Chewyguru

U.S. Implicated in Taliban Massacre


Sources:
ASHEVILLE GLOBAL REPORT, No. 179, June 20-26, 2002
Title: "Documentary Implicates U.S. Troops in Taliban Prisoner Deaths"
Compiled by: Kendra Sarvadi

IN THESE TIMES, Sept 2, 2002
Title: "Secret History?"
Author: Adam Porter

Faculty Evaluator: Maureen Buckley Ph.D., Ray Castro Ph.D.
Student Researcher: Tara Spreng, Emilio Licea

A documentary entitled Massacre at Mazar released in 2002 by Scottish film producer, Jamie Doran, implicates U.S. troops in the torturing and deaths of approximately 3,000 men from Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan.

Doran's documentary follows the finding of Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), that concluded that there was evidence of the disposal of human remains at two mass gravesites near Mazar-i-Sharif. In the documentary, two witnesses claim that they were forced to drive into the desert with hundreds of Taliban prisoners who were held in sealed cargo containers. The witnesses alleged that the orders came from a local U.S. commander. Prisoners, who had not yet suffocated to death inside the vans, were shot by Northern Alliance gunmen, while 30 to 40 U.S. soldiers stood watching.

Irfan Azgar Ali, a survivor of the trip, informed the London Guardian newspaper, "They crammed us into sealed shipping containers. We had no water for 20 hours. We banged on the side of the container. There was no air and it was very hot. There were 300 of us in my container. By the time we arrived in Sheberghan, only 10 of us were alive." One Afghani truck driver, forced to drive the containers, says the prisoners began to beg for air. "Northern Alliance commanders told us to stop the trucks and we came down," he said. "After that, they shot into the containers to make air holes. Blood came pouring out. They were screaming inside." Another driver in the convoy estimated that an average of 150 to 160 people died in each container. When the containers were unlocked at Sheberghan, the bodies of the dead tumbled out. Another witness states they observed a U.S. soldier break an Afghani prisoner's neck and pour acid on others.

In addition to bodies of Taliban prisoners, the filmmakers allege that thousands of Afghanis, Pakistanis, Uzbeks, Chechens, and Tajiks may also be buried there.

Afghani warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum, the man whose forces allegedly carried out the killings, admits there were only 200 such deaths and that the prisoners died before the transfer.

One Northern Alliance soldier who spoke to Doran claims that U.S. troops masterminded a cover-up. The soldier informed Doran, "The Americans told the Sheberghan people to get rid of them [the bodies] before satellite pictures could be taken." One witness told the London Guardian that an U.S. Special Forces vehicle was parked at the scene as bulldozers buried the dead. Doran's footage showed areas of compacted red sand, apparently caked with blood, as well as "clothing, bits of skull, matted hair, jaws, femurs, and ribs jutting out of the sand,
despite a sloppy attempt to remove evidence after the fact" (Melbourne Sunday Herald Sun, 2/9/03). Additionally, bullet casings littered the site, offering a grim testimony that some Taliban prisoners, who were still alive, were executed before being dumped in the desert. United Nations (UN) and human rights officials have found the grave, but have not estimated the number of bodies it contains.

Says Doran, "I took the footage to the European Parliament because … I have a great fear that the graves may be tampered with. I had to take it to the highest level in Europe." According to the Glasgow Herald (December 19, 2002), Doran stated "They're hiding behind a wall of secrecy, hoping this story will go away, but it won't." Doran also feared for the safety of the witnesses, two of whom have subsequently been murdered. Doran's key researcher, Najibullah Quarishi, was almost beaten to death in an unsuccessful attempt to gain a copy of incriminating footage.

The screening of the film at the European Parliament prompted calls for an international commission to investigate the charges. Andrew McEntree, former chairman of Amnesty International, said that "very credible evidence" in the documentary needed to be investigated. McEntree said that he believed that war crimes had been committed not only under international law, but also under U.S. law.

A Pentagon spokesman denied the allegations.....



full article

dr3d1zzl3

iTrader: (1)

and people are surprised because?

its war in war crimes are commited on a moments whim. that is the nature of war

thebankman

iTrader: (7)

So lots of people dead, several countries in economic and social chaos, a despot captured, and an indefinite number of years left to the Iraq campaign. And still no Bin Laden or weapons of mass destruction or any evidence of either one.

So many big lies and screwups and dead soldiers and dead civilians and no one wants to take the blame.

MonkeyAB

iTrader: (1)

and still counting...

The upcoming election is going to be the most important of our lives.

Salty

iTrader: (14)

If you have to split a few heads to get some answers during a time of war and actually take advantage of your higher position then im all for it. In todays army we have to send our POW's etc to different allied countries for CT where it's legal to torture. So why can't we do it? because of ***** liberals and the geneva convention that insist on holding everyones hands in a time of war. Im willing to bet those that decide war crimes and reasearch these types of incidents have never been in war environment. Being in hostile territory is the same exact feeling after you get from getting into a car accident 24hrs a day. You have to be on your toes...if putting 300 taliban "soldiers" into a container helps OUR SOLDIERS then hooah, drive on with your mission to find Bin Laden.

Im willing to bet if it wasn't for our POW ROE's that we'd have a lot of intel when it really mattered on bin ladens location. We were given laminated ROE cards on how to deal with Taliban soldiers in a peaceful manner...WTF? Hello people! they ran two 737's into the WTC...where's the peaceful side of that? This countries rules on war are ridiculous catch 22's pure and simple. How did they ever assume we were going to find bin laden without hostile CT?

