Sgt. Robert Bales's defense attorney, John Henry Browne, said Monday, after his first interview with a client charged with committing sixteen gruesome murders, that Bales has no memory of committing the crimes with which is expected to be charged later this week, CBS News reported.[1]  --  Also on Monday, Bales's wife Karilyn released a statement to the press, saying that she "cannot shed any light on what happened on that night" and called her situation "something that makes no sense at all," the *News Tribune* (Tacoma, WA) which reproduced a facsimile of the complete statement.  --  In it, Karilyn Bales lamented "the cycle" of war and wrote:  "We must find peace," expressing again and again grief at the "terrible and heartbreaking tragedy" in Panjawai....

On Friday Gen. David Rodriguez, head of U.S. Forces Command at Fort Bragg, called a press conference at Lewis-McChord to refute reports that JBLM, the largest military base on the West Coast, is "the most troubled base in the military," a title accorded to it by Stars and Stripes in 2010.  --  "Rodriguez called the headlines 'unfortunate' and said there’s nothing that sets Lewis-McChord apart from other major bases as the entire Army faces challenges sending soldiers on multiple combat deployments," the News Tribune (Tacoma, WA) reported.[1]  --  Nevertheless, Gen. Rodriguez announced that "the Army is conducting a routine assessment of whether changes in Lewis-McChord’s command structure are warranted due to its significant growth.  He said a decision is expected in the 'near future,'" according to Christian Hill and Adam Ashton.  --  But the two reporters shied away from answering the question they posed:  Is there something wrong with Joint Base Lewis-McChord? ...

The man who says he killed sixteen Afghan civilians, most of them women and children, has been identified by a "senior U.S. official" as Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the News Tribune (Tacoma, WA) reported Friday.[1]  --  He and his wife (they have two children, ages 2 and 5) has been living in Lake Tapps, WA, where "in November 2005, county records show [t]hey paid $280,000 for a 4-bedroom 2-story home built in 1990. The house was listed for sale on March 12."  --  "The soldier was being flown Friday to the U.S. military's only maximum-security prison, at Fort Leavenworth." ....