ANOTHER ROGUE SOLDIER LETS RIP IN AFGHANISTAN!

So ironic at a time Bruce Springsteen releases his new track “We take care of our own” a rogue soldier lets rip in Afghanistan killing 16 Afghans, of which 9 were children, the soldier who is rumoured to be a Staff Sergeant Robert Bales was moved out of Afghanistan to the states via Kuwait, although the crime was committed in Afghanistan and as far as Afghanistan is concerned the soldier should stand trail there, and if this was to be would have faced most certain death, but whatever the cries and the injustice, trails of soldiers are always held by the army in which they belong, so president Hamid Karzai and Afghans themselves can bitch till the sun goes down this is not gonna to happen, the now request of president Hamid Karzai that this trail should then be televised to the Afghan people remains to be seen! We as the world as well as the grieved families what to know what is going to happen to this soldier, news is all ready out this is a man who has served time in Iraq, was injured to body and even received a brain injury, a married man of 2 young children, who had clearly expressed he did not want to serve in Afghanistan, whether he had marriage & alcohol problems and if he did what part did these have to play in regard of his mental state remains to be seen, in the end he was a loose cannon waiting to blow unseen by the military he was under, so the question has to be who is to blame here ? The question of how he manage to return to his base and then some hours later leave his base again with no one noticing maybe blood or scorch marks to his uniform or maybe they did? as Afghans reported helicopters above as he committed his second attack on a neighbouring village some 5-7 km from the first given maybe reasons towhy the Afghans felt more than one was involved! One way or another it seems the American army has a lot of explaining to do or even worse cover up.

The fact will out hopefully and honestly in the end, but don’t bank on it, all though our initail anger is to blame this soldier, there are many questions that are and may remain unanswered, as the military itself may wish to keep its own back yard clean, and this young man may be used as a scrap goat to cover up the short comings within the U.S military, so will justice in the end prevail I think not.

President Hamid Karzai wants justice as only an Afghan knows how, it is part of their tradition, they are real blood for blood people, this is just not going to happen, but in question to his trail will this trail be fair ? Although held in the states, will the witnesses of this village and the families be allowed to put forward their witness accounts on the events that happened that night? We wait and see, but it would seem a little unfair if this trail is based on this soldier’s testimony alone.

The repercussions of this event has now been clearly shown and whatever this soldier was thinking at the time, had he any idea the effect it was going to have elsewhere? The Afghans themselves? The relations of American soldier’s role in Afghanistan? The worlds view on the what the armed forces role play in Afghanistan is anymore? I would pay little heed to the Taliban withdrawing talks with the Americans as this was on the cards as it was, although the Afghan Taliban has pledged revenge for these killings! It is more to do with their dislike of president Barack Obama’s changing of the goal post on talks held with the Taliban, that the Taliban have withheld tougher talks with the Americans.

But one thing is sure it shows the cracks between president Hamid Karzai, the Taliban and president Barack Obama, president Hamid Karzai is demanding but is anyone taking any notice? The Taliban chose to ignore him, seeing his ruler ship and his government as un-illegitimate, and refusing to accept him in talks in their new office they hope to open in Qatar, president Barack Obama spends his time re-assuring president Hamid Karzai but at the same time ignoring him, president Barack Obama has no intentions of leaving Afghanistan immediately and only intends to withdraw as he sees fit, so in effect is belittling president Hamid Karzai ruler ship by saying we as the Americans are still the boss here, a president in power but in effect with no power, I think president Hamid Karzai’s demands that that armed forces now leave the smaller villages of Afghanistan and leave the Afghan armed forces to control these areas is in fact a good idea, it will prior to the American armed forces and NATO leaving give them an idea to how well the Afghan army cope with the situation while still be able to receive support from the Americans and NATO, it will be a bit late if once the foreign forces have left they find themselves being unable to cope and having no back up once it does go wrong, do it now let’s see how it goes and give the Afghan army the support if should go wrong.

Back to the rogue soldier giving what little information we have, the fact that we know that he served and was injured in Iraq including a head injury here, should we maybe learn to forgive, even under the day of judgement a person of an unstable mental condition cannot be held to account on the day of judgement, and should we not be looking to events and even the guilt of the system that lead that lead to this very unfortunate event? I see possibly a very ill man here being held to account, possibly imprisoned for the rest of his life or even facing the death penalty for an American army who failed in its duty to see the full extent of this soldier’s mental break down and prevent this loose cannon of going on the rampage in the first place.

My thoughts will always return to this event every time the dear old Bruce Springsteen plays his track "We take care of our own" and wonder just how far America will go to protect one of their own ?

AYSHA SADIQ-ALI. *_*

16/03/12