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Cruelbreed
07-13-2009, 01:26 PM
Obama orders review of alleged slayings of Taliban in Bush era



Story Highlights
Allegations: Bush administration resisted inquiry into CIA-backed Afghan warlord
Inquiry stems from alleged deaths of at least 1,000 Taliban prisoners under warlord
Gen. Dostum has served as chief of staff of Afghanistan's post-Taliban army
Obama: "There are responsibilities that all nations have, even in war"

(CNN) -- President Obama has ordered national security officials to look into allegations that the Bush administration resisted efforts to investigate a CIA-backed Afghan warlord over the killings of hundreds of Taliban prisoners in 2001.
"The indications that this had not been properly investigated just recently was brought to my attention," Obama told CNN's Anderson Cooper in an exclusive interview during the president's visit to Ghana. The full interview will air 10 p.m. Monday.
"So what I've asked my national security team to do is to collect the facts for me that are known, and we'll probably make a decision in terms of how to approach it once we have all of the facts gathered up," Obama said.
The inquiry stems from the deaths of at least 1,000 Taliban (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/the_taliban) prisoners who had surrendered to the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance in late 2001.
The fighters were in the custody of troops led by Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/abdul_rashid_dostum), a prominent Afghan warlord who has served as chief of staff of the country's post-Taliban army.
Dostum, a former communist union boss and militia leader who fought against the U.S.-backed mujahedeen in the 1980s, is known for switching sides as Afghanistan's political conflict has evolved. When the United States invaded Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, Dostum sided with the Americans and received military and CIA support to battle the Taliban.
The allegations against him first surfaced in a 2002 Newsweek report, which cited a confidential U.N. memo saying the prisoners died in cramped container trucks while being transported from their Konduz stronghold in northern Afghanistan to Sheberghan prison, west of Dostum's stronghold at Mazar-e Sharif.
At the time, the Boston, Massachusetts-based group Physicians for Human Rights said it found a mass grave in nearby Dasht-e Leili, where witnesses said the bodies of Taliban prisoners were buried. The finding prompted U.S. Gen. Tommy Franks, who led the invasion of Afghanistan, to support an investigation into the allegations.
But The New York Times, citing government officials and human rights organizations, reported Friday that the Bush administration "repeatedly discouraged efforts to investigate the episode."
State Department officials recently have tried to derail Dostum's reappointment as military chief of staff to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the newspaper reported, citing several senior officials who suggested the administration "might not be hostile to an inquiry."
Dostum, a key ally of Karzai, was reportedly living in exile in Turkey until last month, when he was reinstated to his post as defense minister. He had left Afghanistan over allegations that he had kidnapped Akbar Bai, a former ally turned political rival.
When asked by CNN about whether Obama (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/barack_obama) would support an investigation, the president replied, "I think that, you know, there are responsibilities that all nations have, even in war. And if it appears that our conduct in some way supported violations of laws of war, then I think that, you know, we have to know about that." http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/img/2.0/mosaic/tabs/video.gifWatch part of CNN's exclusive interview with the president ยป (http://cnn.site.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Obama+orders+review+of+alleged+slayings+of+T aliban+in+Bush+era+-+CNN.com&expire=-1&urlID=406596622&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2009%2FPOLITICS%2F0 7%2F12%2Fobama.afghan.killings%2Findex.html&partnerID=211911#cnnSTCVideo)
Susannah Sirkin, deputy director of Physicians for Human Rights, on Sunday praised Obama "for ordering his national security team to collect all the facts in the Dasht-e-Leili massacre and apparent U.S. cover-up."
"U.S. military and intelligence personnel were operating jointly and accepted the surrender of the prisoners jointly with General Dostum's forces in northern Afghanistan (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/afghanistan)," Sirkin said earlier in the week.
"The Obama administration has a legal obligation to determine what U.S. officials knew, where U.S. personnel were, what involvement they had, and the actions of US allies during and after the massacre. These questions, nearly eight years later, remain unanswered."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/12/obama.afghan.killings/index.html

Cruelbreed
07-13-2009, 01:31 PM
Ok now I've supported Obama in the past but really? Do we have to go around digging up shit from the past further reflecting poorly on the nations image? I understand Obama want's an open America that atones for past negative actions but SERIOUSLY NOW.

"The Obama administration has a legal obligation to determine what U.S. officials knew, where U.S. personnel were, what involvement they had, and the actions of US allies during and after the massacre. These questions, nearly eight years later, remain unanswered."

