AFGHANISTAN MASSACRE On stand, victim curses gunman

Associated Press

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Washington

An Afghan farmer shot during a massacre in Kandahar Province last year took the witness stand Tuesday against the U.S. soldier who attacked his village, cursing him before breaking down and pleading with the prosecutor not to ask him any more questions.

Haji Mohammad Naim appeared Tuesday in the courtroom at Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle, where a sentencing hearing began for Staff Sgt. Robert Bales in the slayings of 16 civilians killed during pre-dawn raids on two villages March 11, 2012.

The hearing afforded some victims and relatives their first chance to confront Bales face-to-face.

With a thick gray beard, a turban and traditional Afghan dress, Haji Mohammad Naim testified in his native Pashto through an interpreter, speaking loudly and quickly and frequently waving a finger in the air. He pointed to where he was shot in the cheek and neck.

“This bastard stood right in front of me!” he said. “I wanted to ask him, ‘What did I do? What have I done to you?’... And he shot me!”

Bales pleaded guilty in June to avoid the death penalty. Now the six jurors must decide whether he is sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole or without it.

Seven Afghans testified. Four were hurt in the attacks. Three others were relatives of the dead or wounded.

Bales, a 39-year-old Ohio native and father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., was serving his fourth combat deployment when he left the outpost at Camp Belambay in the pre-dawn darkness. He first attacked one village, returning to Belambay only when he realized he was low on ammunition, Morse said.

He then woke a fellow soldier, described his actions and said he was headed out to kill more. The other soldier didn’t believe him and went back to sleep. Bales left again.

The massacre prompted such angry protests that the U.S. temporarily halted combat operations in Afghanistan.