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| Afghanistan |
| U.N. memo grumbles about war crimes committed against Taliban |
| 2002-08-19 |
| Yep. That's what the headline sez. No good deed goes unpunished... A confidential U.N. memorandum found evidence to justify a "full-fledged criminal investigation" into the deaths in Afghanistan of hundreds of Taliban prisoners held by the U.S.-backed northern alliance. Citing the memo, Newsweek said U.N. investigators based their finding on an investigation of a mass grave that "contains bodies of Taliban POWs who died of suffocation" while being transferred from Kunduz to a prison at Shibergan after Taliban resistance in northern Afghanistan collapsed in November. I can recall the incident. I remember feeling apathetic about it at the time, too... The magazine said the memo referred to "political sensitivity" and recommended a halt to "all activities relevant to this case" until a decision was made on whether to push for a criminal trial, truth commission or other alternatives. Yes, we must come up with some sort of PC moves to assert the primacy of the UN and the hand-wringing crowd. The Talibs, keep in mind, were in the habit of executing their own along with any prisoners or anybody standing around, but don't worry about that. They were also in the habit of blowing themselves up by the shipping container-load, too. But that's not important. Work it right, and you can get some smear on the Merkins. That's what's important... Asked Sunday on ABC's "This Week" whether the Bush administration was prepared to support a U.N. investigation into the deaths, White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett said: "It's important that we not rush to judgment, that we look at the facts. And as we look at those facts, the proper course for an investigation or inquiry will be made at a later date." That's bureaucratese for "somebody's gonna sling some mud at us and there's not much we can do about it, so to hell with it." |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |