It took the front and back of a military “Charge Sheet,” DD Form 458, and three additional sheets to list the 17 specifications of Charge I, “Violation of the UCMJ, Article 118– each one specifying the murder of an Afghan man, woman or child — and the following two additional charges:
Charge II: “Violation of the UCMJ, Article 80,” I.E. the attempt to murder one Afghan man, one woman and four children.
Charge III: “Violation of the UCMJ, Article 128”: I.E. committing an assault upon one Afghan man, one woman and four children by shooting at him or her with a loaded firearm or dangerous weapon.
The sickening specifications of the 17 murders are nearly identical, with the exception of the (redacted) name and the gender of the victim.
While the murder specifications do not mention whether the victim was a child or an adult, we know that Bales’ 17 murder victims include nine children.
The six assault and attempted murder specifications, however, do reveal the grim fact that four children were assaulted and injured.
For example:
In that Staff Sergeant (E-6) Robert Bales, U.S. Army, did, at or near Belambay, Afghanistan, on or about 11 March 2012, with premeditation, attempt to murder a female child of apparent Afghan descent known as [redacted], by means of shooting her with a firearm …
The next step in the process is a so-called special court-martial to be convened at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, which is the home base for Bales, to begin an investigation under Article 32 of the military law, the Army said. The investigation may determine whether a general court- martial will be convened to try the case.
The possibly lengthy and difficult process of such an investigation and court martial has been discussed here.
To read the entire Charge Sheet, please go here.
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.