Obama Admin: No Grounds To Probe Afghan War Crimes

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.

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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.

Comments

[fallout4U]

Obama just sp-it in the Lib's faces.....­.LOL Thank you Mr. President!

[research]

We missed our chance, for Dean or Kucinich, to get these DLC corporatist fake democrats. They will also destroy the Democratic brand as well. This looks like the final nail in anything like democracy in America. Please prove me wrong.

[SmolderingRuin]

From the link to Daily Kos provided by wijg earlier:

"For US Government officials to claim that there is no legal basis to investigate this well-documented mass atrocity is absurd," stated Physicians for Human Rights Deputy Director Susannah Sirkin. "US military and intelligence personnel were operating jointly and accepted the surrender of the prisoners jointly with General Dostum’s forces in northern Afghanistan. The Obama Administration has a legal obligation to determine what US officials knew, where US personnel were, what involvement they had, and the actions of US allies during and after the massacre. These questions, nearly eight years later, remain unanswered­."

"Furthermore," added Nathaniel Raymond, PHR’s lead researcher on the Dasht-e-Leili case, "The New York Times has shown that the Bush Administration engaged in a coordinated effort to prevent this alleged war crime from ever being investigated. Under the Geneva Conventions, the cover-up of a war crime can itself constitute a war crime."

The Obama administration has a legal OBLIGATION to investigate this war crime, but instead they are covering for cheneybush, once again. It's sickening. I'm too old to feel disappointment, but I am getting mad as hell.

[SmolderingRuin]

I forgot to post the link. Here it is again.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/10/752122/-NYT-front-page

[GardenerNorCal]

This gives the old "Proud to be an American" theme a whole new meaning.

So much for oversight and accountability. We don't see it happening in the financial world, it ain't going to happen with health care or the climate and energy. And now we see that it isn't going to happen with a war we instigated.

"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."

They were just collateral losses afterall. Not guite human.

[Nonamnesiac]

Obama has demonstrated himself to be just another lawless thug and war criminal who personally blocks war crimes prosecutions of the last Administration's massive war crimes and intends to have his Administration commit war crimes too.

So of course he's opposed to investigating the war crimes of the narco-state he supports in Afghanistan -- one which allows husbands to starve wives and worse.

Immediate, safe withdrawal of all US troops and contractors from Iraq and Afghanistan is the only way to resolve this. Unfortunately Obama is a lawless, war criminal thug who would have voted to invade Iraq if he were in the Senate at the time and who will continue making the US a major offender of civil and human rights in the US and throughtout the world. And he'll be cheered by so-called progressives while he's doing it too.

[Dragash]

And THIS is what I voted for?!? This is the change we can believe in???

If it is, then I am a flying saucer.

[petera63]

Watch out when landing!

[DonCosenza]

They're probably right: there probably is no jurisdiction over Northern Alliance officials, even if they were on the CIA's payroll (many people on the CIA's payroll are criminals in their own countries; that's the nature of spying).

This is the sort of matter that the ICC is for, though I doubt Afghanistan is a party to the Rome treaty any more than the US is. Short of that, it sounds like a domestic matter for the Afghani legal system, for whatever that's worth.

[dems08]

lara jakes is another ap writer.

I want to see the actual quote for what they said, not her spin on it.

[SmolderingRuin]

FTA:

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 is a thug, but he's OUR thug. To say we can't investigate because "our men didn't do it" is not only disingenuous, it's a lie. I think we know the real reason the administration doesn't want to investigate this atrocity. The gate-keeping for cheneybush continues.

[researcher]

is there anyone that did not believe these wall street guys was not going to get rich over taxpayers money.

the american taxpayer the biggest sucker on earth.

oh capitalism at its best doing its thing

when capitalism self destructs socialism bails it out so it return to capitalism.

that is the power of paradigms

continue to do the same things in spite of t he evidence.

ie destroying the middle class

americans actually think they got to be middle class due to capitalism

it was social democracy brought on after the great depression due to regulations and unions and we won the war everyone else was bombed out

bye bye middle class never to return ask india about their sucess at returning the middle class

or those folks in iran.

[PeaceIsMyName]

Obama you're a fraud! I want my vote back!

I'm so disappointed and ashamed. And to make matters worse, I just read that Obama increased Cheney's Secret Service. Yes, Obama protect the the criminals and don't seek justice - that's what elected you to do...

[serena1313]

An "extension" means extending the amount of time period rather than increasing the number of agents.

Insofar as Cheney's security detail this is the first time in history a VP has been given Secret Service protection. Inasmuch as I despise what Cheney did to this country, I'd rather see him face a jury in a court of law than begrudge him protection.

There is speculation he's received a lot of death threats so it is not surprising Cheney would request and be granted an extension. However Iam not sure Cheney would be so gracious if the situation was reversed. Obama did the right thing.

[dems08]

He's protecting cheney to make sure he shows up for his trial.

[strangelet]

I'm disappointed by this as well, but do you seriously think President McCain would do anything different?

[retromega]

Is Gonzalez still running the DOJ? When did Obama rehire him?

[Firbolg]

Is there any truth in the rumour that Dostum is being wooed by a major US health insurance group to leads its rescission and claims division?

[LeeCalif]

Obama: War Criminal Accomplice

[vinny]

Obama = Bush

[Billy Hell]

"2,000 Taliban prisoners died in transit"..­.makes me think of the Nazi death trains.

US forces may not have been involved in killing those Taliban prisoners, but their proxies sure as heck were!