Saturday, July 11, 2009

War Crimes and the White House: {UpDated}

The Bush Administration's Cover-Up of the Dasht-e-Leili Massacre

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has issued a call for a criminal probe in the wake of a major New York Times story by James Risen with new evidence that the Bush Administration impeded at least three federal investigations into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan in 2002. ("U.S. Inaction Seen After Taliban P.O.W.s Died" - NYTimes)

PHR is calling for the Department of Justice to investigate why the Bush Administration impeded an FBI criminal probe of the alleged Dasht-e-Leili massacre.

According to US government documents obtained by PHR, as many as 2,000 surrendered Taliban fighters were reportedly suffocated in container trucks by Afghan forces operating jointly with the US in November 2001. The bodies were reportedly buried in mass graves in the Dasht-e-Leili desert near Sheberghan, Afghanistan. Notorious Afghan warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum, who was reportedly on the CIA payroll, is allegedly responsible for the massacre.

This video, detailing nearly eight years of advocacy and investigation by Physicians for Human Rights, explores the events surrounding the massacre and subsequent cover-up.



Featuring Physicians for Human Rights' CEO Frank Donaghue, Campaign Against Torture Director Nathaniel Raymond, and Deputy Director Susannah Sirkin. Written, directed, and narrated by Jared Voss.

For more information and to sign our petition calling for Attorney General Eric Holder to let the FBI do its job, visit Afghan Mass Grave.


UpDate: 7.12.09

President Obama Orders National Security Team To Investigate Dasht-e-Leili Massacre and Alleged Cover-Up

Physicians for Human Rights Hails the President's Commitment after Pressing for Accountability for Seven Years

Cambridge, MA – President Obama told CNN's Anderson Cooper that he has directed his national security team to look into the 2001 deaths of Taliban prisoners who allegedly were massacred by US-backed forces in Afghanistan. The President stated that the government needs to find out whether actions by the US contributed to possible war crimes........

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