Secrets in the Mountains of Afghanistan

[tpsbmam]

Secrets in the Mountains of Afghanistan

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-torture24sep24,0,1938831.story?coll=la-home-headlines

<snips>

ts commander had nominated each of his men — as well as himself — for medals for valor. The team's performance was heralded as evidence that the Guard could play as equals with the regular Army in the war on terrorism.

But the team also had come home with secrets.

Apparently unknown to Army officials, two detainees had died in the team's custody in separate incidents during the unit's final month in eastern Afghanistan. Several other detainees allege that they were badly beaten or tortured while held at the base in Gardez.

One victim, an unarmed peasant, was shot to death while being held for questioning after a fierce firefight. The other, an 18-year-old Afghan army recruit, died after being interrogated at the firebase. Descriptions of his injuries were consistent with severe beatings and other abuse.

A member of the Special Forces team told The Times his unit held a meeting after the teen's death to coordinate their stories should an investigation arise.

The Times has since reviewed thousands of pages of internal military records showing that prisoner abuse by Special Forces units was more common in Afghanistan than previously acknowledged.

[razors edge]

1. But if * gives them a medal,

then everything will be good again,right?

think of the men in that unit who didn't think this was right at the time, stuck thousands of miles from home depending on these idiots to cover their ass and not fuck up. they deserve a medal for not fragging one or two.

[rodeodance]

2. "you feel like God when you're out there in cowboy and Indian country"

\

The internal military records show that although senior U.S. commanders in Afghanistan issued warnings and distributed rules consistent with the Army field manual and Geneva Convention, those procedures were routinely ignored.

"You have so much freedom and authority over there," one member of ODA 2021 said. "It kind of makes you feel like God when you're out there in cowboy and Indian country."

The documents also show that in 2003 the leadership of ODA 2021 was repeatedly criticized by its superiors. One 20th Group officer said the Gardez ODA (for Operational Detachment Alpha) was "the most troubled" field team among nearly a dozen in Afghanistan. Another senior officer expressed concern in a note that the team was gaining a reputation as "a rogue unit."

That a small Special Forces detachment could be tied to two detainee deaths and two apparent cover-ups in less than two weeks reflected an almost perfect confluence of circumstances. They included the personality of the team, the unaccountability of its leadership, the evolution of U.S. policy on detentions, the failure of United Nations officials to report abuses, and the complicity of Afghan officials.

The story of the team's deployment, like the five-year American campaign in Afghanistan itself, is a tale of high-stakes but often conflicting goals. For the men of ODA 2021, it would be a place and time in which questionable deaths and unquestionable daring were all part of the same mission.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. >>you're out there in cowboy and Indian country."

much has changed in the land of the free.... pity.

[malaise]

3. Torture

that's Bushco's christianity.