US troops executing prisoners in Afghanistan

[Moonlight Graham]

This is unbelievable. Or maybe not. But it is quite disturbing.

Seymour Hersh, the U.S. "Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist" who "helped break the story that detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were being tortured by their US jailers", dropped this bombshell while speaking at a recent journalism conference:

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."

Link

Here's Hersh actually saying the above (very short video):

Disgusting. :angry: This should be all over the news. It's much worse than Abu Ghraib.

Edited May 19, 2010 by Moonlight Graham

[DogOnPorch]

Sometimes I change events, dates, and places in a certain way to protect people...I can’t fudge what I write. But I can certainly fudge what I say.

---Seymour Hersh

[Shady]

Disgusting. :angry: This should be all over the news. It's much worse than Abu Ghraib.

Seymore Hersh reports a lot of things. Most of the time they're not true. But if this is true, we need to get to the bottom of it! We need to know what Obama's Secretary of Defense knows! We need to know what Obama's Attorney General knows! We need to know what Obama's National Security Advisor knows! And ultimately we need to know what Obama himself knows! :angry:

[Moonlight Graham]

Seymore Hersh reports a lot of things. Most of the time they're not true.

"Most of the time"? I'm pretty sure that's an inaccurate statement.

[bush_cheney2004]

This is unbelievable. Or maybe not. But it is quite disturbing.

What's the big deal? Why is it disturbing? Did they decapitate the prisoners with a katana?

Disgusting. :angry: This should be all over the news. It's much worse than Abu Ghraib.

Make it so...please trumpet your disgust about the land so that the people will rise up as brothers and sisters of all "prisoners" around the world.

[M.Dancer]

"Most of the time"? I'm pretty sure that's an inaccurate statement.

52% of the time..

Few facts in Hersh's stories are checkable by an outsider, but, of those that are, a number turn out to be false. In November 2001, he claimed that 16 AC-130 gunships participated in a raid (a "near disaster") on Mullah Mohammed Omar's compound in Afghanistan. There were only nine AC-130s in the entire region, and they are never used more than one or two at a time. In a story in October 2001, he claimed that Predator drones cost $40 million; the actual price tag is $2.5 million. In the latest article, he says two Pentagon policy officials would be in the "chain of command" for covert operations; the actual chain of command runs from the secretary of Defense to military commanders in the field.

OK, anyone can make a mistake, but all of Hersh's errors run in one direction: toward making the U.S. government look bad

.

http://www.cfr.org/publication/7658/digging_into_seymour_hersh.html

[bush_cheney2004]

Seymore Hersh reports a lot of things. Most of the time they're not true. But if this is true, we need to get to the bottom of it! We need to know what Obama's Secretary of Defense knows! We need to know what Obama's Attorney General knows! We need to know what Obama's National Security Advisor knows! And ultimately we need to know what Obama himself knows! :angry:

Yes We Can!

[Moonlight Graham]

52% of the time..

.

http://www.cfr.org/publication/7658/digging_into_seymour_hersh.html

LOL. But really, if this is indeed a real story, i'd hope some proof comes to be. Maybe Hersh should actually write an article about it instead of just stating it at a conference.

[Moonlight Graham]

Seymore Hersh reports a lot of things. Most of the time they're not true. But if this is true, we need to get to the bottom of it! We need to know what Obama's Secretary of Defense knows! We need to know what Obama's Attorney General knows! We need to know what Obama's National Security Advisor knows! And ultimately we need to know what Obama himself knows! :angry:

Hmmm, you seem much more concerned about the Obama admin possibly getting bad fallout from this than actually giving a crap that innocent civilians could be getting popped in face with a bullet. Typical. :angry:

[bush_cheney2004]

Hmmm, you seem much more concerned about the Obama admin possibly getting bad fallout from this than actually giving a crap that innocent civilians could be getting popped in face with a bullet. Typical. :angry:

Now we've gone from "prisoners" to "innocent civilians". LOL!

Is it OK if they execute the "guilty" civilians?

[Oleg Bach]

Corporate socialism evolved from Nazism..What do you expect form lunitics that invaded Iraq and even named some of the military campaigns after German military actions? Did no one find it odd...I don't care if you think I am a nut - but the Nazis are back...and worse - they are a great mix of high capitalism and duping socialism...I heard that a contractor was killed today...the average person hearing this report probably believes that a building CONTRACTOR - building a school so a little girl can get a good feminist education...died --- It was a god damned soldier of fortune - a hooigan - a mercenary...what legitimate country or government allows parasites to turn a private profit on war?

[bush_cheney2004]

...what legitimate country or government allows parasites to turn a private profit on war?

Your British Empire, which hired German Hessians to fight the American rebels. We know how that turned out.....

[Oleg Bach]

Your British Empire, which hired German Hessians to fight the American rebels. We know how that turned out.....

Not my dog..when a dog shits in the temple I disown it. My kids have a great grandfather on their mothers side who was British - and he got a medal for killing Irish Fennians who came up from New York - then his decendants married Irish woman and beat them...I am civilized...so don't stick me in with the anglos or germanics or in with the Black Panthers..BC - you have to stop putting me in the same catagory as these white guys - My skin is white - but I am not white...get my drift?

[bush_cheney2004]

....BC - you have to stop putting me in the same catagory as these white guys - My skin is white - but I am not white...get my drift?

No, but no matter, I always welcome the chance you give me to gong Royal balls.

[Oleg Bach]

No, but no matter, I always welcome the chance you give me to gong Royal balls.

As the American tax payer picks up the bill for the BP mess - the royal balls grow bigger - funny - taxation with out representation? I thought you had settled all that stuff? Looks like the world will change faster than we imagined..hold on to your hat BC - looks like the cosmic forces are cleaning house...Let nature take it's course and stop helping them..I have stopped...the big dogs have always been dependent on the little smart survior dogs...stop feeding them - Good Night - and a blessing on your nation..all will be well - but just don't let Mexico get to comfortable.

[Oleg Bach]

'Contractors' or guns for hire is the problem that taints the reputation of the military...All of these hooligans should be removed from every theatre of conflict - They poison the waters..and infect troops with a bad attitude...Young men and woman who join the military are usually good people with ideals - Contractors kill for money...war should NOT be privatized even in the smallest degree - mercenaries do bad things - like blow up civlians and blame it on the other tribe - Keeping the conflict going and getting various religious factions ..at each others throats is good for buisness if you are a contractor - get rid of these bastards and the duration of the war will pass quicker.

[bush_cheney2004]

'Contractors' or guns for hire is the problem that taints the reputation of the military...All of these hooligans should be removed from every theatre of conflict -

The "military's" reputation is just fine thank you very much....one of the most trusted organizations in Canada or the USA. They are paid to kill people and destroy things.

[GostHacked]

The "military's" reputation is just fine thank you very much....one of the most trusted organizations in Canada or the USA. They are paid to kill people and destroy things.

Winning hearts and minds everywhere.

[Oleg Bach]

Barbarism and the fight to control the opium trade has been going on for a long time - the reason there are interlopers in Afghanistan is because of dope and the control of the market - why else is America there - they only go where there is profit to be made - and the nature of the dope trade dictates that lots of Mexican style killings occur..so US troops killing prisoners is simply business - don't worry about it - cocaine and opium are big money makers - and it is better that we control the dope rather than the Afghans ..business as usual.