2002 Afghan Prisoner Deaths Investigated

[PfcHammer]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040504/ap_on_re_as/afghan_prisoner_abuse_1

2002 Afghan Prisoner Deaths Investigated
53 minutes ago

By STEPHEN GRAHAM, Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan - An inquiry into the deaths in 2002 of two Afghan prisoners at the main American base in Afghanistan (news - web sites) has been going slowly, but already has prompted changes at the lockup, the U.S. military said Tuesday.

Human rights groups have strongly criticized the military for its near-silence about the December 2002 deaths of two Afghan men at a heavily guarded holding facility at Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul.

The slow pace of the investigation has left the American military facing damaging publicity on two fronts as it confronts new allegations of prisoner abuse in Iraq (news - web sites).

"The investigation is ongoing due in large measure to the complexities associated with gathering evidence and interviewing persons who might have had access to the facility that have long since departed Afghanistan and in some cases departed the Army," military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Michele DeWerth told The Associated Press.

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[maddezmom]

1. so are they investigating 4 or are these the same 2?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x530143

I'm getting confused...

[maddezmom]

2. Deaths - 2 in Afghanistan and 2 in Iraq

An Army official said one soldier was convicted of murder in the U.S. military justice system for shooting a prisoner to death in September 2003 at a detention center in Iraq, and another prisoner was killed at the Abu Ghraib jail near Baghdad in November 2003 by a private contractor who worked as an interrogator for the CIA.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5038799§ion=news

[MostlyBlackCat2]

3. it's about time!

Jeez, I've been talking about these two murders for over a year and seem to be one of the only people who cared. The records I read online showed that their deaths were homocides. I have always wondered why no one was investigating this.

[kittykitty]

4. What about the 200 Taliban prisoners who died in trucks

en route to a prison in Afghanistan??
"They said they were packed tightly into trucks and shipping containers for the trip to the prison, and that many of their Taliban comrades did not survive"
<snip>
"Dostum admits as many as 200 captives died en route to the prison. But he would not elaborate on how much the United States knew or approved of his treatment of the war prisoners"
. <snip>
"Gen. Tommy Franks, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, has said he supports an investigation into the deaths of the Taliban fighters. And State Department spokesman Philip Reeker recently said, ' "We're going to continue to engage Afghan authorities on this matter in order to help seek accountability for any violations that may have occurred." '
<snip>
"But with new and old graves scattered around Afghanistan -- a country that endured more than 20 years of civil war before the U.S.-led air campaign led to the fall of the Taliban last year -- it may take years to find out what happened and who should bear responsibility."