Search and Destroy - Staff Sgt. Bales

photographs obtained courtesy of the Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System (DVIDS)

The US soldier accused of massacring 17 civilians in Afghanistan has disappeared without a trace from army websites. All photos and combat service details have been removed – but even the military can’t clear the world’s caches.
­Immediately after the Pentagon released his name to the press, thousands of copies of Staff Sgt. Bales’ photo were published, and details of his four tours of combat shared. There were even excerpts from his wife’s blog. So why bother trying to delete the un-deletable?
According to McClatchy DC, the military said its intention in removing the material wasn't to lessen the army's embarrassment over the horrific attack, but to protect the privacy of Bales' family. Quoting an unnamed Pentagon official, the paper said that “protecting a military family has to be a priority” and that they “owe it to the wife and kids to do what we can."
The wife and kids, who have been moved to a military base in Washington State for “security reasons”, have refrained from speculative comments, but Karylin Bales has issued a statement saying both her and her husband’s extended families are “profoundly sad” and offering condolences to the people of the Panjawai District in Afghanistan, where the massacre occurred.
Staff Sgt Bales’ wife went on to add: “Our family has little information beyond what we read and see in the media. What has been reported is completely out of character of the man I know and admire.” As his wife of some years and mother to his two kids, her statement of knowing this man certainly appears to carry some weight – at least, at first glance. But constantly emerging details of the man, his past, his combat tours create such a conflicting profile that it becomes almost impossible to say who knew him, or how well.
Robert Bales enlisted in the army two months after the tragedy of 9/11. He is still referred to as “our Bobby” in his hometown of Norwood, Ohio, where neighbors say his family’s motto was “God, country, family” and Robert, the youngest of five brothers, was a respectful and well-liked boy. “That’s not Bobby” was the sentiment of his mother, one which was echoed by the community.
He was a good student, and a good football player. But apparently he was never great and that seems to be a leitmotif of his life. He was never the star of the team. He didn’t graduate from college. His career as a stockbroker was brief and unsuccessful, ending with accusations of defrauding an elderly couple out of their life savings. He ignored the $1.5 million fine he was ordered to pay. His own investment company appears to have failed. A 2002 arrest for drunken assault and a 2009 charge of a hit-and-run were, if not indicators of a potentially troubled man, then at least signs of his existing personal demons.
His military career, which some suggest may have been a way to reinvent himself, seems to follow the same pattern. His platoon leader spoke highly of him, his fellow officers respected him. Yet his military record is an undistinguished one. He was never deployed as a sniper, despite being trained as one. He didn't receive the Purple Heart that would be expected following a serious injury in combat. And last year he didn't receive a much- hoped-for promotion to sergeant first class.
His lawyers are planning to put the emphasis on his four tours of duty, claiming that injuries and mental trauma created diminished mental capacity. But military officials insisted that Bales had been properly screened and declared fit for combat.
The 38-year-old soldier will be charged with 17 counts of murder, six counts of attempted murder, six counts of aggravated assault as well as dereliction of duty and other violations of military law, a US official told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Legal experts say Bales could face the death penalty if convicted of the crime. But with his record and injuries he might be shown some leniency by the military jury even if convicted.
Of the long list of alleged US atrocities – from prison massacres in World War II to the slaughter of civilians at My Lai in Vietnam – relatively few high-profile war crimes believed to have involved Americans in the past century have resulted in convictions, let alone the death penalty.
In the case of My Lai, President Richard Nixon reduced the only prison sentence given to three years of house arrest. In the 2005 Haditha shooting of Iraqi civilians, eight Marines were charged but plea deals and promises of immunity in exchange for testimony meant there were no prison sentences.
The military hasn't executed a service member since 1961 and even if the death sentence was passed, the military wouldn’t have the equipment to carry it out. Over the last 50 years, more than half the death penalty cases have been overturned by military appeals courts. So only time will show what military justice deems an appropriate punishment for murdering 16 civilians, nine of whom were children. But the mystery of Staff Sgt. Robert Bales and why he pulled the trigger that night will most likely remain unsolved.
­Katerina Azarova, RT

