(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/121105-robertbales-130a.photoblog600.jpg)Spc. Ryan Hallock / DVIDS via EPA, fileU.S. Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales at the National Training Center allegedly shot and killed 16 civilians in Afghanistan.By NBC News wire servicesSEATTLE -- A U.S. Army soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers in a drunken rampage in March faces the military version of a preliminary hearing starting on Monday to determine if there is sufficient evidence for a court martial.
U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, a decorated veteran of four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, is accused of walking off his base under cover of darkness and opening fire on civilians in their homes in at least two villages.
Follow @NBCNewsUS (http://twitter.com/NBCNewsUS)The shooting of mostly women and children in Afghanistan's Kandahar province marked the worst civilian slaughter by U.S. forces since the Vietnam War and eroded already strained U.S.-Afghan ties after over a decade of conflict in the country.
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If found guilty he should be hanged.