U.S. Army Sergeant Suspected of Killing 16 Afghan Civilians March 12, 2012, 4:30 pm I've been trying to think what I can add to the extensive coverage of the horrible massacre in the Kandahar region of Afghanistan. I haven't come up with anything terribly original, but didn't want to let this shameful event go unmentioned. I have no idea why a 38-year-old father of two recently deployed to that sad country left his base and slaughtered at least 16 civilians, nine of them children. We know that he served a tour in Iraq, which has to put a strain on anyone's mental health, and the Army says he had trouble "reintegrating," but that's not even close to a satisfactory explanation. Maybe there never will be one. But the United States military should conduct a fast and thorough investigation, hold a court martial and if the killer is convicted - which I'm sure he will be - impose a harsh sentence. The military may also need to reassess how it monitors the mental health of its soldiers, especially in this time of long and repeated rotations. For now, according to today's article in The Times, the mood in Kandahar and Kabul is subdued, "with no immediate sign of the kind of deadly protests that followed the Koran burning." It'll be nice if that lasts, but I doubt it will. Anti-American sentiment was running high even before the Koran mess, and it's sadly probable that the massacre will inflame relations further.