Today, the 38-year-old Army staff sergeant Robert Bales, remains locked in an isolation cell in a maximum-security military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., accused of killing 17 Afghans, including nine children. “Sergeant Psycho” screamed one tabloid headline as family and friends struggled to reconcile their memories of a good-natured, hardworking father and trusted soldier, with the lone gunman who, military officials say, went on a horrific nighttime shooting spree, setting some of the victims’ bodies on fire. “My little boy, Habib Shah, is the only one left alive,” Muhammad Wazir said in a phone interview with NPR, as the child cried pitifully in the background. Wazir said his mother, his wife, a sister-in-law, a brother, a nephew, his four daughters and two of his sons had been killed.
Had their consummate good guy somehow become a monstrous rogue soldier?
Did he snap under the mounting pressures of multiple combat deployments (this was his fourth tour), financial troubles (he and his wife had walked away from one house and had just put another on the market), and the sheer hell of war? His lawyer, John Henry Browne of Seattle, said a fellow soldier’s leg had been blown off days before the rampage and Bales had seen the wounds. And, Browne said, Bales had suffered injuries during his deployments, including a serious foot injury and head trauma. Experts on post-traumatic stress disorder quickly weighed in, endlessly debating the toll of multiple deployments. Military officials insisted that Bales had been properly screened and declared fit for combat. They also insisted he had acted alone, though some Afghans dispute that.

Bales’ name was kept secret for five days after the massacre, as the world watched images of shocked, grieving Afghans standing in their burned out homes — and questioned what kind of monster could have committed such atrocities. The Army says a surveillance camera mounted on a blimp captured an image of Bales as he returned to the base after the rampage in two villages a short distance away. In the dark, he put down his assault rifle and raised his hands in surrender. Military officials say he had been drinking...
Army Times; AP writers Gene Johnson in Seattle, Dan Sewell in Cincinnati and John Milburn in Topeka contributed to this report.

President Karzai did express concerns about foreign forces in villages. And President Obama agreed that this is an issue that is going to have to be discussed, as is the issue of night operations, which has also been a concern...

Putin

"Russia is only treated with respect when it is strong and stands firm on its own two feet."/Vladimir Putin

Western leaders don't like Putin. However they did like his predecessors Mikhail Gorbatchov, the last head of state of the Soviet Union and Boris Yeltsin ,who made history as the first elected president of the Russian Federation, and as the only leader of a major country to record a popular approval rating (6%) lower than his blood alcohol concentration (9.1%). In fact, some would rather see a communist president in Russia or anyone else, than Putin. Now, why so?

When Vladimir Putin (born 1952) was appointed prime minister of Russia, very little was known about his background. This former Soviet intelligence agent entered politics in the early 1990s and rose rapidly. By August of 1999, ailing President Boris Yeltsin appointed him prime minister. When Yeltsin stepped down that December, Putin became the acting president. He went on to win the March 2000 election to retain his presidential post.

