If you don’t pay, they take you in and turn you over to the Americans as Taliban or Al-Qaeda

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.peacereporter.net/dettaglio_articolo.php?idc=0&idart=11179

Face to face with the mercenaries. Two years ago in May 2006, PeaceReporter conducted an investigative report on the topic from Helmand province. The following are extracts from that report. Just outside of Grishk stands a US military base: a small fortress in the middle of the desert with the stars and stripes atop a wooden tower. The base is home to one of the many “unofficial” US prisons where suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda are interrogated and tortured before being sent off to Kandahar, Bagram, and eventually Guantanamo.

But the base is manned by Afghan mercenaries, not American troops. The locals call them khakhprush, “men who have been sold to the enemy.” They are kids from nearby villages. They don’t wear a uniform. When they’re not out on a mission for or with the Americans, they’re hanging out on the carpets they put down in front of the barracks surrounding the walls of the base. They spend their days drinking tea, smoking hashish and maintaining their arsenal of rifles, machine guns, and rocket launchers.

<snip> They just use fighting the Taliban as an excuse and they’re protected by the people who hire them. They’re criminals who go around killing and robbing people, breaking into homes, and terrorizing people just to make money. If you don’t pay, they take you in and turn you over to the Americans as Taliban or an Al-Qaeda terrorist.”

[Peace Patriot]

1. Bushtitism corrupts, and absolute Bushitism corrupts absolutely. nt