Replies to post #79581 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

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Obama Admin: No Grounds To Probe Afghan War Crimes

LARA JAKES | July 10, 2009 11:41 PM EST | AP

WASHINGTON — Obama administration officials said Friday they had no grounds to investigate the 2001 deaths of Taliban prisoners of war who human rights groups allege were killed by U.S.-backed forces.

The mass deaths were brought up anew Friday in a report by The New York Times on its Web site. It quoted government and human rights officials accusing the Bush administration of failing to investigate the executions of hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of prisoners.

U.S. officials said Friday they did not have legal grounds to investigate the deaths because only foreigners were involved and the alleged killings occurred in a foreign country.

The Times cited U.S. military and CIA ties to Afghan Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, whom human rights groups accuse of ordering the killings. The newspaper said the Defense Department and FBI never fully investigated the incident.

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.

"There is no indication that U.S. military forces were there, or involved, or had any knowledge of this," Lapan said. "So there was not a full investigation conducted because there was no evidence that there was anything from a DoD (Department of Defense) perspective to investigate."

A Justice Department official said the FBI had no jurisdiction to investigate. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Separately, Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller declined to comment.

A spokesman for former President George W. Bush did not have an immediate comment Friday night.

Reacting to the Times' report, human rights group Physicians for Human Rights called for the Justice Department to begin a criminal investigation into whether the Bush administration blocked inquiries into the Taliban deaths.

"For U.S. government officials to claim that there is no legal basis to investigate this well-documented mass atrocity is absurd," said the groups deputy director, Susannah Sirkin.

The allegations date back to November 2001, when as many as 2,000 Taliban prisoners died in transit after surrendering during one of the regime's last stands, according to a State Department report from 2002.

Witnesses have claimed that forces with the U.S.-allied Northern Alliance placed the prisoners in sealed cargo containers over the two-day voyage to Sheberghan Prison, suffocating them and then burying them en masse using bulldozers to move the bodies, according to the State Department report. Some Northern Alliance soldiers have said that some of their troops opened fire on the containers, killing those within.

Dostum, the Northern Alliance general who is accused of overseeing the atrocities, has previously denied the allegations.

A former U.S. ambassador for war crimes issues, Pierre Prosper, told the Times that the Bush administration was reluctant to investigate the deaths, even though Dostum was on the payroll of the CIA and his soldiers worked with U.S. special forces in 2001.

Dostum was suspended from his military post last year on suspicion of threatening a political rival, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai recently rehired him, the Times reported.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/10/obama-admin-no-grounds-to_n_229907.html [with comments]

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Phrase to be paraphrased: "‘Oh, this is a sensitive issue; this is a touchy issue politically.’”"

Paraphrase: Piss off.

Advice ignored .. former American Ambassador at large for War Crimes, Pierre "“If you bring Dostum back,
it will impact the progress of democracy and the trust people have in the government,” Mr. Prosper said."

Dostum did a Gen Douglas MacArthur, days before the election of August 20, 2009.

Pillow talk: .. "the official said, “We believe that anyone suspected of war crimes should be thoroughly investigated.”"

Hip hip hoorays: awarded to International Red Cross and Physicians for Human Rights for pushing for
an in investigation of Dostum's container box murders .. common practice of warlords, they say.

Dell Spry, the F.B.I.’s senior representative at the detainee prison at
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, mention here just to remember who he is. Maybe ok.

"“I was disappointed because I believed that, true or untrue, we had to be in
front of this story, because someday it may turn out to be a problem,” Mr. Spry said."

Worthy of BIGGEST CHUCKLE AWARD .. for now ..

"Pentagon spokesmen have said that the United States Central Command conducted an “informal
inquiry,” asking Special Forces personnel members who worked with General Dostum if they knew
of a mass killing by his forces. When they said they did not, the inquiry went no further."

Thanks to all concerned. :) .. Earlier i thought of the container suffocations, but more details here now.

Had forgotten the allegations of an American, .. 'lookee what i will never say i saw' .. seeer, being present.