Staff Sgt. Robert Bales apologizes for killings, disgracing Army

Bales apologizes for killings, disgracing Army
The (Tacoma, Wash.) News Tribune
By Adam Ashton
Published: August 22, 2013

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — In his first remarks in court, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales could not apologize enough for the lives he ruined on the night he slipped out of his combat outpost in Kandahar province and slaughtered 16 civilians in their homes.

He said he let his family down. He disgraced the Army, he said. And he robbed innocent people of their families.

"I don’t have the words to tell them how much I wish I could take it back,” he said this morning in an unsworn statement on third day of his sentencing trial at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Bales, 40, will receive a life sentence for his slaughter in Kandahar’s Panjwai district on March 11, 2012. He spoke to convince a six-member military jury that he deserves a chance for parole one day.
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