(ABC News) An American soldier who plead guilty today to murdering 16 Afghan civilians told a judge today that there is "not a good reason in the world" for the "horrible things" he did.
Staff Sgt. Robert Bales appeared in a military courtroom where he publicly gave his account of the massacre for the first time.
When the judge, Col. Jeffery Nance, asked Bales what his reason was for killing the civilians, Bales said, "I've asked that question a million times since then. And there's not a good reason in the world for why I did the horrible things I did."
With simple "yes sir" and "no sir" responses, Bales affirmed that he killed the 16 people in March 2012, that he had no legal justification for the killing, that he was not acting in self-defense and that it was a freely made decision to kill them.
"Could you have avoided killing them if you wanted to?" the judge asked.
TRENDING: To DEI for
"Yes, sir," Bales replied.