U.S. keeps silent as Afghan ally removes war crime evidence

[sabra]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

DASHT-E LEILI, Afghanistan — Seven years ago, a convoy of container trucks rumbled across northern Afghanistan loaded with a human cargo of suspected Taliban and al Qaida members who'd surrendered to Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, an Afghan warlord and a key U.S. ally in ousting the Taliban regime.

When the trucks arrived at a prison in the town of Sheberghan, near Dostum's headquarters, they were filled with corpses. Most of the prisoners had suffocated, and others had been killed by bullets that Dostum's militiamen had fired into the metal containers.

Dostum's men hauled the bodies into the nearby desert and buried them in mass graves, according to Afghan human rights officials. By some estimates, 2,000 men were buried there.

Earlier this year, bulldozers and backhoes returned to the scene, reportedly exhumed the bones of many of the dead men and removed evidence of the atrocity to sites unknown. In the area where the mass graves once were, there now are gaping pits in the sands of the Dasht-e-Leili desert.

...

The Bush administration, too, has remained silent. U.S. officials claimed that they had no knowledge of the deaths of the prisoners in the convoy until the news media revealed them in 2002, and now the administration has remained silent about Dostum's reported effort to destroy the evidence of them, which also would be a major violation of international law.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/117/story/57649.html

[Mnemosyne]

1. Afghanistan massacre -- the convoy of death pt. 1 of 6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-NpdoGkaEc

[knowbody0]

3. gut wrenching video

just the beginning of this nightmare -

[Mnemosyne]

4. First saw it a bit after it was released.

I posted it and was told by another poster that the 'Taliban' deserved everything they got for their treatment of women.

Many were not Taliban, only in wrong place at wrong time or had angered someone.

I just don't believe anyone should be treated that way. No one.

[knowbody0]

6. many were just goat herders

I watched it back in 2003 as well.

Their country has been at war for over 30 years.

[Mnemosyne]

9. Very sad event. It could happen to anyone with such policies

employed by the US gov.

Hopeful...2009.

[balantz]

2. Bin Laden is dead. Many more have died since. We can leave Afghanistan now.

Bhutto knew: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rctRdq4rB30

edit: Better quality video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l01VgDPjAlE

[NeoConsSuck]

5. U.S. officials claimed that they had no knowledge of the deaths of the prisoners in the convoy

yea, right.

Afghan officials confirm US role in massacre of Taliban prisoners:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/mar2003/afgh-m17.shtml

[Gregorian]

7. Finally we're at least hearing something about this.

I've been saying for years that these crimes were committed directly in front of US forces. It is documented. Some decent media outlets gave airtime to this atrocity.

And today they were unearthing the remains of over ten thousand "disappeared" in South America.

I'm tired of injustice.

[LynnTheDem]

8. Just keep believing we're so hated for our "freedoms", America.

Whatever you do, don't face the truth!1!

[Bragi]

10. dupe deleted by author /nt

[Bragi]

11. Obama should NOT escalate this bad and pointless war /nt