Putin was born on October 1, 1952, in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Russia. He is an only child. Two elder brothers were born in the mid-1930s; one died within a few months of birth, while the second succumbed to diphteria during the siege of Leningrad. His father, a decorated war veteran, was a foreman in a metal factory. He died in August of 1999, the week his son was appointed prime minister of Russia. Putin's mother died a year and a half before that. Growing up in Leningrad, Putin lived with his parents in a communal apartment with two other families. Though he was a small-built child and is still a short and slim man, Putin could hold his own in fights thanks to martial arts classes. By the age of 16 he was a top-ranked expert at sambo, a Russian combination of judo and wrestling. He attended a prestigious high school, School 281, which only accepted students with near-perfect grades. Putin worked at the school radio station, where he played music by the Beatles and other Western rock bands. Fascinated with spy movies as a teen, he aspired to become a KGB agent. At Leningrad State University, Putin was the school's judo champion in 1974. He graduated from the law department in 1975. Later, he received a doctorate in economics as well. Instead of entering the law field right out of school, Putin landed a job with the KGB, the only one in his class of 100 to be chosen. In the early 1980s Putin met and married his wife, Lyudmila, a former teacher of French and English. In 1984 he was selected to attend the prestigious Red Banner Institute of Intelligence, where he mastered German and also learned English in preparation for an international assignment. In 1985 the KGB sent him to Dresden, East Germany, where he lived undercover as Mr. Adamov, the director of the Soviet-German House of Friendship, a social and cultural club in Leipzig. What Putin did in East Germany has been a matter of some speculation. Around the time Putin went to East Germany, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was beginning to introduce economic and social reforms. Putin was apparently a firm believer in the changes. In 1989 the Berlin Wall, separating East from West Germany, was torn down and the two began to unite. Though Putin supposedly had known that this was inevitable, he was disappointed that it occurred amid chaos and that the Soviet leadership had not managed it better. In 1990 Putin returned to St. Petersburg and took a job in the international affairs department at his alma mater, screening foreign students. However, that was a cover for his continuing intelligence work. Before long, one of his former university professors, Anatoly Sobchak, who had become the first mayor of St. Petersburg, asked him to join his administration. Putin resigned from the KGB at the rank of colonel, in order to get involved in politics. in 1994 he became deputy mayor. Putin gained the nickname "the gray cardinal" in response to his behind-the-scenes influence and low profile. In 1996, when Sobchak lost his mayoral campaign, Putin was offered a job with the victor, but declined out of loyalty. The next year, he was asked to join President Boris Yeltin's "inner circle" as deputy chief administrator of the Kremlin. He left the Kremlin in 1998 to become head of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the domestic intelligence arm and successor to the KGB, which had been dismantled. In March of 1999, he was named secretary of the Security Council, a body that advises the president on matters pertaining to foreign policy, national security, and military and law enforcement. In August of 1999, after Yeltsin had gone through five prime ministers in 17 months, he appointed Putin, who was originally dismissed by many observers as not a viable heir apparent to the ill president. For one thing, he had little political experience; for another, his appearance and personality seemed bland. However, Putin increased his appeal among citizens for his role in vehemently pursuing the war in Chechnya. In addition to blaming various bombings in Moscow and elsewhere on Chechen terrorists, he also used harsh rhetoric in condemning his enemies. Soon, Putin's popularity ratings were soaring at 50 percent in a nation where an approval rating of even 20 percent is considered a good showing. In December of 1999, Russia held elections for the 450-seat Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament. Putin's Unity Party, formed just three months prior, came in a close second to the Communists. On New Year's Eve in 1999, Yeltsin unexpectedly stepped down as president, naming Putin as acting president. The election was moved up to March 26 in accordance with the Russian Constitution. Many observers speculated that Yeltsin's move was calculated to ensure Putin's success, just in case public support for the war in Chechnya turned and caused his ratings to fall. It was rumored that Yeltsin also wanted to install Putin in order to escape any prosecution, since Putin had been a loyal follower and Yeltsin had long been accused of corruption and nepotism. Indeed, one of Putin's first actions as acting president was to grant Yeltsin immunity from any future criminal or administrative investigations. The decree also granted continued housing, salary, staffing, and benefits for Yeltsin and his family. Immediately, Western news media and the United States government scrambled to create a profile of the new Russian leader. Due to Putin's secretive background as a KGB agent, information was scarce. Many articles focused on the fact that, despite his popularity, few even in his own nation knew details of his background or where he stood on issues. On March 26, 2000, Russians elected Putin out of a field of 11 candidates, including Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, who won 42 percent of the vote in a tight race in 1996 against Yeltsin. Putin won with 52.6 percent of the vote as compared to runner-up Zyuganov, who gathered 29.3 percent. After his election, Putin's first legislative initiative, in April of 2000, was to win approval of the Start II arms reduction treaty from the Duma. The deal, which was negotiated seven years earlier, involved decreasing both the Russian and American nuclear buildup by half. On May 7, 2000, Putin was officially sworn in as Russia's second president and its first in a free transfer of power in the nation's 1,100-year history.

During his presidency, the Russian economy grew for nine straight years, seeing GDP increase by 72% in PPP (sixfold in nominal), poverty decrease by more than 50% and average monthly salaries increase from $80 to $640. His energy policy has affirmed Russia's position as an energy superpower. Russia's legal reform continued productively during Putin's first term. In particular, Putin succeeded in the codification of land law and tax law, where progress had been slow during Yeltsin's administration, because of Communist and oligarch opposition, respectively. While the Putin presidency has been criticised by Western observers and domestic opposition as undemocratic, Putin's leadership has enjoyed considerable popularity in Russia since 2000 and continuously high approval ratings. In the media Putin often projects an outdoor, sporting, tough guy image, demonstrating his physical capabilities and taking part in unusual or dangerous activities, such as extreme sports and interaction with wild animals. Many in the international media warned that the death of some 130 hostages in the special forces' rescue operation during the 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis would severely damage President Putin's popularity. However, shortly after the siege had ended, the Russian president was enjoying record public approval ratings – 83% of Russians declared themselves satisfied with Putin and his handling of the siege.