What the pentagon knows, what those soldiers did, what the higher COC knows and what I AND EVERYONE ELSE DOESN'T IS WHAT MAKES US "FREE". When you were young did you question the hand that feed you? All you knew is that daddy and mommy had jobs...you didn't know what that job consisted of did you?

im not saying this directly to Chewyguru because we had a similar argument about 6months ago

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...ight=Chewyguru

Im saying this in general to anyone that happens to read it.


ERIC

Chrisnonstop

I'm going to have to say that the article is pure B.S. The military these days insists that jouranalists go everywhere the troops are. Even the S.F. guys have tag along reporters...

God help us if Bush isn't re-elected...

thebankman

iTrader: (7)

In response to Sisqocqk- So you're saying that any life is expendable as long as the person is not an American? That attitude is what makes people outside of the USA hate us with such a passion, because we care so little about them that we would kill them to better ourselves. IMO killing people that don't have to be killed is morally inexcusable, regardless of who they are. I'm not religious but I know putting someone in a sweatbox for a couple hours is WRONG, even if it's Charles Manson it's just not how a civilized society treats other humans.

In response to Chrisnonstop- This report seems quite outrageous but then again there is always going to be a bias in favor of the military in this country, and many reporters assigned to military squads work for the military and may "overlook" events that make the troops/commanders look bad.

Max Xevious

iTrader: (8)

why do you care what others think about us ?

as long as its a mentality of "screw thoes guys, but were not going to mess with them cause they dont mess around" then Im happy

Salty

iTrader: (14)

If this article is true...it's not like these SF soldiers from 5thSFG etc were killing/torturing innocent everyday people such as your nextdoor neighbor or even a family pet. These soldiers were doing it to people that killed 1000+ in 9/11 and jeopardized YOUR way of life. Doesn't that mean anything to you? doesn't the fact the taliban killed so many innocent civilians of ours give us the unwritten right, in time of WAR to imploy ANY MEANS of C.I. etc to get answers we need to find those running the show? (according to the code of military justice and geneva convention/un laws it doesn't but i think they did what they thought was right...maybe a bit abrupt but possibly mandtory for PII)

What were they supposed to do in order to find the hard intel they needed? Trust the CIA etc whom already failed!? Hell, Osma could have been in the next cave one click away! Were they going to simply ask nicely, "hey guys...take me to your leader?"

If they did it by the book then they'd have to capture the taliban individuals and detain them and gather any material regarding intel such as maps, cigerettes, ammo etc, conduct minimal CI on the ground, transport the POWs to a camp, Setup a airlift to pick them up and take them to a country where they could be tortured for answers as to the whereabouts of Osma etc [gasp] then the CIA, FBI, and every tom, dick and harry would have to breakdown the info and make another lame guess as to where Osma is/was. By that time a week has passed and you're back to square one with a thumb up your azz.

SF soldiers aren't ruthless killers (i know a lot of them)... I GUARANTEE these men had orders from places so high we can't even comprehend so they were just conducting a mission as planned. If they didn't have orders then the Pentagon/ COC, CID would have punished these men in a silent matter and left the US Army civial affairs to cover it up somehow and make another story about it... it's happened before i assure you.

Journalism in the battlefield is the WORST IDEA ever!. during grenada and even panama rangers and paratroopers had to turn their planes aroung before a tactical jump because they got comprimissed due to journalism. In Desert Storm a seal team got compromissed and had to conduct a frago order (change of mission) because CNN met them on the beach! Before Operation Anaconda my COC took all cellphones away and ANY means of communication away and detained all of us to the barracks for a week. Our families never even knew what was going on. Because of people stepping into uncle sam's business instead of letting them do their jobs has forced the military to do stupid things.

thebankman

iTrader: (7)

As far as interrogating prisoners, it's hard to get information out of someone who is not living.

The CIA is a well funded government organization to gather information, if they can't do their job that's a whole other issue.

On the subject of detaining prisoners, the lengthy process you described is the U.S. justice system and I agree it is both time consuming and costly but it keeps torture and wrongful imprisonment at a minimum (hopefully).

While giving away military secrets is a bad thing, journalists covering warfare is positive in that it keeps citizens of the country informed on what the government is doing around the world. I think the American public would have a hard time going about their lives unsure of what the government is doing in the name of the people.

It's my opinion, shared with many, that America and the world would be better off had we not begun a second war with Iraq. The questions remain, are we safer, are the people of both our nations "more free" or "more safe"? Not to mention the poor treatment our soldiers are receiving from the government in terms of monetary support and time away from combat.

Salty

iTrader: (14)

point taken

FUNKED1

And this has WHAT to do with I-Club or Imprezas or the Bay Area? Please take this crap somewhere else.

Keisatsu

killing 3000 people (enemy soldiers, civilians, etc.) who are unarmed (already in custody) is wrong. i dont care who it is. Granted they did attack the WTC. Someone should pay for that, its called justice... killing those 3000 men (if it really did happen, im not necessarily saying its true.) was vengence, and that is not something i want my military doing (its mine, as well as yours as long as you pay your taxes)... hopefully that all makes sense... trying to type message while talking to multiple people...

Max Xevious

iTrader: (8)

I think this stuff affects everyones everyday life. Im sure people in new york thought everything that happens in the middle east did'nt affect them either the morning of 9/11

Keisatsu

the BAIC is a good place to talk about politics, world events, subarus, nissans, whatever... that is what keeps me coming back to BAIC... otherwise it would be nothing but meets and whatnot, but we even have a subforum for that... if the subject line does not look like its about subaru, dont click on it