The American soldier who opened fire on 16 civilians in Afghanistan last weekend — an event that has rocked already-shaky relations between the two countries — was identified as U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales on Friday, according to Reuters.The U.S. official who made the identification declined to provide additional details about Bales, Reuters reported, while noting the 38-year-old staff sergeant is suspected of leaving his base in Afghanistan‘s Kandahar province on Sunday and gunning down 16 villagers: four men, three women, and nine children.
A senior Iranian military commander has urged Afghans to use force to kick American troops out of their country.
Gen. Masoud Jazayeri of the powerful Revolutionary Guard said there are indications that Afghans will "soon open new fronts" against "the obsolete, worn-out American empire."
The comments by Jazayeri, who is also deputy head of Iran's Joint Chiefs of Staff, were posted Saturday on the Guard's website, sepahnews.com.
The U.S. has accused Iran of arming some Afghan militants, a charge Tehran has denied. The U.S. and Tehran are at odds over Iran's controversial nuclear program, and some analysts fear that Iran will respond with proxy forces if the confrontation becomes violent.
Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, (L) 1st platoon sergeant, Blackhorse Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, controversial action can be blamed on issues such as a possible defense of post-traumatic stress disorder.
For example, Bales lost part of one foot because of injuries suffered in Iraq during one of his three tours of duty there, his lawyer said. Browne also said that when the 11-year veteran heard he was being sent to Afghanistan late last year, he did not want to go. He also said that a day before the rampage through two villages, the soldier saw a comrade's leg blown off.The same goes for the possibility alcohol played a role.
On Friday, before the incident a senior U.S. defense official said Bales was drinking alcohol in the hours before the attack on Afghan villagers, violating a U.S. military order banning alcohol in war zones. The official discussed the matter on condition of anonymity because charges have not yet been filed.
The sergeant's family says they saw no signs of aggression or anger. "They were totally shocked," by accounts of the massacre, Browne said. "He's never said anything antagonistic about Muslims. He's in general very mild-mannered."
Bales, said to have received sniper training, is assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, of the 2nd Infantry Division, which is based at Lewis-McChord and has been dispatched to Iraq three times since 2003, military officials say.
The soldier was injured twice in Iraq, Browne said. A battle-related injury required surgery to remove part of one foot, the lawyer said.
But Browne and government officials differ in their portrayal of a second injury, to the soldier's head, in a vehicle accident.
A government official said this week that the accident was not related to combat. But Browne said the man suffered a concussion in an accident caused by an improvised explosive device.
"We've known ever since the Vietnam war that the unfortunate phenomenon of abusive violence often closely follows the injury or death of a buddy in combat," said Dr. Roger Pitman, a Harvard Medical School psychiatrist who heads the PTSD Research Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital. "The injury or death of a buddy creates a kind of a blind rage."