On 14 March 2004, Putin was re-elected to the presidency for a second term, receiving 71% of the vote. In 2005, the National Priority Projects were launched to improve Russia's health care, education, housing and agriculture. In December 2007, United Russia won 64.24% of the popular vote in their run for State Duma according to election preliminary results. Their closest competitor, the Communist Party of Russia, won approximately 12% of votes. United Russia's victory in December 2007 elections was seen by many as an indication of strong popular support of the then Russian leadership and its policies. Putin was barred from a third term by the Constitution. First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was elected his successor. On 8 May 2008, only a day after handing the presidency to Medvedev, Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia, maintaining his dominance and power. The 2008 world crisis hit the Russian economy hard, interrupting the flow of cheap Western credit and investments. This coincided with tension in relationships with the EU and the U.S. following the 2008 South Ossetia war, in which Russia defeated the U.S. and NATO ally Georgia.
However, the large financial reserves, accumulated in the previous period of high oil prices, alongside the strong management helped the country to cope with the crisis and resume economic growth since mid-2009.

Election 2012: Putin is back

Vladimir Putin won over 45 million votes (63.6 percent) across the country. These numbers represent a commanding victory over Gennady Zyuganov, the Communist candidate who attracted just over 17 percent of the votes, and far ahead of Mikhail Prokhorov, the billionaire candidate (7.8 percent), who came in third. Putin remains an attractive choice to the majority of Russian voters due to his bold actions over the past 12 years. During his stay in power, Putin managed to end chaos and anarchy in the country and prevent another period of unrest in Russia. He stopped Russia’s disintegration, won a war in Chechnya and snatched power out of the hands of the oligarchs. As a result of these actions, pensions increased fivefold, while Russia’s budget grew twelvefold.

Prior to 2012 elections, the opposition had taken to the streets in the Russian capital, claiming that parliamentary elections in December had been rigged. In response to the criticism, the Central Election Commission undertook broad measures to ensure fair elections, which included the stationing of hundreds of thousands of election observers around the country, as well as a video monitoring system at every polling station.

The international media campaign against Vladimir Putin has failed to accomplish the main objective for its Stage One, which was to take Russia’s presidential election to a second round. Mr. Putin scored around 64 per cent of the vote, which is even more than what the Russian Public Opinion Research Center had predicted prior to the election. However, the surge in protest activity following the parliamentary election last December only boosted Putin’s vote total in the long run, as it urged all the sane and patriotic-minded Russians to show up for the election in order to counter the threat. By inciting unrest in Moscow’s Pushkinskaya Square, the opposition has embraced the tactics of provocation. The new objective of the media campaign against Russia, including the rally on March 10, is to undermine Putin’s legitimacy and force him to resign, with the ultimate goal of destroying Russian statehood. there are attempts at destabilizing Russia being orchestrated from abroad. Their purpose is to weaken Putin’s standing as much as possible, ideally removing him from power, with the ultimate goal of preventing further integration in Eurasia.

Some unsuccessful candidates in the Russian presidential race say the poll was not fair and they will never recognize the results. Russia’s presidential election met international standards despite some violations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has stated. Not just met, but set new standards I might add. At the suggestion of Vladimir Putin, all the polling stations in the country were equipped with webcams (more than 90 000 polling stations), allowing anyone to monitor the election process live on the internet. International monitors have said that the video monitoring system tested at Russian presidential polling stations exceeds everything they saw in their home countries – or anywhere else in the world. Tonino Picula, head of the OSCE observer mission in Russia noted that “The point of elections is that the outcome should be uncertain”. (?!)

The major US Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney called the Russian presidential elections a “mockery of the democratic process,” saying flagrant manipulation and media restrictions marred the vote. Earlier he harshly criticized President-elect Putin, saying he "represents a real threat to the stability and peace of the world.”

In conclusion, despite some rumblings from the other side of the political aisle, Putin continues to enjoy broad support from a wide swath of the Russian population. This popularity is no accident, nor can it be casually dismissed as the product of slick political packaging, or good PR. Indeed, Putin is the real deal, and his political actions over the years speak loudly for themselves.

Russia and the changing world