U.S. tortured Afghan detainees

[rawstory]

As seen on the liberal drudge alterantive, http://rawstory.com

US tortured Afghanistan detainees

Duncan Campbell and Suzanne Goldenberg
Wednesday June 23, 2004
The Guardian

Detainees held in Afghanistan by US troops have been routinely tortured and humiliated as part of the interrogation process in the same way as those in Iraq, a Guardian investigation has found.

Five detainees have died in custody, three of them in suspicious circumstances, and survivors have told stories of beatings, strippings, hoodings and sleep deprivation.

The nature of the alleged abuse indicates that what happened at Abu Ghraib was part of a pattern of interrogation that has been common practice since the invasion of Afghanistan.

"The abuses in Afghanistan were no less egregious than at Abu Ghraib, but because there were no photographs - at least to our present knowledge - they have not received enough attention," Senator Patrick Leahy, the Democratic member of the Senate subcommittee on foreign operations, told the Guardian.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,1245236,00.html

[rawstory]

1. Hello?

Guys, this is brand new breaking news!

[DrBB]

2. Dunno what to say--it's highly significant

...but then as far as I'm concerned the case has been sufficiently nailed down with the memos and all that only a nitwit or dedicated partisan self-deluder could maintain that this was not policy set at the very top. The Senate seems determined to ignore the problem and hope it goes away; meanwhile, the military cases are ranging higher and higher up the chain of command as the defense attorneys refuse to roll over. This is another lead weight on that side of the balance, for sure.

[rawstory]

3. Just sad that we've become so jaded

to torture...isn't it? *sigh*

[seventhson]

4. That shitbag Rumsfeld is toast just like Governor Rowland

crimes should be punished.

I heard today that Rowland is looking at prison time.

Rumsfled should be too (along with Bush and Cheney)

Go look at Drudge and see what he did (the bastard(

Rummy is going down

mark my words

You heard it from me first

he will fall on his sword and he needs to.

[Solly Mack]

5. MI group in Afghanistan moved to Iraq at one point, did they not?

I seem to recall reading about the military intelligence group in Iraq was once in Afghanistan

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-05-24-abuse-afghanistan_x.htm

[Judi Lynn]

6. Thank you, rawstory. Duncan Campbell is a very good writer.

He's just great. This story probably won't shock anyone at D.U., but it surely reinforces what many people already believe. From the article:

"The abuses in Afghanistan were no less egregious than at Abu Ghraib, but because there were no photographs - at least to our present knowledge - they have not received enough attention," Senator Patrick Leahy, the Democratic member of the Senate subcommittee on foreign operations, told the Guardian.

"Prisoners in Afghanistan were subjected to cruel and degrading treatment, and some died from it. These abuses were part of a wider pattern stemming from a White House attitude that 'anything goes' in the war against terrorism, even if it crosses the line of illegality."

Syed Nabi Siddiqi, a former police officer, said he had been beaten and stripped. "They took off my uniform. I showed them my identity card from the government of President Karsai. Then they asked me which of those animals - they made the noise of goats, sheep, dogs, cows - have you had sexual activities with?"

A second detainee, Noor Aghah, said he had been forced to drink bottle after bottle of water during his interrogation.

Another prisoner, Wazir Muhammad, was held for nearly two years, firstly in Afghanistan and then in Guantánamo Bay. "At the end of my time in Guantánamo, I had to sign a paper saying I had been captured in battle which was not true," he said. "I was stopped when I was in my taxi with four passengers. But they told me I would have to spend the rest of my life in Guantánamo if I did not sign it, so I did."
(snip/...)

It must be a real "trip" for _Bush who can sit on his can in the Oval Office and know his officers are having some younger people harm others endlessly until they could go mad with pain and grief and rage, just because no one can stop them.

Power does need checks, does it not?

[Spazito]

7. Why is it that the media everywhere, outside of the US, can use the

word "torture" to describe torture and yet the US media is still using the euphemism "abuse"? At what point, I wonder, will the US media stop being the megaphones for the bush administration and start using the actual words needed to describe the despicable actions of this administration?

[rawstory]

8. interesting point

interesting...seemingly semantics but VERY, VERY critical -- thanks for pointing this out; i hadn't noticed it...but i see it now

[Spazito]

9. It really is very critical and far beyond semantics...

take for example:

acceptable collateral damage = the killing of innocent civilians and destruction of property

friendly fire = the accidental killing of one's own troops or those of allies

misrepresenting = lying

All of the euphemisms are deliberately used to "soften" the impact of the actions they are "describing". Their only purpose is to make it, whatever "it" be, more palatable for the public and to hide the real truth. I can see why politicians use it, I do NOT accept that the media should when they know full well what the action is and the words that should be used to describe them.

[al bupp]

10. open Letter to Leahy

Rawstory, thanks for bringing this to our attention, it reminded me of allegations of far worse than what's in the Guardian article, namely stories of Taliban prisoners left in metal shipping containers to bleed and swelter to death by the thousands.

One of the benefits of living in a small state is the relative accessibility to ones senators. I figure they ought to hear from me when they do something I support. FWIW, here's the text of a message I just sent to Leahy expressing my support for his statements:

To: <[e-mail]>
Subject: "The abuses in Afghanistan were no less egregious than at Abu Ghraib"

Dear Senator Leahy,

I wanted to respond to the recent Guardian report (http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,1245236,00.html), in which you are quoted as saying:

"The abuses in Afghanistan were no less egregious than at Abu Ghraib, but because there were no photographs - at least to our present knowledge - they have not received enough attention,"

Thank you very much for expressing this sentiment publicly. It's too bad that I have to go to a foreign publication to read it, but at least it's being reported by someone. It may in fact have been an understatement.

Based on a reports such as the one from Amnesty International, and other sources (http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=648372002) there are allegations that US personnel ordered thousands of Taliban prisoners, nominally under the care of the Afghan Northern Alliance following the uprising at Mazar-i-Sharif, trucked into the desert in shipping containers, and left to slow and gruesome deaths from their wounds, thirst and heat stroke.

Whether actually ordered by US commanders, or simply known about, and (even tacitly) winked at, aside from the simple humanitarian concerns, does anyone really think this wins us many solid, long-term friends over there? I suppose one can say that as mere "illegal combatants" they deserved no better. Or hide behind questions of custody. But neither excuse makes it right that it happened, or matches any of our high-minded rhetoric about bringing democracy and justice over there.

And, just because our national media largely ignores the reports does not mean the rest of the world, particularly the Muslim part hasn't heard about it. I'd wager stories of those deaths, true or not, and no doubt casting the US in the worst light have inspired and encouraged many more replacements than were so harshly treated. This has been said of Abu Ghraib, how much more so would it hold for an alleged war crime resulting in mass deaths?

In the end, though, it's much more than just bad PR. I agree with you that the torture at Abu Ghraib, GITMO, Baghram, and elsewhere (and torture is what I believe it was, to the spirit, if not the letter, of the law) has clearly been a systematic policy of the executive branch, deliberately implemented after careful study. The responsibility for these acts must be accounted for at the highest levels, and not simply let to fall on the shoulders of some few soldiers at the end of a long chain of command.

Know that you have my utmost support in continuing to speak out on this topic.

I frequently get replies (some are even not obviously form letters) from my emails to him, if one comes, I'll post it here.

[struggle4progress]

11. kick for Bushista thugs everywhere

:kick: