Group: 2 More Detainees Die in Afghanistan

[maddezmom]

KABUL, Afghanistan - Human Rights Watch said Monday it had uncovered two more cases of prisoners dying in American custody in Afghanistan (news - web sites), and it accused the Bush administration of "dragging its feet" on investigations that could have prevented the abuse of prisoners in Iraq (news - web sites).


In an open letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, the New York-based rights group said it had new evidence of "an alleged murder of a detainee by four U.S. military personnel" in Afghanistan in 2002. More recently, it said a man picked up on Sept. 24, 2004, died the next day at an American base, but it did not specify the cause of death.


"It's time for the United States to come clean about crimes committed by U.S. forces in Afghanistan," said Brad Adams, the group's Asia division director. "The United States has to get serious about prosecuting people implicated in prisoner deaths and mistreatment."


U.S. military officials in Afghanistan had no immediate comment on the alleged new cases highlighted in the letter.

more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&ncid=535&e=6&u=/ap/20041213/ap_on_re_as/afghan_prisoner_abuse

[LynnTheDem]

1. bahhhhhh! That's just more of them Frat House

PRANKS.

[maddezmom]

2. Rights Group Puts Rumsfeld on Spot Over Afghan Deaths

KABUL (Reuters) - An international rights group said it knows of more prisoners dying in U.S. military custody in Afghanistan (news - web sites), and Washington's failure to hold anyone accountable had created a culture of impunity.


"It's time for the United States to come clean about crimes committed by U.S. forces in Afghanistan," Brad Adams, Asia Division director for Human Rights Watch, said on Monday.


In an open letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Human Rights Watch revealed two new cases of deaths in custody and demanded an investigation into a third that took place three months ago.


The two new cases uncovered involved the alleged killing of an Afghan army soldier mistakenly arrested with seven others in March last year, and the alleged murder of another detainee in 2002, HRW said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&ncid=586&e=8&u=/nm/20041213/wl_nm/rights_afghan_usa_abuse_dc

[NNN0LHI]

3. As long as we have been holding them it might be due to old age? n/t

[maddezmom]

4. U.S. Investigates 8 Afghan Prison Deaths

WASHINGTON (AP) - Military officials said Monday that eight prisoner deaths in Afghanistan have been investigated since mid-2002, a higher number than previously reported. Human Rights Watch said slow-paced investigations had ``spawned a culture of impunity'' that may have fueled prisoner abuse in Iraq.

``It's time for the United States to come clean about crimes committed by U.S. forces in Afghanistan,'' said Brad Adams, the group's Asia division director.

Failure to prosecute incidents in Afghanistan has allowed abusive interrogation techniques to spread to Iraq, Adams said. ``The U.S. government is dragging its feet on these investigations,'' he said.

A Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. John Skinner, said commanders go to ``enormous lengths to investigate any credible allegations of detainee abuse.'' Many death investigations have determined that detainees died due to natural causes or because of injuries suffered before their capture, he said.

more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4671439,00.html