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Afghan Massacre: Eyewitnesses Testify that US Troops Were
Complicit in the Massacre of up to 3,000 Taliban Prisoners
During the Afghan War
Afghan Massacre: Eyewitnesses Testify that US Troops
Were Complicit in the Massacre of up to 3,000 Taliban Prisoners
During the Afghan War
In hearings yesterday before the Senate Armed Services Committee,
the head of US Central Command Gen. John Abizaid said the
U.S. military has investigated 75 cases of abuse of prisoners
in Iraq and Afghanistan since late 2002. Abizaid is responsible
for US military operations in both countries. He said the
army was still investigating several homicides in Afghanistan
that went as far back as December 2002.
The issue of the US military's treatment of prisoners in
Afghanistan and Iraq has only become a major issue in the
US since scores of photos showing US soldiers abusing prisoners
at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were published by US media
outlets. But the abuse has been going on from the beginning
of the so-called war on terror, even if the corporate media
only picked up on the story in the past few weeks.
Today, we are going to play a documentary that Democracy
Now! premiered in the US a year ago this week: "Afghan
Massacre: The Convoy of Death." It was produced and directed
by award-winning Irish filmmaker Jamie Doran. The film provides
eyewitness testimony that U.S. troops were complicit in the
massacre of thousands of Taliban prisoners during the Afghan
War.
According to eyewitnesses, after the seige of Kunduz, some
three thousand prisoners were forced into sealed containers
and loaded onto trucks for transport to Sheberghan prison.
Eyewitnesses say when the prisoners began shouting for air,
U.S.-allied Afghan soldiers fired directly into the truck,
killing many of them. The rest suffered through an appalling
road trip lasting up to four days, so thirsty they clawed
at the skin of their fellow prisoners as they licked perspiration
and even drank blood from open wounds.
Witnesses say that when the trucks arrived and soldiers opened
the containers, most of the people inside were dead. They
also say US Special Forces re-directed the containers carrying
the living and dead into the desert and stood by as survivors
were shot and buried. Now, up to three thousand bodies lie
buried in a mass grave.
The film has sent shockwaves around the world. It has been
broadcast on national television in Britain, Germany, Italy
and Australia. It has been screened by the European parliament.
It has outraged human rights groups and international human
rights lawyers. They are calling for investigation into whether
U.S. Special Forces are guilty of war crimes.
But most Americans have never heard of the film. That's because
not one corporate media outlet in the U.S. will touch it.
Before Democracy Now! premiered the film one year ago this
week, it had never before been broadcast in this country.
"Afghan Massacre" is produced and directed by award-winning
Irish filmmaker Jamie Doran. Doran has worked at the highest
levels of television film production for more than two decades.
His films have been broadcast on virtually every major channel
throughout the world. On average, each of his films are seen
in around 35 countries. Before establishing his independent
television company, Jamie Doran spent over seven years at
BBC Television.
The film was researched by award-winning journalist Najibullah
Quraishi, who was beaten almost to death when he tried to
obtain video evidence of US Special Forces’ complicity
in the massacre. Two of the witnesses who testified in the
film are now dead.
- "Afghan Massacre: The Convoy of Death."
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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