I am not a lawyer. I was never an MP, and I only took a couple of low-level Psychology classes in college. I’m not remotely qualified to opine on the legal aspects of the events in Panjwej, Afghanistan last week. What is publicly known is that for reasons known only to him, Staff Sergeant Robert Bales left his encampment where he was attached to a Special Forces team, went into the nearby village, and there, by his own admission, killed sixteen people, eleven of whom were from the same family. He did this using his individual weapon, and a knife or bayonet. He wounded six others. At some point during this, he set several of the bodies on fire. He then returned to his camp, where he was questioned about the gunfire by the other Americans there. He apparently admitted having killed several people and then surrendered his weapon and was taken under arrest, at which point he demanded to see an attorney (reports indicate that he had a specific attorney in mind from the get-go) and refused to answer any further questions.
In the days since, we’ve heard various stories about how his personal finances were in difficulty, about how he had multiple combat tours and had been passed over for promotion, that he had a traumatic brain injury, and all sorts of things that people are coming up with to try and explain why he did what he did. A lot of it has a whiff of ‘the other’ to it, as if by discovering some unique personal tragedy or problem for SSG Bales, that the author could show how he is different from us and how this act is unique to Bales and, by implication, people like him. The short version of my response to this is “Bullshit.”
Hundreds of thousands of US Servicemembers have been diagnosed with PTSD. Tens of thousands have been diagnosed with TBI. Tens of thousands have both diagnoses. Only a handful have committed serious crimes, and only one is accused of murdering sixteen civilians in their beds. SSG Bales is, and of right ought to be permitted to put on whatever defense he finds most availing, in a trial that will be as fair as possible. Considering statements made by his lawyer, I believe that it is highly likely he will use some kind of a diminished capacity defense. Personally, I think that TBI and/or PTSD aside, he could very well just be an asshole.
I read a book a long time ago called Alone With the Devil: Famous Cases of a Courtroom Psychiatrist, by Ronald Markman, M.D. The title of the book refers to the fact that the forensic psychiatrist does his interviews with criminals and criminal suspects alone, and that there’s not a whole hell of a lot he can do if the subject decides to attack him. But he also refers, particularly in cases of true mental illness, to the fact that the patient himself is alone with the devil. And last, in discussing some people who “just snap”, he posits that we, all of us, are at some point in our lives, alone with the devil. Markman also cautions us that not everyone who does something really bad is mentally ill. One case he discusses at length concerns a woman who drove her car through a knot of pedestrians in Lake Tahoe, CA, and killed several of them. There was nothing wrong with her, mentally. She was just pissed off at the world, and decided that somebody was going to pay. In my own experience, I am convinced that Markman is right. The line between upstanding citizen and murderer is far thinner than most of us would imagine, or admit to imagining.
One attempt that gets kind of close to the truth of the matter, or as close as we can get with what we currently know, is this piece in the New Yorker, by George Packer.
In a sense, none of these facts matter. It shouldn’t be hard to see the bright line between war fatigue, or P.T.S.D., or whatever name you give it, and hunting down, shooting, and stabbing little children in their homes, and women and men, burning their bodies, and then returning to base and demanding a lawyer.
I am given to the irony that as one of the more prominent cheerleaders for war, Packer himself ought to think about issuing a couple of mea culpas but he doesn’t do so here.
My own feelings about this subject are much more eloquently expressed by Jason Fritz, writing at the Ink Spots blog:
This entire situation is sad – for the Army, for Bales and his family and his unit, and especially for the Afghans who lost loved ones. Let’s keep perspective on that. And let’s not take the easy way out and blame The Man for the actions of a man because it fits your narrative. That’s not justice and it’s irresponsible. Robert Bales is not the victim here – the victims are in Afghanistan.
What’s puzzling you is the nature of my gamePost + Comments (101)