Soldier recalls cries from boy brought onto base-Chaplain says senior officer aware of rape

[babylonsister]

December 15th, 2008 9:56 am
Chaplain says senior officer aware of rapes

Soldier recalls cries from boy brought onto Canadian base

By Rick Westhead / Toronto Star


The boy was no more than 12. He wore a wig, lipstick and perfume and was dressed in a flowing robe when an Afghan interpreter escorted him to the entrance of the Canadian base in remote Afghanistan.

It was June 2006 and it was one of Tyrel Braaten's first days at Forward Operating Base Wilson, about 30 kilometres outside Kandahar.

Braaten watched as the local interpreter, who worked for the Canadians, ushered the boy through the security checkpoint and led him inside a nearby building.

The bombardier was bewildered. He asked another interpreter standing next to him who the boy was. The interpreter shrugged that the boy was one of "the bitches."

"I said, `What do you mean?' and he made the motion with his hips, like you know," said Braaten, 24. "I remember saying, `Are we on Mars? Does this s--- go on all the time?'"

The native of Saskatchewan is the latest soldier to come forward alleging in detail how young Afghan boys during his tour in Afghanistan in 2006 were regularly sodomized by Afghan interpreters and soldiers working alongside Canadian soldiers.

more...

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=12827

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[madokie]

2. Damn Damn Damn

All the more reason that bushco is going to pay and pay big.

[Greyhound]

5. I hope you are right, but I'm not holding my breath. n/t

[Hawkowl]

3. The West has no moral authority

Simply revolting. The fact that we are democracies contributing our young men and women and tax dollars to perpetrate these monstrosities is almost beyond bearing.

[snooper2]

7. It was the Afghan soldiers

and the Taliban has a long history of raping young boys

[Hawkowl]

12. Yes but...

My reference to moral authority means that the West, i.e; NATO the governing force in control, willfully allowed this to happen. This happened on a NATO base under the supervision of NATO officers and their political control. Thus, it was perpetrated by NATO. Especially in the military, the people in control are responsible for the people under them, even if they did not know at the time what their underlings were perpetrating. In this case it sounds like the commander knew what was happening and allowed it.

Using this logic, you can make the case that democracies, i.e; the citizens of NATO are responsible for the atrocities because we put the leaders in control. I let myself sleep at night by telling myself that we didn't elect Bush and he stole two elections so we, as a people, are off the hook morally. To truely be off the hook, we need to bring these criminals to justice with the President we have elected as it appears that once more, we are a democracy.

[FedUpWithIt All]

4. I am terrified that these assults are more common than our worst fears. K&R n/t

[Marrah_G]

6. Read the Kite Runner...........

[DemoTex]

14. Read "Caravans" ..

By James Michener

[Marrah_G]

22. I will definitely check it out.

I also loved "A bed of red roses"

[HillWilliam]

8. I can't even respond coherently

:grr:

[patrice]

9. Killing People tends to undo other inhibitions. nt

[Mari333]

10. dont forget our Abu Ghraib abuse of children

its no different.

http://www.pastpeak.com/archives/2004/07/post_1.htm

[foxfeet]

11. K&R

Horrible.

[gratuitous]

13. Makes you wonder

If the United States is in control of anything, much less the countries we're currently occupying.

[NNN0LHI]

15. World court inquiry sought in Afghan rapes

http://www.thestar.com/specialsections/article/553770

Dec 15, 2008 04:30 AM
Comments on this story (19)
Rick Westhead
STAFF REPORTER

The International Criminal Court should probe allegations some Canadian officers serving in Afghanistan told subordinates to look the other way when Afghan soldiers and local interpreters sodomized young boys, says one of Canada's leading human-rights lawyers.

University of British Columbia international law and politics expert Michael Byers, who was among a group of academics who sought to have former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet detained as a war criminal, said he plans to ask the ICC to begin its own inquiry into the charges.

In a story published yesterday in the Star, former Canadian soldier Tyrel Braaten said that during his tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2006, he witnessed Afghan interpreters bringing young boys inside buildings at Forward Operating Base Wilson, a remote Canadian base outside Kandahar. The boys were then sodomized by the interpreters and Afghan soldiers, Braaten said.

Other Canadian soldiers have complained to chaplains and military medical personnel that officers told them not to get involved because the sodomy was tantamount to "cultural differences." snip

If the allegations are true, Byers said, they will reflect more poorly on the Canadian military than the scandal in the 1993 in Somalia when Canadian soldiers tortured and murdered a Somali teenager who snuck into a Canadian base.

[Cid_B]

16. Huh?

"If the allegations are true, Byers said, they will reflect more poorly on the Canadian military than the scandal in the 1993 in Somalia when Canadian soldiers tortured and murdered a Somali teenager who snuck into a Canadian base."

Afghans raping their own is worse for the Canadian military torturing and murdering a Somali kid?

[ZombieHorde]

17. Perhaps because of the number of kids being abused?

Which is worse: Torturing a child, or turning a blind eye to many many children being raped?

I don't know the answer to that one.

[Incitatus]

19. Well, it did happen at a Canadian base, which I would assume was under Canadian control.

They are complicit. They allowed it to happen.

[mtnester]

18. There is Hell, and there is the special Hell

for people like this.

[sakabatou]

20. How much more shit are we going to have to dig through?

[Obamarama]

21. The Pashtun around Kandahar are notorious for raping and using young boys as sex objects

This is actually a very deeply ingrained part of their culture. It was there long before we were there and it will be there long after we're gone from there.

I am not in any way condoning it. Actually, it just about makes me sick to my stomach to think what these poor kids have to endure, but the point I am making is that this is not some byproduct of the Western presence in the region.