Report: Bush admin. skirted probe of mass Afghan slayings
Published: July 10, 2009
Updated 4 months ago
Updates (at bottom): Obama administration sees no legal basis for investigation; Physicians for Human Rights calls for probe
When CIA-backed Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum had up to ’several thousand’ Taliban prisoners sealed and suffocated to death in metal shipping containers just days after the United States invaded the country, it did not go unnoticed by the White House.
They simply chose not to do anything about it and quietly worked to discourage efforts to uncover the truth, according to a late Friday report by The New York Times.
“ ‘At the White House, nobody said ‘no’ to an investigation, but nobody ever said ‘yes,’ either,’ said Pierre Prosper, the former war crimes ambassador for the United States,” reported the Times. “ ‘The first reaction of everybody there was ‘Oh, this is a sensitive issue. This is a touchy issue politically.’’ ”
“During Afghanistan’s tortured 30 years of war, Dostum served in the Soviet occupation forces and backed the pro-Moscow Najibullah government before switching sides,” noted Global Research. He joined with the US-backed Islamist militias that overthrew Najibullah, then was part of the fierce factional rivalry for power in Kabul before the Taliban finally took control.”
Dostum, a key ally of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, is expected to be reappointed as Karzai’s military chief of staff, the paper noted. Dostum ran for President of Afghanistan in 2004.
Update: Obama administration sees no legal basis for investigation
In spite of Friday’s revelation that the Bush administration suppressed an investigation into what is potentially the worst war crime of the Afghanistan occupation, the Obama administration will not seek an inquiry.
“Asked about the report, Marine Corps Col. David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, said that since U.S. military forces were not involved in the killings, there is nothing the Defense Department could investigate,” reported the Associated Press late Friday night.
An unnamed Justice Department source also reportedly told the AP that the FBI would not be able to investigate because the crimes were not committed within its jurisdiction.
Susannah Sirkin, deputy director of Physicians for Human Rights, called the administration’s position “absurd,” according to the report.
This video was published to YouTube on July 10, 2009, by Physicians for Human Rights.
Diane Sweet contributed to this report.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/11/world/a-nation-challenged-prisoners-witnesses-say-many-taliban-died-in-custody.html
A NATION CHALLENGED: PRISONERS; Witnesses Say Many Taliban Died in Custody
By CARLOTTA GALL
Published: Tuesday, December 11, 2001
http://www.edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/central/08/29/afghanistan.mass.graves/index.html
Mass graves raise questions in Afghanistan
cnn.com - Aug 29, 2002
Human-rights groups have accused Afghan forces of suffocating hundreds of Taliban fighters by locking them in unventilated steel shipping containers after …
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=archive&ct=res&cd=1-0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fafghanistan%2Fstory%2F0%2C1284%2C791946%2C00.html&ei=TbNXSvjkOafGqQONu9XFBQ&usg=AFQjCNFcQtRl7HHXsYFGDlZBsCSNCRJZZQ
Afghan massacre haunts Pentagon
guardian.co.uk - Sep 14, 2002
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,40572,00.html
Red Cross Probes Taliban Prisoner Deaths
FOXNews - Dec 11, 2001
…
and so on for many years after. News is like, new, like who died today in Afghanistan? Who’s on the list for tomorrows slaughter? Which piece of crap will we make our next ally and how much money do they make of selling heroin each year?
Uncle Tom Neocon Obama administration take action?!
Not unless AIPAC & The Fed tells him to say something about it.
How about that 9/11 sham, Barack?
Obama is not going to take any action against Dostum. This is just the guy the Obama administration wants there. They’ll probably have Dostum assassinate Karzai, whenever Karzai isn’t useful any longer.
Unless the CIA did something that breaks US laws this is an Afghani issue. We should give them plenty of guns and ammo, pull out completely, forbid Big Oil and the Israelis from getting involved, and let them work it out. We just need to stand by to make sure they don’t get invaded while they work their future out…. Ha! just kidding! Who in their right mind would invade Afghanistan?
It’s not a matter of anyone’s “WANTS”, the question is what they have on people so they can’t do anything about it. If we have Habeas Corpus “back”, we definitely have the “bodies”. This story needs to be hammered, not piled on by corporate press. Thanks to the journalists.
“It is unclear if the Obama administration plans to take action against the warlord.”
No mention of performing a full investigation on the level of CIA involvement in this nor the Bush Administrations’ knowledge/encouragement/direct orders.
Most Americans don’t wanna know what atrocities are regularly committed around the globe to keep this crumbling factory in operation.
The CIA and other entities exist to do the dirty work, so that we can remain ignorant children in Disneyland.
Sounds like the kind of thug the US likes to keep on the payroll to keep the natives from getting too uppity while we steal their resources. Freedom’s on the march in Afghanistan!
Kelly,
Remember, Evildoers take many forms: peasant women, old men, small children, civilian doctors… we must sometimes do Horrible Things to these Evildoers, and Thank God we have strong men and women like the Special Forces and CIA doing the dirty work to keep our freedom-loving country Strong. Remember, they are trying to Kill Us and take our Large Screen TV’s, because they Hate Our Freedom.
It’s a Very Dangerous, Violent, Deadly World.
That’s why we have to kill so many people in so many countries…
I know what you mean, man. I look around me here in America, listen to some of the crap these Bushies say, and I think how we’d be better off without these people in our society.
I mean that both facetiously AND seriously.
Canadian broadcasting and British broadcasting reported this story when it happened. Where was the american MSM on this story? And if anyone expects any action from Mr. Obama on this one , don’t hold your breath. In every instance, he has done his best to cover the Bush administration, and the CIA’s filthy tracks.
Not to worry , we have a republican in the white house..
The more things change, the more they stay the same. There is absolutely no chance of this nation healing itself. We cannot elect a Dennis Kucinich because the people in this country are so uninformed and shallow in their thinking they cannot see past the bullshit they are fed about who would make a good president. A person like Kucinich is ridiculed because he believes the rich and powerful shouldn’t actually have control ans sway over our Congress, that the military industrial complex shouldn’t decide when and where we go to war, and that the constitution and rule of law actually means something.
I warned my family and friends of the potential of Obama to significantly dissappoint them and not be any better than Bill Clinton, or be that much better than Bush; because I understand his conservative leanings he espoused during the campaign were not not headfakes, but a true component of his makeup. He was raised by white grandparents from Kansas, is there a more conservative state in the union. But his willingness to get on his knees and service the status quo to such a degree is even a surprise to me. For the people who fell into the idolotry game with Obama, you need to wake the hell up. I voted for Obama because he was not a radical, right wing conservative, not because I thought he was a true blue progressive, he has never claimed to be one, and he is now governing as I warned my family and friends he would.
They are dissappointed and disillusioned, I am not. I am saddened for this country and hate like hell I was right. I did hold out that minute hope I was wrong, but sadly, a politician is a politician, no matter the color of uniform he wears(blue or red). The powers that be will always control who we elect as our leaders. I hear so much hooranging about the Iranian elections, and the lack of the people being able to honestly choose their candidates, well we have the same system, only we do a much better job disguising the deception.
When will we ever wake the hell up in this country. But then again if we do finally wake up and seriously challenge the power structure, we just might see our police and military doing the same things we see the police and military in Iran doing, and that is crushing dissent.
In africa he tells them to get rid of corruption and tyanny..Tell them how you got rid of it in your country.O
Oh wow, ya think?
Also, let’s find out exactly who knew 9/11 was coming, and when they knew it.