For most of the media, the story regarding Staff Sergeant Robert Bales has moved to American soil. The U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians is now under watch at a base in Kansas, with a veritable full-court press ferreting out every detail of his background. Report after report puzzles over the traumas of his years in combat, the intricacies of his personal life, the personality of his lawyer, the shocked disbelief of his neighbors. The story is one of a soldier “gone rogue,” a troubled man who “snapped.” And it is a story my colleagues are telling ably, such as this look at the hidden dangers of brain injuries sustained by American combat troops or this exploration into the emotional world Bales inhabited.But there is another part of the story that is more important, one that has been cast aside by the current media frenzy. It’s a story that remains in Afghanistan and begins with the names of the 16 Afghan civilians in Kandahar province — including nine children — whom Bales allegedly murdered in cold blood. Here they are, as reported by al-Jazeera:
- Mohamed Dawood, son of Abdullah
- Khudaydad, son of Mohamed Juma
- Nazar Mohamed
- Payendo
- Robeena
- Shatarina, daughter of Sultan Mohamed
- Zahra, daughter of Abdul Hamid
- Nazia, daughter of Dost Mohamed
- Masooma, daughter of Mohamed Wazir
- Farida, daughter of Mohamed Wazir
- Palwasha, daughter of Mohamed Wazir
- Nabia, daughter of Mohamed Wazir
- Esmatullah, daughter of Mohamed Wazir
- Faizullah, son of Mohamed Wazir
- Essa Mohamed, son of Mohamed Hussain
- Akhtar Mohamed, son of Murrad Ali - Read More
