WEBVTT - Bobby from Ohio 0:00:01.400 --> 0:00:05.760 I met a lot of soldiers who empathized with Bobby, 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:09.360 almost all of them. I didn't rant his soldiers all 0:00:09.400 --> 0:00:14.080 the time, basically saying been there, done that, and I predicted, 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:16.360 and I said in the newspapers, I said, we better 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:18.560 get ready for more Bobby Bails. 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:25.560 John Henry Brown represented staff Sergeant Robert Bales in military 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:28.200 court after he committed the Candaharm massacre. 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:33.040 The soldiers I met who knew Bobby, I look very 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:39.360 highly at them, very highly. He took on becoming a 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:44.000 role model for younger soldiers. He thought that was part 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:47.600 of his job. I had never met any of us 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:51.479 send men. Is that anything bad about Bobby Bails. 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:56.480 As a lawyer, Brown is known for working with some 0:00:56.520 --> 0:01:02.600 of society's most notorious figures, including serial killer Ted Bundy. 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:08.200 He titled his autobiography The Devil's Defender. In twenty twelve, 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:10.160 he took on his newest client. 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:14.039 There were a number of titles when I always let 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:20.800 Bobby alone, and Bobby would cry, and he would not 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:30.000 cry for himself much, but mostly for what happened. But 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:33.200 none of us should be judged on the worst day 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:39.160 of our lives. There's many other aspects to our lives 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:45.040 that mitigate the worst six that we've done, thank God. 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:49.520 Previously on the War Within. 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:52.640 Bob was always on ready. He wanted to make sure 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:53.560 everyone was protected. 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:56.480 We came upon one hundred and sixty pounds of explosives. 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:59.160 I go see the guy that is if responsible for 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:01.320 the VSP. I'm like, hey, man, we need to go 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:04.560 do something. He said, basically, you know this isn't your business. 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:06.520 I hope to get out there, find guys that weren't 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:07.760 planning ID shoot him. 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:08.200 And come back. 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:10.840 So I got the knock on the door three am. 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:15.600 The guard at the gate says that somebody left the base. 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:18.840 Come back to the VSP. They got their guns drawn 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:19.160 on me. 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:21.760 I got call my cell phone and it was Bob 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:24.760 and the first thing out of his mouth was you. 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:27.400 Need to run. Something really bad has happened. 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:29.880 I said, Bales, what the fuck happened? He looked up 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:31.320 and he said, I think I need a lawyer. 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:35.320 I'm Mike McGinnis. This is the War Within the Robert 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:46.600 Bayles story. Staff Sergeant Robert Bales was never expected to 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:50.880 reach this level of notoriety. His conception of himself as 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:53.840 an all American guy clashes with the pariah that he 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:58.880 has become, and his extensive interviews with documentarian Paul Blowski, 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:01.959 Baal's pins picture of an early life that was seemingly 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:03.800 as normal as anyone else's. 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:07.359 Let's begin with where are you from, where you're born? 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:08.400 Where'd you grow up? Hight. 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:12.640 I grew up in Norwood, Ohio. It's a suburb of Cincinnati, 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:15.600 blue collar town. We had a General Motors plant there 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:19.560 until nineteen eighty seven. You know, my dad worked in 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:22.000 a factory his whole life. My mom never worked, stay 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:22.680 at home mom. 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:25.960 So brothers, sisters, you know what. You know, how many 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:27.760 kids are in the family where it joined. 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:28.600 I had four brothers. 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:29.600 I'm the youngest of five. 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:33.359 So I was a kid that got beat up and protected, 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:35.640 so you know a little bit of both, you know. 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:37.640 I think I got a lot of attention. I got 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:39.400 to spend a lot of quality time with my dad 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:42.000 that I think my older brothers didn't get. 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:44.680 Growing up as the baby of a family with five 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:47.560 growing boys, finances were often spread then. 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:50.960 We didn't have much money, you know. I think the 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:52.760 most money on my dad ever made was like twenty 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:53.840 seven thousand dollars. 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:54.080 You know. 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:57.600 The one fights that I remember with my mother and 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:00.680 father were about money, and so I think that left 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:05.320 a real taste in my mouth. We were the blue 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:07.680 collar gyes. You know, we were the you know, you 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:09.800 guys aren't that smart. You know you're going to have to, 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:13.200 you know, be more physical. You know you're gonna end 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:16.760 up working in a factory. You know, that's the lifestyle. 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:19.880 So I think the idea of proving people wrong, proving 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:22.520 that you can do, and the idea that you know 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:23.520 you want to get up. 