Agent for US solider accused of massacre vows to visit Afghanistan

THE lawyer for the American soldier suspected of killing 16 Afghan civilians has questioned the quality of the evidence against his client, saying he plans to travel to Afghanistan to build the defence case.

John Henry Browne met with Staff Sergeant Robert Bales for 11 hours over two days at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where his client is being held.

“I don’t know about the evidence in this case. I don’t know that the government is going to prove much. There is no forensic evidence. There is no confessions,” Mr Browne said.

“I’m interested in what the evidence is,” he added. “It’s not like a crime scene in the United States.”

Bales, 38, has not been charged yet, but Mr Browne expects that will happen this week.

The killings sparked protests in Afghanistan and have threatened relations between the two countries and US policy on the conduct of a decade-long war.

Mr Browne met with his client behind bars for the first time on Monday. He described Bales as “a soldier’s soldier” who followed orders, including deploying to Afghanistan despite not wanting to go. Bales is said to have had money worries.

“That doesn’t mean anything. Sure, there are financial problems. I have financial problems. Ninety-nine per cent of America has financial problem,” said Mr Browne. “You don’t go kill women and children because you have financial problems.”

Mr Browne has said Bales has a sketchy memory of events from before and after the killings but recalls very little or nothing of the time the military believes he went on a shooting spree through two Afghan villages.

He also said there were potential mental health issues. “Dragging parts of bodies around is not something that really you forget very often,” he said. “He’s in shock.”

Yesterday, Afghan officials said none of those who witnessed the massacre of 16 villagers has reported personally seeing more than one gunman despite claims that several US soldiers took part.

Afghan investigators have reported that villagers claimed more than a dozen US soldiers were involved. However, leading Afghan officials have dismissed such reports as hearsay. “To my knowledge, everybody in the villages said only that somebody had told them that they had seen several foreign troops in the villages where the shootings occurred,” said Fazal Mohammad, the top official for Panjwai district.

“But nobody personally said that they had seen a group of troops in this incident. The evidence collected from the villagers was not enough to confirm that there was more than one shooter. I personally met many different people there, but I never found a single person who personally saw a number of foreign troops.”

Mr Mohammad also said that he suspected insurgents were trying to take advantage of the shooting incident.

“It is possible that some people were passing around information,” he said. “It is time for Afghanistan to calm down and not let the insurgents take advantage of this case. They want foreign troops to leave areas like this so they can hold those areas.

“We should be aware of their intentions and try to help the government in Kabul, not the insurgents.”