I think we may have found out what the CIA was withholding from Congress

[usregimechange]

After a mass killing of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Taliban prisoners of war by the forces of an American-backed warlord during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, Bush administration officials repeatedly discouraged efforts to investigate the episode, according to government officials and human rights organizations.

American officials had been reluctant to pursue an investigation — sought by officials from the F.B.I., the State Department, the Red Cross and human rights groups — because the warlord, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, was on the payroll of the C.I.A. and his militia worked closely with United States Special Forces in 2001, several officials said. They said the United States also worried about undermining the American-supported government of President Hamid Karzai, in which General Dostum had served as a defense official.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/world/asia/11afghan.html?_r=1&hp

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. That's one -

it would be naive to think there is only one incident.

I get queasy just considering what might be the true number, what might be the truth............................

[usregimechange]

2. US backed and covered up genocides do not happen every day

[MADem]

3. Hmmm.

The question of culpability for the prisoner deaths — which may have been the most significant mass killing in Afghanistan after the 2001 American-led invasion — has taken on new urgency since the general, an important ally of Mr. Karzai, was reinstated to his government post last month. He had been suspended last year and living in exile in Turkey after he was accused of threatening a political rival at gunpoint.

“If you bring Dostum back, it will impact the progress of democracy and the trust people have in the government,” Mr. Prosper said. Arguing that the Obama administration should investigate the 2001 killings, he added, “There is always a time and place for justice.”

[usregimechange]

4. Lets hope Obama responds in our best interest and hold them accountable

[Selatius]

5. It's a war crime. The CIA wants no part of any war crimes tribunal on its ass.

In the 1940s, this would earn you a hanging for committing war crimes.

[NNN0LHI]

6. This is bad business but my impression is it was something current and ongoing

My guess would be death squads. I have always suspected the good old boys with the electric drills in Iraq were Americans. Bush didn't send John Negroponte over there to play Parcheesi.

Don

[TomCADem]

9. Agree, I Thought It Was A Proposed Program, Not A Cover-Up

The genocide does not sound like the super secret program that has been alluded to.

[orleans]

11. my understanding was that the program was going on now and

when panetta heard about it he put a stop to it.

[wroberts189]

7. Hmm could be.. but sounds more like a coverup used to hide a bigger one.

Like death squads.. even worse domestic use of them.

I still wonder about the DC Madam "suicide".

[Oilwellian]

8. A clue from Panetta

He claims when he recently learned about the secret program, he immediately shut it down. It's something that's been ongoing since 2001.

[wroberts189]

10. immediately shut it down ..it was ongoing... thats very interesting. thx

If he shut it down right after he heard about it... it must have been VERY BAD STUFF

[Richard Steele]

12. K&R

[bertman]

13. The Taliban prisoner slaughter was made public years ago even though nothing came of it.

I don't think that was it.