Denial of Ignoring Torture in Afghan Prisons Not Credible\u2013They Trained Afghan Military Police
\nPosted on October 31, 2011 by Jim White<\/p>\n
Brig. Gen. Saffiullah, Afghan National Army Military Police Brigade commander, proudly displays his certificate from Robert Harward, left, on April 5, 2010. (Air Force photo)<\/p>\n
Yesterday, the Washington Post finally caught up to where Marcy was over two weeks ago and discussed the UN report \u201cTreatment of Conflict-Related Detainees in Afghan Custody\u201d (pdf). I\u2019d like to move beyond the primary findings of the report, that torture is widespread in Afghan detention facilities and that the US continued bringing prisoners to these facilities long after other nations discontinued the practice due to concerns over reports of torture, and to examine US denials of knowledge regarding the torture.<\/p>\n
First, to set the stage from the Post article:<\/p>\n
Department 124 was long sealed off from the outside world; the ICRC, the United Nations and other organizations concerned with human rights were barred by Afghan officials from monitoring conditions there.<\/p>\n
But American officials frequently went inside, according to Afghan officials and others familiar with the site. U.S. Special Operations troops brought detainees there, and CIA officials met with Department 124\u2019s leadership on a weekly basis, reviewed their interrogation reports and used the intelligence gleaned from interrogations to inform their operations, the officials said.<\/p>\n
And now the denial I\u2019m most interested in:<\/p>\n
One U.S. official in Kabul said the CIA officers and Special Operations troops would not have ignored torture. \u201cNot in the post-Abu Ghraib era,\u201d the official said. \u201cAll American entities out there are hyper-aware of these allegations and would report them up the chain.\u201d<\/p>\n
We will dismiss the CIA denial out of hand: documentation of CIA torture practices and the CIA\u2019s attempts to have DOJ provide legal cover for them now fills many books. However, JSOC involvement in torture is less well-documented despite the fact that JSOC torture played a central, but under-reported, role in David Petraeus\u2019 COIN strategy as implemented in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Petraeus\u2019 primary operative in implementing the torture strategy in both countries was Stanley McChrystal. …more<\/a><\/p>\n