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

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

One hand washes the other. Wait till you see the massive carnage being prepared for Iran.

Good Cop .... Bad Cop two headed beast

[Billy Hell]

Yeah, there's been a massive uptick of rhetoric on Iran...Bid­ens foot changing comments, the unprecedented ongoing coverage of the elections and most recently the "wait until September" comment of Obama, let alone the vitriol oozing from the Israeli press every day.

The result will likely be air strikes by Israel with the publicly unspoken support of the current administration, despite repeated IAEA reports that there are no indications of nuclear weapons development.

[wijg]

Why did the bush administration impede 3 federal investigations? This AP article leaves out a lot of info.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/7/10/752122/-NYT-front-page:-Bush-Admin.-covered-up-Afghan-massacre

[Billy Hell]

Thanks, that makes this all a lot clearer.

[MadJeffersonian]

Come on...this is not what the US is about.

[radmul]

Once again this gutless president shows his total lack of character.

[underthegun1]

The only thing that will save this country is a revolution

[DustinTime]

Nathaniel Raymond, the group's lead researcher into the deaths, said President Barack Obama "must open a full and transparent criminal probe and prosecute any U.S. officials found to have broken the law."

A full and transparent criminal probe? That could actually hold people accountable for breaking the law? What a concept!

Reminds me of old America, back when we didn't torture, or spy illegally on citizens, or pay proxies to commit war crimes for us. Back when we wouldn't invade and occupy resource-rich nations on the other side of the globe after selling a false justification to the American people. Back before we had vice presidential assassination squads bumping off god-knows-who, god-knows-where.

Back before we'd be artfully playing both sides of a conflict in the interest of furthering larger geopolitical strategic objectives to the total obliviousness of the public:

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4852.shtml

See, when the majority of citizens won't appreciate, and likely support, the REAL reason for going to, and staying in, other parts of the world, you have to create a reason they can relate to... and that's why the Pentagon trumps our democracy. Again and again and again. And why the CIA can run secret programs for nearly a decade with no one in congress having a clue.

Tip of the iceberg.

[mcmchugh99]

Yes, it is the tip of the iceberg, and I doubt that most Americans know even 1% of what's really been going on.

No, we cannot leave Afghanistan, since the Islamic fascists would use it as a base against us. We have to win, or at least keep trying.

It's a very ugly business, believe me, I know.

[serena1313]

Win? Win what?

Define win...

And how do you suggest accomplishing that?

The US cannot keep killing these people and destroying what little is left of their country. Well, I guess the US could, but that results in making more enemies.

[clueless JD]

We need to leave Afghanistan. There is no benefit to the mission. Terrorists are insane. And they've made us insane to chase after them. I'm broke, but they still take the bulk of my paycheck to pay for this insanity. Stop the insanity.

[mammamoop]

Would it be more convenient for you if we fought them here, tiger?

[underthegun1]

Not one of the hijackers from 9/11 was from Afghanista­n...tiger

[WIpatriot]

How do they get here, sparky?

[Billy Hell]

That thinking is as fabled as the WMD justification for invading Iraq.

[clueless JD]

We can be secure without starting wars against goat herders.

Unfortunately on 9/11, Bush Admin was in place and ignored intelligence that could have prevented 9/11.

All we need to do, is not elect PNAC and military contractor stakeholders and ask CIA/FBI to do their job.

I pay $8000 per year for US military. I would rather that be closer to $1 or $2k. I just want to live my life. It's US tax and spending on military that has changed my way of life.

[Balloonman]

CIA/USA should not be in Afghanista­n.Thousand­s will be dead on our account. Dead there would be likely anyway, but not on our account. So much blood on our hands. Terrorists are insane. Most dangerous nation on earth is full of them. How many dead and maimed and subjected by our zealot greedy aims? Oh, protecting democracy and national security, sorry. But principle we follow. Righteous unto where the money ends. Dominance meaning that money comes from that, dominating trade, trade routes, pipelines. Follow our military might foreign policy arm twists. At the end are global one-percenters and their support minions who could care less about us or other's soveriegn rights, only their own.'They' make the arithmetic to play the big board, to exponentialize their treasury. We do their dirty work at their will.