You might not have expected me to say this but is everything about the OBAMA ADMINISTRATION or about the American people. This is like beating a dead horse or undigging all the dead skeletons. Now like anything there are two sides to a story and sometimes the outcomes are good. I do not pretend to know the solutions here but can the Obama Administration please begin to focus on some issues. SOME FOCUS PLEASE.

Either our administration isn't focusing at all or this presidency is far more efficient and productive than many before.

nastyleg
07-13-2009, 10:15 PM
The president is a joke of a leader who is more interestined in making his media look away from his faults and blame others. Who gives a fuck if one war lord or another killed a bunch of jawa's. He does not grasp the very real and pertinent dangers facing our forces and our allies in hostile countries. If this jackass wants to do anygood at this time he has to stop using Bush as scape goat and actually improve the situation. I am fed up with this guy saying the debt is not his fault. That only big government can fix the mess that "BUSH" left behind.

ghost
07-13-2009, 10:40 PM
The president is a joke of a leader who is more interestined in making his media look away from his faults and blame others. Who gives a fuck if one war lord or another killed a bunch of jawa's. He does not grasp the very real and pertinent dangers facing our forces and our allies in hostile countries. If this jackass wants to do anygood at this time he has to stop using Bush as scape goat and actually improve the situation. I am fed up with this guy saying the debt is not his fault. That only big government can fix the mess that "BUSH" left behind.


Agreed. Not to mention, this issue was actually addressed before, when Bush was in office. This is just a distraction, just like the whole CIA withholding information from congress case.

By the way, I don't know what there is to investigate. The guy who ordered the executions was a Northern Alliance commander, not an American.

nastyleg
07-14-2009, 04:18 PM
Agreed. Not to mention, this issue was actually addressed before, when Bush was in office. This is just a distraction, just like the whole CIA withholding information from congress case.

By the way, I don't know what there is to investigate. The guy who ordered the executions was a Northern Alliance commander, not an American.

The CIA program was never carried out or started. Hence the need not to tell congress about it. If our bosses were to hold a meeting for every idea for marketing that was never started only thought up but was abandoned before being carried out noone would ever get any work done.....and congress already does enough of that...not getting work done that is.

nastyleg
07-14-2009, 04:22 PM
Ok now I've supported Obama in the past but really? Do we have to go around digging up shit from the past further reflecting poorly on the nations image? I understand Obama want's an open America that atones for past negative actions but SERIOUSLY NOW.

"The Obama administration has a legal obligation to determine what U.S. officials knew, where U.S. personnel were, what involvement they had, and the actions of US allies during and after the massacre. These questions, nearly eight years later, remain unanswered."

You might not have expected me to say this but is everything about the OBAMA ADMINISTRATION or about the American people. This is like beating a dead horse or undigging all the dead skeletons. Now like anything there are two sides to a story and sometimes the outcomes are good. I do not pretend to know the solutions here but can the Obama Administration please begin to focus on some issues. SOME FOCUS PLEASE.

Either our administration isn't focusing at all or this presidency is far more efficient and productive than many before.



Its not my fault it was all big bad mean Bushs fault. I am the messiah after all. I believe in the hope of the change of the hope. together yes we can carry out the same non transperant government that I made a promise of changing.


Most of the negative actions that are seen today were carried out by Bush and Obama. I fucking hate partisan politics.

nastyleg
07-14-2009, 04:23 PM
Partisan politics is like masturbating. Sure it feels good but when all is said and done you really accomplished nothing.

bobdina
07-14-2009, 05:29 PM
I'm really starting to hate ALL politics. It seems this nation can't get it's shit together unless we're threatened and then all these assholes forget about about it a year later and start protesting and saying some real stoopid shit like we did 9/11 ourselves , it was a cruise missile that hit the Pentagon even though jet engines were recovered, pictures clearly show pieces of the airplane and many, many bodies(or should I say body parts were recovered and documented (photographed pretty nasty if you've ever seen them) sorry I'm going off here need to calm down.

nastyleg
07-14-2009, 05:51 PM
Its okay to be pissed off at those fucking idiots. By idiots I mean politicians and celebrities that wear tinfoil hats that spew forth hate and conspirocy theories.

Woodbutcher824
07-14-2009, 06:00 PM
Bush may have been and idiot.

But he was Cheney's and Rumsfeld's idiot.

Let the lying begin, so as to cover each ones own ass.

That goes for a lot of Dem's, who voted for a lot of war support in the beginning.

nastyleg
07-14-2009, 06:53 PM
Amen Wood amen