US soldier apologizes for Afghan massacre

A decorated U.S. soldier who gunned down 16 unarmed Afghan civilians in a nighttime rampage last year apologized Thursday at a sentencing hearing to determine his fate, calling the killings "an act of cowardice" as he made the case for why he should someday have a chance at parole.

Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, a veteran of four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, had already admitted to embarking on a solo mission to kill villagers, mostly women and children, in attacks on their villages in Kandahar province on March 11, 2012. A plea deal reached in June will spare him the death penalty.

At the hearing, Bales, 39, did not recount details of his killing spree but described the attacks in Balandi and Alkozai as "an act of cowardice, behind a mask of fear, bullshit and bravado."

During his testimony, he took responsibility for his actions and apologized, painting himself as an angry man who would get easily angered and frustrated. Bales also said that he drank a lot of alcohol and used sleeping pills, before admitting that he drank dangerously the day of the killings.

"I'm truly, truly sorry to those people whose families got taken away," Bales told the jury in a military courtroom in Washington state. "If I could bring their family members back, I would in a heartbeat."

A jury of six military personnel is now tasked with deciding if Bales will spend the rest of his life in prison or if he will be eligible for parole after 20 years.

Prosecutors said that Bales was familiar with the villages where he attacked his victims and knew that women and children lived in the homes he invaded, armed with an M-4 rifle, pistol, grenade launcher, night goggles and extra ammunition.

Prosecutors earlier questioned how much remorse Bales truly felt. They played for the jury a recording of a phone conversation with his wife in which Bales briefly laughs as he recalls that the Army revised the number of murders he was charged with, from 17 to 16.

"At least they dropped one count of murder," he said.

During Bales’ sentencing hearing, family members of his victims testified through an interpreter, communicating sordid details of his crimes.

Among those who testified was shooting victim Mohammad Haji Naeem, whose son was killed.

"Without saying or talking, he pointed a gun at me and started shooting," Naeem said. "This bastard stood right in front of me. I said 'what are you doing?'"

"I'm almost worthless since this bastard shot me," he added.

Rafiulla, 15, testified that Bales killed his grandmother and shot his 7-year-old sister.

"She was a very bright girl, everybody loved her," Rafiulla said. "Now we're all sad for her."

"Now she has to be helped by someone," he said. "She can't walk around. There always has to be someone there. She has no feeling in her legs or hands. She has nightmares, gets up and screams."

The prosecution rested its case Wednesday after calling to the stand a string of witnesses, including nine Afghans. Among them was a man who lost six of his seven children in the attacks and a teenager who was shot in the legs but survived.

Bales’ defense lawyers, who declined to cross-examine any of the witnesses, sought to show that he suffered a mental breakdown during his fourth and final deployment to Afghanistan. They argued that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and a brain injury before his final deployment.

"I don't think anybody with a rational mind could say Bob Bales didn't snap," defense attorney John Henry Browne told reporters on Wednesday after a court-martial session before a military jury.

Army prosecutors argued that Bales acted with chilling premeditation and left his base twice during the night, returning in the middle of his rampage to tell a fellow soldier, "I just shot up some people."

The killings marked the worst case of civilian deaths blamed on a rogue U.S. soldier since the Vietnam War and further eroded strained U.S.-Afghan relations after more than a decade of conflict in that country.

The massacre prompted such angry protests by Afghans that the United States temporarily halted combat operations in the country.

Laura Newborn contributed to this report. With Al Jazeera and wires services.