial. Got bin laden. What are our boys and our tax dollars still over there for?
the 17th would be all our efforts thus far in afghanistan..
17...
Maybe there's another incident we didn't know about?
Who planted the mine that blew off the soldiers
leg a few days before the villagers were attacked?
Surely, they would've cleared the area before
telling the villagers it was safe to return...
Makes ya wonder, just how far an off-center
can go.
Who knows what lays in the vortex of peoples demented minds after serving 4 tours of duty.
Having said that, no one can say this man was operating at full capacity.
No one in their right mind is gonna go out and riddle women and children with bullets for the heck of it.
We (YOU) (Your CONGRESSMEN) sent them to kill people there! Does it really matter who they are????????
Not to me!