Interviews with survivors, relatives of the civilians massacred in Panjwai on March 11, and other local residents add new evidence suggesting that the massacre was linked to the response by the U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) unit to a roadside bomb that had blown up a U.S. troop carrier three days earlier. Sgt. Robert Bales, … Continue reading “Was Afghan Massacre Linked to IED Attack?”

We’ve heard all about staff sergeant Robert Bales, who murdered 16 Afghan civilians – most of them children – and is now being held by the US military, although he has yet to be formally charged. We’ve heard about his alleged PTSD, his marital problems, his “good deeds,” the shock and surprise of his friends … Continue reading “George Packer and the Unfathomable”

The recent “unpleasantness” in Afghanistan — the killing spree by a U.S. soldier, the burning of Qurans, and desecration of Taliban corpses — has made the quagmire there even more unpopular with the American public, thus causing even superhawks, such Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, to question the American military’s mission there. Santorum, formerly one … Continue reading “The Afghan Curtain Falls More Rapidly”

In the early morning hours of March 11, a US soldier assigned to “special ops” in Afghanistan, stationed near Kandahar, went into a local village and gunned down 16 people – including nine women and three children. At least three others were wounded. He went from house to house, in the predawn darkness, systematically murdering … Continue reading “Who Are the ‘Terrorists’?”