Why is the military continuing to use the dangerous anti-malarial drug Lariam? That's the question former top military psychiatrist Elspeth Ritchie is asking in the wake of the Afghan massacre allegedly carried out by Staff Sgt. Robert Bales.

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Russell

Seattle attorney John Henry Browne is complaining that the Army is withholding evidence in the massacre case against his client, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales. But it's just three weeks into that investigation. Texas attorney James Culp is three years into the defense of Sgt. John M. Russell in Joint Base Lewis-McChord's "other" massacre case, and he's still being stalled by the Army, he says. Now he's asking for removal of the colonel overseeing the case after an angry episode at the base last week, according to documents obtained by Seattle Weekly.

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UPDATE: The Huffington Post revealed on Sunday that the Pentagon has launched an investigation into the military's use of the anti-malarial drug Lariam, whose possible connection with the Bales' massacre was raised by this post last Tuesday. The Pentagon subsequently denied that the investigation is linked to the massacre, but has refused to say whether Bales was given the drug. The issue has now "exploded," as Ritchie puts it to SW, in a slew of national stories.

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James Culp

If Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is found guilty of killing any or all of the 17 Afghan villagers he's accused of massacring, he could be eligible for parole within ten years, says James Culp, one of the nation's top civilian military lawyers and the defense attorney for Sgt. John M. Russell, another accused massacre shooter who is seeking to become the first soldier ever to be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

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Browne

A general court martial may be a long way off for Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the accused Afghan village mass murderer from Joint Base Lewis McChord. But if and when the time comes that the Army puts his client on trial, says Seattle attorney John Henry Browne, he'll put the Army's war on trial.

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The Lewis-McChord soldier accused of massacring 16 Afghan civilians last week is obviously in deep trouble. But with today's news that he owes $1.5 million to an Ohio retiree, it's clear that his troubles began before he left for the Middle East.

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Bales

Update: Browne likely to seek "diminished capacity" defense for Bales; also, the sergeant was found liable for part of a $1.4 million fraud judgment issued before he joined the Army. After the jump.

Having riled military officials with his media tactics even before he's seen his client, Seattle attorney John Henry Browne flew off to Kansas yesterday where today he tells us he'll finally meet Staff Sgt. Robert Bales of Joint Base Lewis McChord, arrested for murdering 16 villagers in Afghanistan. Bales is now in a Fort Leavenworth military prison, where one of his cellmates is Sgt. John M. Russell, who was under JBLM command when arrested in 2009 for the mass murder of fellow troops in Iraq.

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While it is still dealing with a sergeant who slaughtered his fellow troops in Iraq, and only months after completing the prosecution of a sergeant who led his "kill team" on missions to murder Afghan civilians, Joint Base Lewis McChord is now preparing to handle its most tragic case of a sergeant out of control - a 38-year-old non-com who went door-to-door in the dark massacring at least 16 civilians including nine children in Afghanistan yesterday, igniting more anti-American hatred and new calls for the U.S. to pull out of the war now.

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Stacey

The Catch 22 of the war in Afghanistan is the longer we stay, the longer we have to stay. The daily cost in lives and treasury makes it ever more necessary to leave, yet creates an investment that's increasingly difficult to forsake. The generals think the solution is the ongoing Iraq-style surge to decimate the enemy, followed by a drawdown this summer. Then we declare victory and go home in 2014. Meanwhile, we are left to wait and count the bodies, starting today with Sgt. William C. Stacey, 23, of Seattle.

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Image Source

Gai Bol Thong, a South Sudanese refugee living in Seattle, recently raised $45,000 to send to his war-torn homeland. The New York Times reported yesterday that the money may have been used to fund genocide, and quoted Thong as saying his tribesmen plan to "kill everybody" in a rival clan. But in an interview today with Seattle Weekly, Thong tried to clarify his statements and claimed his goal is peace.

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