Naked face of statism: Villagers Tell of Slaughter by a Soldier in Kandahar

One by one, the Afghan men and boys took the witness stand inside a military courtroom on Tuesday to tell of a night of gunfire, bloodshed and horror a world away.

Naked face of statism: Villagers Tell of Slaughter by a Soldier in Kandahar BALES-articleInline

Naked face of statism: Villagers Tell of Slaughter by a Soldier in Kandahar BALES-articleInline

They had been flown here on tourist visas by the American military, the first witnesses to testify at a sentencing hearing for Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who has pleaded guilty to killing 16 Afghan civilians — most of them women and children — as he stalked through their mud-walled compounds in Kandahar Province in March 2012.

It was a striking sight: for the first time, seven men and boys from homes with no electricity or running water, wearing traditional, flowing shalwar kameez, turbans and skullcaps and speaking through interpreters, came face to face with the crew-cut sergeant in dress blues who has admitted to storming his victims’ homes and opening fire as they screamed for mercy.

“That bastard stood right in front of me,” said Haji Mohammed Naim, 60, his voice rising as he gestured toward Sergeant Bales. “I wanted to ask him: ‘What did I do? What have I done to you?’ ”

Pressed by military prosecutors to delve further into that night, Mr. Naim, who was shot in the attack and lost several family members, began to weep and stood up.

“I’m leaving,” he said. “For God’s sake, do not ask me any more questions.”

Over the next several days, a six-person military jury will decide whether Sergeant Bales, 39, deserves to spend the rest of his life behind bars for carrying out one of the worst American atrocities in years, or whether he could one day be eligible for parole. By pleading guilty in June, he avoided any possibility of the death penalty.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/21/us/villagers-tell-of-slaughter-by-a-soldier-in-kandahar.html

Naked face of statism: Villagers Tell of Slaughter by a Soldier in Kandahar

Naked face of statism: Villagers Tell of Slaughter by a Soldier in Kandahar

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