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:27.240 During his time as an active duty soldier, Robert Bales 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:30.480 was known for his dedication to his craft. It's a 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:33.200 work ethic that was developed at a young age on 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:33.880 the grid iron. 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:37.359 I love football, you know, as a kid, you know, 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:39.760 I mean when I was seven, I'd come home in 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:42.320 the backyard and I had my whole football team, a 0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:45.440 little nerve football out there, throwing my nerve football to 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:48.360 my fake guys in the backyard. Later in high school, 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:50.040 I was cabin the football team. 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:52.920 In those kind of groups, there's some people that are 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:55.680 kind of the ones that are plotting out and organizing, 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:57.600 kind of the leaders some of their followers. 0:04:58.000 --> 0:04:59.159 You know, this is the. 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:01.760 Dynamic I think as far as the leader I don't 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:05.280 think that really developed until seventh and eighth grade football. 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:07.920 I think it changed because I just had a knack 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:10.000 for it. You know, you start doing some things and 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:12.719 you start getting counted on, and then it carries over. 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:15.440 I think football carries over to sports in general, carryover 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:18.839 into life, and then it translates into everything else. So, 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:21.520 for example, you know, you had to have at least 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:24.440 a sea average to play football, to play sports, and 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:25.960 so all of a sudden, you start getting a Sea 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:28.080 average and you're like, you know what, that's pretty easy. 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:30.600 Maybe I can do a little better. I think football 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:32.520 is a great lesson for life. You know, you take 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:34.479 lots of hits, but you get it up and you 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:37.200 keep going. You know, you never stay down. You know, 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:39.440 being a part of that community, being a part of 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:40.640 the brotherhood, being. 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:41.719 A part of that fraternity. 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:44.240 You're working with your best friends. I mean, these guys 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:47.080 are your best friends in life. You know, you do 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:48.039 everything together. 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:52.520 The people who know Bails will attest that he's a 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:55.599 fiercely loyal person, whether it's on the football field or 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:58.640 the battlefield. You could argue that he's always had a 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:02.840 protective streak. Nowhere was this more apparent than with a 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:06.280 friendship that Bob Foster with his next door neighbor Wade. 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:11.720 I started working with Wade when I was fourteen. Wade 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:17.160 has Microsoft offlies, which means that his brain closed too early, 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:18.880 or the soft spot in his brain closed up so 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:19.919 his brain could expand. 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:22.400 Good looking guy. 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:25.520 You wouldn't know if he was just sitting here that 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:29.560 he was retarded, but he had. He was severely retarded. 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:31.599 So you know, he never got he never made it 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:36.400 past the age of reasoning. They lived next door to me, 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:39.400 so I kind of grew up with him a little bit. 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:43.040 And they had a program called Model fifty, which was 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:47.240 established by Nancy Reagan, I believe, where families could keep 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:51.480 their children at home and get help from the outside. So, 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:55.440 you know, basically they hired me to help take care 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:58.360 of Waite. Well, Wade became, you know, a dashed in 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:01.760 my hip. Wade and I did everything together. You know, 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:04.039 we'd go out and hang out, just walk in the mall, 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:07.839 you know, and so Wade drew a crowd wherever we went. 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:13.760 You know, he obviously was different. It wasn't like this 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:18.440 was a job. This is my. 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:18.880 Brother, you know what I mean. 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:23.080 Bob's commitment to his neighbor was the real deal. During 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.920 his freshman year of college, his first year away from home, 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:30.240 lead hurt himself badly. Baals ended up spending the next 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:31.760 twelve months back in Norwood. 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:33.640 After I got out of high school and I was 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:37.920 at Mount Saint Joseph and Cincinnati for a year. Well, 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:40.920 Wade half falling down a flight of steps broke his hip, 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:43.520 and so it was a lot of rehab to get 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:46.240 him back to normal or get him back up walking, 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:48.920 and so I spent some time doing that. 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:53.120 Bals grew up in Ohio in the eighties, so did 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:55.680 I actually, although Bales is a few years older than me, 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:58.840 but I can tell you firsthand it was rare for 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:01.160 the varsity football cap to spend a lot of time 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:05.240 with his disabled neighbor. That said, he was a young 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:07.960 man who still had some growing up to do. His wife, 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:10.200 Carrie thinks Bob was a different person before the two 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:11.760 of them met his adults. 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:16.200 He was really popular in high school. 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:18.800 He was co captain of the football team, he was 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:21.760 president of his senior class party. 