Soldier who killed 16 Afghans says he was ‘consumed by war’

This U.S. Army photo, provided by the Tacoma, Wash., News-Tribune, shows Staff Sergeant Robert Bales in March, 2012. The Army's caption describes it as being taken the night of the attacks. Bales, who murdered 16 Afghan villagers in 2012, says he had lost compassion for Iraqis and Afghans over the course of his four combat deployments. The News Tribune newspaper obtained an eight-page letter Bales wrote to the senior Army officer at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., requesting that his life sentence be reduced. He said his mind was "consumed by war," and that after being in prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan, for two years he now understands that what he thought was normal was the farthest thing from it.(U.S. Army/Tacoma News-Tribune via AP) This U.S. Army photo, provided by the Tacoma, Wash., News-Tribune, shows Staff Sergeant Robert Bales in March, 2012. The Army's caption describes it as being taken the night of the attacks. Bales, who murdered 16 Afghan villagers in 2012, says he had lost compassion for Iraqis and Afghans over the course of his four combat deployments. The News Tribune newspaper obtained an eight-page letter Bales wrote to the senior Army officer at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., requesting that his life sentence be reduced. He said his mind was "consumed by war," and that after being in prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan, for two years he now understands that what he thought was normal was the farthest thing from it.(U.S. Army/Tacoma News-Tribune via AP)

By Associated Press June 7, 2015 3 min read

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) – The U.S. soldier who murdered 16 Afghan villagers in 2012 says he had lost compassion for Iraqis and Afghans over the course of his four combat deployments.

The News Tribune newspaper of Tacoma (http://is.gd/T5zorA ) used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain an eight-page letter former Staff Sgt. Robert Bales wrote to the senior Army officer at Joint Base Lewis-McChord requesting that his life sentence be reduced.

“My mind was consumed by war,” Bales wrote late last year.

“I planted war and hate for the better part of 10 years and harvested violence,” he added. “After being in prison two years, I understand that what I thought was normal was the farthest thing from being normal.”

In March Lt. Gen. Stephen Lanza rejected the request to overturn Bales’ conviction or modify his sentence, an Army spokesman said Friday. That automatically sends the case to the Army Court of Criminal Appeal, where it might be considered again by military judges one day.