The New York Times reports today that on at least three separate occasions, members of the Bush administration foiled attempts to investigate a mass killing, and dumping of thousands of bodies in a mass grave, that happened in Afghanistan in 2001.
The warlord responsible for the murders—which number up to two thousand and happened when Taliban fighters taken prisoner by the Northern Alliance were packed into shipping containers for a trip across Afghanistan, in which they suffocated and died—is Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum.
Dostum, in addition to being a powerful warlord, was on the payroll of the CIA in 2001, when these killings—both by suffocation and gunfire—and subsequent dumping of the bodies at a mass grave occurred.
This mass killing isn't itself the biggest news; the New York Times reported on it in 2002.
What is news is that various arms of the United States government attempted to launch investigations into the incident, which were stifled by the administration:
American officials had been reluctant to pursue an investigation — sought by officials from the F.B.I., the State Department, the Red Cross and human rights groups — because the warlord, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, was on the payroll of the C.I.A. and his militia worked closely with United States Special Forces in 2001, several officials said. They said the United States also worried about undermining the American-supported government of President Hamid Karzai, in which General Dostum has served as a defense official.Physicians for Human Rights, which has a press release here, has been trying to launch an investigation of this horrifying atrocity for years:
Physicians for Human Rights went to investigate inhumane conditions at a prison in northern Afghanistan, but what we found was much worse,” stated Susannah Sirkin, PHR Deputy Director. Our researchers documented an apparent mass grave site with reportedly thousands of bodies of captured prisoners who were suffocated to death in trucks. That was 2002; seven years later, we still seek answers about what exactly happened and who was involved.Where is this General Dostum now? Why, he's serving in a government post, as military chief of staff to President Hamid Karzai. Who, again, is supposed to be an American ally. As I understand it, Dostum has been re-appointed to his government post, but has not yet returned to Afghanistan from exile in Turkey. According to the NYT article, State Dept. officials have been "quietly tried to thwart General Dostum’s reappointment."
Not only was Dostum on the CIA payroll at the time this atrocity occurred, the forces under his control were operating jointly with American forces. In all likelihood, there were many American witnesses to what happened. But did the government fully investigate this angle?
Pentagon spokesmen have said that the United States Central Command conducted an “informal inquiry,” questioning Special Forces personnel members who worked with General Dostum if they knew of a mass-killing by his forces. When they said they did not, the inquiry went no further.Sounds like a very thorough investigation. Meanwhile, it appears that the grave site has been tampered with and perhaps even moved. The grave site has not been exhumed and, apart from 3 autopsies done by Physicians for Human Rights under UN auspices, there has been no investigation permitted.
This happened under our watch, as a direct result of the invasion we launched and the forces we backed with military and financial support. But every time someone wanted to investigate, it was always "ooh, that's tricky...I dunno." Until it magically went away.
So far, the response from the Obama administration seems non-committal. State Department officials "suggested that the administration might not be hostile to an inquiry."
That's not good enough. Justice for the thousands of people suffocated and killed in shipping containers partially on our dime, by forces led by people we paid, isn't too much to ask.
Sign the Petition to Attorney General Eric Holder here.
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