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:24.040 But he was kind of a. 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:26.800 Jerk before he turned thirty. I'm not gonna lie. 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:29.400 Prior to meeting me when he was in his twenties, 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:31.480 him and his friends would go out and he would 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:33.720 go up to a girl, maybe a not so pretty girl, 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:36.079 and he would pretend like he was shy and giving 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:36.679 her his. 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:39.480 Number, and then he would walk away. 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:40.960 He goes, I'm really shy that you should give me 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:43.240 a call sometime, right and his friends would be watching 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:45.560 this and she would open it up and it would 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:48.640 say call one eight hundred weight watchers. And so I 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:50.760 told him, I'm like, look, if I met you before 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:53.160 we were thirty years old, I wouldn't have liked you, 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:54.360 and you wouldn't have liked me. 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:59.199 So much of Robert Bayales's childhood sounds like it could 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:03.160 have been ripped from eighties movie. The big working class family, 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:09.040 the football, the friendships, the pranks. There aren't many indicators 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:10.839 that this guy would one day end up in Fort 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:15.240 Leavenworth Military Prison. Compare that with some of the other 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:20.520 infamous mass murderers in American history. Frequently, their upbringings were 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:25.439 more complicated, sometimes rife with disturbing incidents. That's why defense 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:29.160 attorney John Henry Brown notes stark differences between Bales and 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:32.840 men like Ted Bundy, another one of his former clients. 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:36.880 I never believed that people were born evil. I never 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:39.560 was raised that way, But when I met Ted Bundy, 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:46.080 I changed my opinion. He was definitely a very evil person. 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:50.560 Was clearly a sociopath. I don't think that the term 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:55.000 serial killer was even in our vocabulary until the seventies 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:57.520 or the eighties, when there were a lot of incidents 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:01.680 like that. Then Ted came along, and of course that 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:05.000 label fit him pretty well. There's no way that you 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:10.320 could compare Bobby Bails to Ted Bundy at all. Bobby 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:14.520 is not a sociopath. We became really close. I ended 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:18.080 up really admiring Bob and liking. 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:29.319 Bob Let's transition from Middle America to the middle of 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:33.320 the Afghan desert. After coming back to the VSP covered 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:37.200 in blood, Robert Bales told Special Forces Captain Danny Fields 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:40.720 that he needed a lawyer. That request would be honored 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:45.280 the first the military had a more pressing priority. 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:48.320 So afterwards, you know, it was probably like three o'clock 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.240 when it flew me out of panjaway to Kandahar. And 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:53.760 there's like some blank times here where everything kind of 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:57.960 runs together, you know. So I was in Candahar in 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:01.240 this like little box room there's noiger than a storage closet. 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:03.640 Then I ended up in like a jail, I think, 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:06.560 for a few hours, and then they flew me to 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:09.160 Kuwait put me in like this kennel that was inside 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:11.880 of a tent for a while, and then I ended 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:16.920 up here in Levenworth, Kansas, and then from there I 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:18.880 meet John Henry Brown for the first time. 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:23.560 Carrie Bales was responsible for recruiting star attorney John Henry 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:27.280 Brown for one of the most polarizing cases of his career. 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:33.160 It was seeing my older sister and her husband's idea 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:36.440 to get John Henry Bound involved because he's really good 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:38.320 with the media. 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:43.000 He dealt with other, you know, controversial cases. I didn't 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:43.760 know who he. 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:46.600 Was prior to meeting him, right, Like, I didn't go 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:49.720 Google him or anything like that. He was a smart person, 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:51.760 you know, who I knew was powerful. 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:53.360 I guess as. 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:56.640 In like probably the worst situation ever, and here he 0:11:56.760 --> 0:11:58.839 was someone that was going to that said they would 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:00.800 you help us, certainly trying to help us. 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:06.400 I was contacted by Bobby's family. I remember They've been 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:10.119 driving in my car getting a call on my bluetooth, 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:13.080 and of course I'd heard in the news what had happened, 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:16.760 but they had mentioned a name of any soldier involved. 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:21.440 I just knew the General of publicity about some soldier 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:26.800 going off the defense basically, so I knew the tragedy 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:27.480 of the whole event. 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:31.280 We met with him and got him on board to 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:32.160 help us. 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:33.720 Surreal, very surreal. 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:38.680 Carrie was scared, her family was scared to kids. This 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:42.600 is a scary situation. The Taliban has nothing to be 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:46.680 taken lightly. So the army whisked Carrie and her family 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:49.840 away to a safe house on the base somewhere. 