2:22 am Wed May 9, 2012  Afghan Operation Update  Originally
published on Wed May 9, 2012 5:02 am    And now we go to
southern Afghanistan for an update on an incident that
threatened to undermine America's mission in this country. In
March, an American soldier massacred villagers near a remote
outpost west of Kandahar. An Army sergeant, Robert Bales, is in
custody, accused of that crime.  I reached NPR's Tom Bowman who
is in Kandahar now, just back from the area where Sgt. Bales was
assigned.  And Tom, I understand you were just a mile or two
from where those killings took place.  TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE:
That's right, Renee. It's called Zangabad. It's a combat outpost
just a short distance from the villages where Sgt. Bales was
stationed. He was at a different combat outpost called Belandai.
And investigators say he left his outpost - he was with the
Green Berets at the time - providing security for them. He left
this outpost twice in one night, 17 people were killed,
including nine children, and the wounded wer