Of course we don't investigate killings for which we didn't pull the trigger. We do investigate our massacres in Iraq and soon directly Afghanistan but mostly everybody g ets off. War is hell. We create it but by golly but got to done or we can't keep things going as we know it.

[gbrooks]

This "regime" aka administration is turning into such a disappointment, if not just the same as the last but with a prettier package.

I've said it before, so what's the point of saying it again when it's just a shout into the wilderness?

Go ahead, call me whatever you want, lets ignore this and fight over who's a liberal, who's a conservative and who's a patriot while everything goes to $hit and our alleged leaders get away with torture, abuse, indefinite detention and limiting our alleged rights.

There's only three people I trust in our government: Kucinich, Sanders and Paul. As far as I can tell, the rest of them are in on this very unfunny joke.

[mammamoop]

I feel your pain. The whole "prettier package" thing is right on - that's why I didn't take the bait. I wish you the best.

[YewNeekId]

You didn't take the bait, but what was the alternative - Palin?

Unfortunately I took the bait, hook, line and sinker. It's unlikely that I'll vote again - I'm so tired of being lied to. And I will certainly not campaign for anybody or donate money again.

Obama is the slickest political hack that I have seen - and I've been around a long time.

[MaxBet]

I think you summed up where we are very nicely. Great post.

[Palemoon]

Your post deserves much more than a "Best Post Ever!!" award. That's at least a Most Awesome Post Ever!! or something.

I love your spirit and I love your willingness to make a stand even in the face of upsetting folks on either side of the fence. I agree with you, I trust very few of them and every day the list gets shorter.

[gbrooks]

I'm glad to see that there's so many that can see my point. Having been on both sides of the fence (R v. D), I can say with some authority that the (D) side is definitely more open to seeing the flaws of people in their own party. However, the D's are also much less likely to hold their alleged leaders to their own standards.

I could speculate about why this is all day and all night, but the simple fact is that it must change.

Obama promised transparency, which is great. Now that he is not delivering on this and so many other things, how do we hold him accountable? How do we have a truly representative government? I love the sentiment upon which Obama was elected, I do not love the politics as usual and severe lack of principles.

What is the smartest thing to do to get the government we want and deserve?

[AmandaBC]

Once again, so much for "change"..­.

[Palemoon]

Best Post Ever!!

[lizr]

Oh this is really disgusting.

[ThomasMc]

He looks more and more like Bush every day.
The only thing different is he has an education, and can speak in complete sentences.

[gbrooks]

He also gives really good speeches that diffuse and calm people and while that's a great talent, it's not sustainable.

[stanschurman]

"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"

Well there you have it then. A Pentagon spokeman said they weren't involved. God knows the Pentagon has never covered anything up. And you have to admire the Pentagon playmates. Dostum is one of the worst butchers in Afghanistan. He makes some of the Taliban seem like Mother Teresa and Florence Nightingale rolled into one. But hey, you have to win the hearts and minds of the people, right?

[Heterodoxy]

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."

----------------

After eight years of bush propaganda and reading between the lines you begin to readily identify our governments propaganda and plausable deniability.

Read carefully the quote from above.....­"No indication that the U.S. MILITARY (emphasis mine) forces were there, were involved, or had knowledge.­...." No it was the other branch of the US Government the C.I.A that was there, involved, had knowledge and responsibility. No need for the DOD to investigate because CIA is not governed by the DOD.


Done in your name. You need not be bothered sheeple, get back to your American idol and Michael Jackson coverage. American Empire motto continues regardless of whom is at the helm. DO AS WE SAY, NOT AS WE DO.

[MrJoyboy]

This is the "See no evil, hear no evil" administration.