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:53.760 The military packed up our house for us and moved 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:56.520 all of our things within that next week. I had 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:59.280 to get a house on Fort Louis without telling anybody 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:02.800 who I was. He and my kids definitely saw the 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:05.480 media circus. 0:13:04.600 --> 0:13:06.760 If you were watching the national news at this time. 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:10.680 Robert Byles's name and background was hard to avoid. 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:13.560 His name has not been officially released by the military, 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:16.160 but the military source now confirmed the suspect is Staff 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:19.679 Sergeant Robert Bales. Obviously, it's easier now to look at 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:20.640 his record and all of that. 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:24.600 He was a first platoon sergeant there in Afghanistan, did 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:27.240 a lot of work with the tribal elders there. 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:30.520 Watching the story play out in the public arena. John 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:32.880 Henry Brown only became more convinced that he was doing 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:36.200 the right thing, picking up the phone for a defendant 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:39.160 like Bales at a moment when most other people might 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:39.760 have hung up. 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:42.400 I believe the only reason to be a lawyer is 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:45.720 to help people. I guess I've always been an advocate 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:49.400 for the underdog, and it just seemed fundamentally unfair to 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:52.880 me that someone who we created, had four deployments, should 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:54.840 be treated the way he was being treated. 0:13:55.400 --> 0:13:58.120 Brown sought to put the staff sergeant's strongest advocates front 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:02.240 and center, but twenty twelve, the list of people willing 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:05.920 to openly side with an alleged workmaninal was short. Brown 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:08.600 himself was one, Carrie was another. 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:12.000 I felt it really important for me show the human 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:14.000 side of Bob and that Bob is not what has 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:16.400 been portrayed of him. And I remember thinking that I 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:18.920 really liked Matt Lauer and that he would be a 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:20.400 good listener to my story. 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:22.640 You've spoken to him twice on the phone. 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:24.200 Did you say, sweetheart, did you do this? 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:25.840 No? 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:29.400 No, I mean, as a spouse, wouldn't you want to 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:32.040 ask that question quickly, honey, why are they saying these 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:32.840 things about you? 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:37.280 Not on a monitored phone call. It was surreal. It 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:40.360 was like, this isn't happening to me. This is like 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:42.600 you watch it on TV's this kind. 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:44.560 Of story, this kind of thing happens to someone else, 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:47.600 But here I am living this and it was frightening 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:51.440 and not the way you want to be in the media. 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:54.320 It just drives me crazy that everybody wants to think 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:57.920 the absolute possible worst and it's not their family being 0:14:58.520 --> 0:14:59.720 drug through the mud. 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:05.280 Painful as it might have been. Kerrie went on National 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:10.040 TV for one clear reason, to literally save Robert Bales' life. 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:14.720 The Secretary of the Fans, Leon Panetta, actually called for 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:18.800 a death penalty sentlus, which is first of all, undue 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:22.520 command influence and should not have been said. And I 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:24.080 think that was one of the reasons why I ended 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:28.320 up representing body. Leon Panetta, Well, here's somebody who's kind 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:34.160 of known internationally as the humanitarian asking for the death penalty, 0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:38.520 and to me, that's inconsistent. Whatever happened. You know, we 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:45.200 as the nation created Bobby and we were quickly abandoning him. 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:49.560 Secretary Panetta declined our interview request, so the veracity of 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:53.440 his claim that Panetta asked for the death penalty is unclear, 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:57.520 but he did take immediate action after the Canahar massacre, 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:01.520 giving a press conference just hours after the news had broken. 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:05.160 Traveling overseas Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:07.800 Himself, so the death penalty is a possibility. 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:14.320 Obviously, we were all deeply shocked and sad by the 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:16.640 event that occurred there. 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:21.840 On the afternoon of March fifteenth, twenty twelve, four Star 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:25.560 General John Allen gave a press conference on the Kandahar killings. 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:30.000 Allen worked closely with Panetta and was responsible for managing 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:34.120 the war effort in Afghanistan. His comments reveal a lot 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:37.640 about how the US would be regarding Robert Bales. 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:40.760 In the case of Staffs. Sergent Bale's my sincere condolences 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:43.800 to the loved ones, family members, and friends of those 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:47.800 who were killed and injured in that senseless act of violence. Charges, 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:49.920 as you know, have been preferred against Stas Argent Bales. 0:16:50.640 --> 0:16:53.960 Compensation payments to the families of the victims have been paid, 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:57.800 and both the criminal investigation as well as an administrative 0:16:57.880 --> 0:16:59.760 investigation continues. 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:06.680 Something went terribly wrong investigation pending something went terribly wrong. 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:11.440 How are you making sure something like that doesn't happen again. 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:16.000 We're investigating this one very thoroughly, and I'm looking at 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:18.160 command climate of that unit. 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:24.040 In fact, let's go back to the village stability platform. 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:27.760 The morning of March eleventh, twenty twelve, hours after the 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:31.880 shit storm began, Brown might have said that the military 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:36.160 was abandoning Bales, but that's in retrospect. In the heat 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:39.560 of the moment, soldiers like Captain Fields and Private Alexander 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:43.760 were left to deal with a volatile situation that Bales created. 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:46.359 Just having him on the base. After we kind of 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:50.000 pieced together what we thought that he had done, it 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:55.960 was a very uncomfortable feeling to have that person near you. 0:17:57.160 --> 0:17:59.000 We said, hey, make sure we're watching this guy, and 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:00.879 let's let him pack a bag because he's going to 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:01.680 have to get out of here. 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:03.840 I don't remember, you. 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:06.160 Know, exactly how long it was that he was there, 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:08.000 but it could have been more than a few hours, 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:10.879 you know. I remember they landed, he got right on 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:14.320 the plane and took off, so he was gone pretty quickly. 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:17.520 In the region of panchwe the news of the American 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:20.879 military breaking into civilian households and killing women and children 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:21.920 was spreading fast. 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:25.880 At first light sun came up, there were people at 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:28.359 our gate, and you know, they said, we want to 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:32.720 speak to who's in charge. We see footprints that have 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:36.720 left your base and are at the place where people 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:37.600 were shot and killed. 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:38.720 We have the bodies. 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:40.280 We're going to bring them to you in the back 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:42.520 of a pickup truck because we want you to see them. 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:43.560 That we're not lying to you. 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:45.480 And our front gate is not a gate. 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:48.280 It's a piece of wood with constantina wire up throughout. 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:51.560 It's not like some steel fortress thing that you think 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:53.240 it would be right like in the movie An. 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:55.440 It's it's not any type of defensive barrier at all. 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:58.600 The Afghans were not there to inflict damage. What they 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:01.480 were there to do is get bail. They wanted instant 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:04.840 retribution for what happened, and they wanted to show us 0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:06.959 the evidence of what it happened. 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:08.760 These people came to the gate I saw. 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:10.919 I ended up seeing more people in front of that 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:13.560 gate than I had in the previous forty five days. 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:16.800 I don't know where they came from, but these people 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:18.920 were showing up in force and they demanded. They said, 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:21.360 we know it was at least one person here, if 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:24.040 not more. They thought it was the entire base, honestly, 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:25.840 and we want whoever did this. 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:28.960 Thank God. I could say, well, I'd love to give 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:31.440 him to you, but he's not here. I just remember 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:33.120 having relief that I could say. 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:37.280 That Captain Field's private Alexander and the man were calling 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:41.359 Soldier x all guarded the entrance as an anguished, in 0:19:41.400 --> 0:19:44.400 formidable crowd grow outside. 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:48.760 We were getting intelligence reports that there were some bad 0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:52.160 actors in that crowd who either had some machine gun 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:55.959 of some sort, or hand grenades or RPGs, but they 0:19:55.960 --> 0:19:58.680 had something that they were intending to use to harm 0:19:58.760 --> 0:19:59.520 us or through. 0:19:59.400 --> 0:20:01.800 A few hours, like there were hundreds of Afghans, pissed 0:20:01.840 --> 0:20:06.480 Afghans outside our gate, bringing like they're bringing by shot 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:08.120 up by his kids and stuff like that. 0:20:08.400 --> 0:20:10.359 Ten feet away from me, fifteen feet away from you 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:16.520 are a crowd of Afghans holding dead children, displaying the 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:23.160 children pointing to them, crying, looking so enraged at us. 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:26.639 I mean, there's one guy, white Beard, and his eyes 0:20:26.680 --> 0:20:29.760 were just red. There was no call it. 0:20:29.800 --> 0:20:30.760 The red in his eyes. 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:35.280 It became really personal at that time like, really really personal. 0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:39.120 I'm looking at the crowd. I'm like, they're are coming 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:43.359 and kill us all. They're coming, kill us all. And 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:47.080 I understood it. I understood their anger. You know, if 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:50.560 I was a dad and some shirk off came and 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:54.000 they'ld be held a pay right, so. 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:59.520 Horrible When Bails attacked Hadji Muhammad Wazir had been spending 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:02.600 the night his brother's house in another town. He recalls 0:21:02.640 --> 0:21:04.960 the morning after he learned that six of his seven 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:06.359 children had been killed. 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:11.320 In the morning, we were having tea when one of 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:14.440 the people of our village called us and said there 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:17.600