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US troops executing prisoners in Afghanistan, journalist says

dust1n

Zindīq
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0512/hersh-battlefield-executions-continue-obama/

The journalist who helped break the story that detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were being tortured by their US jailers told an audience at a journalism conference last month that American soldiers are now executing prisoners in Afghanistan.


New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh also revealed that the Bush Administration had developed advanced plans for a military strike on Iran.


At the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Geneva, Hersh criticized President Barack Obama, and alleged that US forces are engaged in "battlefield executions."


"I'll tell you right now, one of the great tragedies of my country is that Mr. Obama is looking the other way, because equally horrible things are happening to prisoners, to those we capture in Afghanistan," Hersh said. "They're being executed on the battlefield. It's unbelievable stuff going on there that doesn't necessarily get reported. Things don't change.:


"What they've done in the field now is, they tell the troops, you have to make a determination within a day or two or so whether or not the prisoners you have, the detainees, are Taliban," Hersh added. "You must extract whatever tactical intelligence you can get, as opposed to strategic, long-range intelligence, immediately. And if you cannot conclude they're Taliban, you must turn them free.


"What it means is, and I've been told this anecdotally by five or six different people,battlefield executions are taking place," he continued. "Well, if they can't prove they're Taliban, bam. If we don't do it ourselves, we turn them over to the nearby Afghan troops and by the time we walk three feet the bullets are flying. And that's going on now."


...
Hersh has a long history as an investigative journalist and worked for many years at The New York Times. In 1969, he broke the story of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.
 

dust1n

Zindīq
Earlier this week, the International Red Cross confirmed the existence of a secret "Black Jail" within the Bagram prison complex in Afghanistan, where high-value detainees were held and allegedly abused. Since then, additional details have continued to emerge.


The New York Times reported last November that former prisoners and human rights researchers had described how prisoners were held at the facility for weeks at a time without being allowed outside contact. The BBC also obtained accounts from prisoners who said they had been subjected to isolation, sleep deprivation, and cold.


The American vice admiral in charge of detainees, however, continued to deny both the existence of a separate facility and the allegations of abuse until the International Red Cross confirmed the claims.


Abuses at US ‘Black Jail’ in Afghanistan confirmed | Raw Story
 

kai

ragamuffin
Dust1n is this a bash the US army thread or is there something you wish to debate?
 

xkatz

Well-Known Member
Not in particular.. though I'm a little concerned about more torture.

Unfortunate to what people resort to during war. I guess the only way to end these kind of things from occurring is to make warfare illegal. But that won't happen. :(
 

dust1n

Zindīq
you dont have a subject to debate ? or its not a bash the US army thread? i too am a little concerned about torture i think we all are

Right... so I don't know what entails 'US army bashing'. The Red Cross confirmed a secret American prison where it's inmates are claiming torture... this was two days ago. Didn't they already do this in the past? Where is the accountability? How exactly does sleep deprivation and water boarding happen by accident?
 

kai

ragamuffin
Right... so I don't know what entails 'US army bashing'. The Red Cross confirmed a secret American prison where it's inmates are claiming torture... this was two days ago. Didn't they already do this in the past? Where is the accountability? How exactly does sleep deprivation and water boarding happen by accident?

you wish to debate the allegations of torture? I dont know enough about it, so i couldnt possibly say if it goes on there or not.
 

Valjean

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Commit brutal and barbaric acts.
They're taught to be killers. They're angry. The enemy is dehumanised. It's what happens.

Look at the vietnam and Iraq Winter Soldier hearings if you need confirmation.
 

dust1n

Zindīq
you wish to debate the allegations of torture? I dont know enough about it, so i couldnt possibly say if it goes on there or not.

Do you want to debate it? I mean... it's kinda obvious.

"In recent weeks the BBC has logged the testimonies of nine prisoners who say they had been held in the so-called "Tor Jail".


They told consistent stories of being held in isolation in cold cells where a light is on all day and night.



The men said they had been deprived of sleep by US military personnel there."


BBC News - Red Cross confirms 'second jail' at Bagram, Afghanistan
 

kai

ragamuffin
Commit brutal and barbaric acts.
They're taught to be killers. They're angry. The enemy is dehumanised. It's what happens.

Look at the vietnam and Iraq Winter Soldier hearings if you need confirmation.

i dont need confirmation thanks and what do you want them to do morris dancing? a soldier is supposed to soldier and that is that the vast majority of them do to the best of their ability.
 

kai

ragamuffin
Do you want to debate it? I mean... it's kinda obvious.

"In recent weeks the BBC has logged the testimonies of nine prisoners who say they had been held in the so-called "Tor Jail".


They told consistent stories of being held in isolation in cold cells where a light is on all day and night.



The men said they had been deprived of sleep by US military personnel there."


BBC News - Red Cross confirms 'second jail' at Bagram, Afghanistan



whats to debate? they said this!, we said that!, same old same old , it will all come out in the wash, and really i wouldnt expect any prisoner to come out and say they enjoyed their stay and cant wait to return.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh also revealed that the Bush Administration had developed advanced plans for a military strike on Iran.

Seymour Hersh is a pretty reliable source. I don't doubt the Bush Administration was incompetent enough to strke Iran while we had two other wars going on.

...Hersh criticized President Barack Obama, and alleged that US forces are engaged in "battlefield executions."

Obama probably doesn't have firm control over the generals. He seems to be a weak president.


It looks like our troops are becoming poorly disciplined, psychotic killers.
 

kai

ragamuffin
US forces are engaged in "battlefield executions." thats a serious accustion which i imagine will be taken seriously by the relevant authorities and rightly so.
 

emiliano

Well-Known Member
what do they do?

They gather intelligence that eliminate the threat that they represent and eliminate those that threat us, they are professional that have a specific function and swear an oath to defend us and fight our enemies, collateral damage is inevitable, inaction is unthinkable. What would you like that the threaten nations do?:confused:
 

kai

ragamuffin
They gather intelligence that eliminate the threat that they represent and eliminate those that threat us, they are professional that have a specific function and swear an oath to defend us and fight our enemies, collateral damage is inevitable, inaction is unthinkable. What would you like that the threaten nations do?:confused:

sorry you have lost me??????
 

Kathryn

It was on fire when I laid down on it.
Yet another "bad American soldier" thread.

I don't doubt that some abuses of power exist in war zones. It's inevitable, and that is why civilized countries have systems in place to investigate such allegations and to enforce discipline within their armed forces.

The issue I have with you, Dust1n, is that you consistently lambast the US military and yet you never seem to balance your perspective with the reality of barbarism in the countries and the systems with which our military is engaged. Your one-sided viewpoint negates your validity.
 
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