A Soldier, A Vigilante...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
The Paz Files

AUSTIN, Texas - Robert Bales and George Zimmerman are in the news this morning, one for reportedly assassinating 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children, and the other for gunning down a 17-year-old kid in Florida. Both cases carry arguments of the quick-decision mold on innocence and guilt. And both are now getting much closer study.

Bales is the U.S. Army staff sergeant with a deadbeat past, a soldier who stands accused of murdering unarmed civilians asleep in their homes and who, it seems, had a questionable record in this country. Bales is now further accused by elderly Gary Liebschner of bilking him out of $852,000 when Bales worked for MPI, an Ohio brokerage firm (see photo of both men above).

That case is unfolding in its own slow, but steady manner, with new revelations surfacing about Bales and troubles with the law prior to his enlistment, with a marriage on the rocks, with personal financial problems that may have contributed to his losing it in Afghanistan. Part of his story also includes reports that he was drinking on the night of his rampage.

Bales is in custody at the military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. His case may take years to unravel, its journey through the military courts the first stab at justice. Bales is married and the father of two young daughters.

In Sanford, Florida, George Zimmerman stands acused of killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on the night of Feb. 26th as the youngster walked to the residence of a family his own family was visiting after buying a soft drink and some chips at a convenience store. Zimmerman, 28, is said to have shot the teenager after leaving his vehicle and following him. At the time, Zimmerman was acting as a civilian neighborhood-watch resident. He is accused of using a 9 mm weapon to shoot and kill Martin, a weapon he was prohibited from carrying while performing his citizen policing.

Where Ohio resident Liebschner says Sgt. Bales "robbed me of my life savings," the family of Trayvon Martin says their son's shooting was largely ignored by local authorities. Today, a Florida Grand Jury and the U.S. Department of Justice announced investigations into the killing of young Martin and into how the case was handled by local authorities.

Both cases bear some similarity - armed individuals taking the vigilante route.

Bales is in deep water on a variety of fronts. Liebschner, of Carroll, Ohio, wants him prosecuted for fraud, something he says the Army should have looked at before allowing him to enlist and avoid prosecution for theft of his retirement funds. Zimmerman faces the first serious review of his actions. According to his father, Robert, who hand-delivered a letter to the local newspaper saying his son was not a racist, George Zimmerman, who is Hispanic, was just protecting his neighborhood.

Sgt. Bales may also say he was protecting America by soldiering in a country home to terrorists out to do damage in the United States. Both positions may ring with some truth, but perhaps not as powerful as the bullets they fired into the night...

- 30 -