This came up in another thread, so I thought I'd remind DU of this character. He is returning to Afghanistan and may be incorporated into the Karzai coalition. At the same time, he is perhaps the most unspeakably evil war criminal of the 2001 phase of the Afghan War, noted for killing prisoners by sealing them in tractor trailers, letting them die of thirst and exposure, firing automatic weapons into the sealed trailers, chasing them in the basement of a medieval style dungeon, flooding them, and trying to burn them to death by pouring gasoline into the basement of a dungeon.
John Walker Lindh was one of those prisoners who miraculously survived. Back in the US, Lindh was convicted of aiding terrorists, however, and placed under a gag order by AG Ashcroft and then by Gonzales, so neither he nor his parents were able to tell his story and the story of Dostum's unbelievable cruelty, until AG Eric Holder recently unilaterally lifted the gag order on Lindh.
But Dostum's return raises bigger questions than anything having to do with the Karzai government.
Rashid Dostum has been untouchable. By anyone.
I wrote about it here, translating from a French news report (subsequently the underlying documents were verified by the French government) and it's bizarre, unbelievable, and shocking. There are reasons beyond Karzai's weakness that cause Dostum is untouchable. He knows A LOT about 9/11 and what the Americans knew about 9/11 and can get away with anything:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x678886Dès janvier 2001, la direction d'Al-Qaida se montre néanmoins transparente aux yeux – et aux oreilles – des espions français. Les rédacteurs détaillent même les désaccords entre terroristes sur les modalités pratiques du détournement envisagé. Jamais ils ne doutent de leur intention. Provisoirement, les djihadistes privilégient la capture d'un avion entre Francfort et les Etats-Unis. Ils établissent une liste de sept compagnies possibles. Deux seront finalement choisies par les pirates du 11-Septembre : American Airlines et United Airlines (voir fac-similé). Dans son introduction, l'auteur de la note annonce : "Selon les services ouzbeks de renseignement, le projet d'un détournement d'avion semble avoir été discuté en début d'année 2000 lors d'une réunion à Kaboul entre des représentants de l'organisation d'Oussama Ben Laden…"
By January 2001, Al-Qaida’s direction, however, has become transparent to the eyes - and the ears - of French spies. The writers <of the French intelligence reports> even detail the operational disagreements between terrorists about how they envision the hijackings. They <the French intelligence report writers> never doubt the <terrorists’> intentions. For a while, the jihadists focus on hijacking a plane <en route> between Frankfurt and the United States. They draw up a list of seven possible airline companies. The pirates of 9/11 <ie hijackers> finally chose two: American Airlines and United Airlines (see facsimiled). In his introduction, the author of the note announces: “According to the Uzbek <intelligence> service’s information, the hijacking project seems to have been be discussed at the beginning of 2000 at a meeting in Kabul between representatives of Usama Bin Laden’s organization…”
<cut>
Alain Chouet a gardé en mémoire cet épisode. Il a dirigé jusqu'en octobre 2002 le Service de renseignement de sécurité, la subdivision de la DGSE chargée de suivre les mouvements terroristes. Selon lui, la crédibilité du canal ouzbek trouve son origine dans les alliances passées par le général Rachid Dostom, l'un des principaux chefs de guerre afghans, d'ethnie ouzbek lui aussi, et qui combat alors les talibans. Pour plaire à ses protecteurs des services de sécurité de l'Ouzbékistan voisin, Dostom a infiltré certains de ses hommes au sein du MIO, jusque dans les structures de commandement des camps d'Al-Qaida. C'est ainsi qu'il renseigne ses amis de Tachkent, en sachant que ses informations cheminent ensuite vers Washington, Londres ou Paris.
Alain Chouet recalls this episode. Until October 2002, he was the director the Security Information Service, the subdivision of the DGSE charged with tracking terrorists' movements. According to him <ie Chouet, head of French counter-terrorism>, the credibility of the Uzbek channel originated in the past alliances of
General Rachid Dostom, one of the principal Afghan warlords, who is also an ethnic Uzbek, and who was then fighting the Taliban. In order to please his protectors in the Uzbek security <ie intelligence?> service, he infiltrated some of his men in the heart of the MIO <ie the Uzbek jihadist organization being trained at Al Qaeda camps> up to the very command structure of the al Qaeda camps. Thus, he informed his friends in Tachkent <ie, the capital or government of Uzbekistan> with the knowledge that his information would proceed onwards to Washington, London or Paris. 
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