Army Tried to Delete Afghan Murder Suspect from Web

After arresting the NCO accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers earlier this month, the Army tried to strip its websites of references to him, according to a McClatchy report.

The Army did not release the name of Staff Sgt. Robert Bales for nearly a week following his arrest, and during that time military websites were scrubbed of photographs and references in the web edition of his base's newspaper, according to the report.

The scrubbing turned out to be pointless, since news organizations found cached versions of the websites within minutes of Bales' name being released. Military officials insisted that the removal of the material was to protect the privacy of Bales' family.

Bales allegedly left his base in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan March 11, entered two nearby villages and , including women and children. He then allegedly returned to the base and turned himself in. He is currently being held at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.