Community | May 12, 2010 | 55 comments

Seymour Hersh: US troops executing prisoners in Aghanistan

source: http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0512/hersh-battlefield-executions-continue-obama/

SleepDirt
The journalist who helped break the story that detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were being tortured by their US jailers told an audience at a journalism conference last month that American soldiers are now executing prisoners in Afghanistan.

New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh also revealed that the Bush Administration had developed advanced plans for a military strike on Iran.

At the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Geneva, Hersh criticized President Barack Obama, and alleged that US forces are engaged in "battlefield executions."

"I'll tell you right now, one of the great tragedies of my country is that Mr. Obama is looking the other way, because equally horrible things are happening to prisoners, to those we capture in Afghanistan," Hersh said. "They're being executed on the battlefield. It's unbelievable stuff going on there that doesn't necessarily get reported. Things don't change.:

"What they've done in the field now is, they tell the troops, you have to make a determination within a day or two or so whether or not the prisoners you have, the detainees, are Taliban," Hersh added. "You must extract whatever tactical intelligence you can get, as opposed to strategic, long-range intelligence, immediately. And if you cannot conclude they're Taliban, you must turn them free.

"What it means is, and I've been told this anecdotally by five or six different people, battlefield executions are taking place," he continued. "Well, if they can't prove they're Taliban, bam. If we don't do it ourselves, we turn them over to the nearby Afghan troops and by the time we walk three feet the bullets are flying. And that's going on now."

The video of Hersh was uploaded to Michael Moore's YouTube account Tuesday.

Hersh has a long history as an investigative journalist and worked for many years at The New York Times. In 1969, he broke the story of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.

This video is from YouTube, broadcast May 11, 2010.
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55 comments // Seymour Hersh: US troops executing prisoners in Aghanistan // Video

  • treewolf39
    • 0
      treewolf39  

    • Training makes killing civilians acceptable Pt3

      Josh Stieber: I refused to shoot where civilians might be killed and questioned why we were in Iraq

    • 2 years ago
  • corndog67
  • SleepDirt
  • Econmst4peace
    • 0
      Econmst4peace  

    • This is a Prime example of how we should just leave the Middle East alone. They have their own way of dealing with things. We need to respect their cultural differences even though we believe they are destroying peoples rights or lives in this case. Don't sell them guns, Don't sell them Bombs, Don't do business with them. Offer humanitarian aid if they need it and thats it! if they want there women in burka's and public executions thats their right as independent people. It's none of our FUCKING BUSINESS!!!

    • 2 years ago
  • treewolf39
    • 0
      treewolf39  

    • Josh Stieber enlisted in the army after graduating high school. He was deployed to Baghdad from Feb 07- Apr 08 with the military company shown on the ground in the Collater Murder video. Upon his return from Iraq, Josh was granted conscientious objector status. Part 2

    • 2 years ago
  • chaos1
    • +2
      chaos1  

    • Does the army see the repercussions of this? Everytime they kill someone who isn't involved with the Taliban the families of the victims become more and more enraged. If they didn't hate America before, they sure as hell will now. In 20 years, the children of innocent men killed by the military is gonna come back at us....hard.

    • 2 years ago
  • Miglue
    • +2
      Miglue  

    • it's sad to say but we only vote for puppets, the puppet masters remain the same. i remember hearing about all these executions when i was in uniform right after 9/11. i knew that wasn't the first time its been done nor the last. do we need anymore proof that our govt is full of shit. we play the roll of the high and mighty but we work in the sewers.

    • 2 years ago
  • frank_runyeon
    • +1
      frank_runyeon  

    • This is both disturbing and important news. While I hate to hear about this kind of atrocity being allowed, it is great to see this kind of serious content rising to the top of Current.

      Get the word out and VOTE IT UP!

    • 2 years ago
  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  

    • you can train some one how to be able and effective to kill but you cant make them turn it off.get used to it this is a side effect of war.cannot have a war without it

    • 2 years ago
  • jdubsy
  • AaliasChrisCarter
  • freecrack
  • SleepDirt
  • vicgal
    • 0
      vicgal  

    • "The problem with arguing based on anecdotal evidence is that anecdotal evidence is not necessarily typical; only statistical evidence can determine how typical something is. Misuse of anecdotal evidence is a logical fallacy. In all forms of anecdotal evidence, objective independent assessment may be in doubt. This is a consequence of the informal way the information is gathered, documented, presented, or any combination of the three. The term is often used to describe evidence for which there is an absence of documentation. This leaves verification dependent on the credibility of the party presenting the evidence..."

    • 2 years ago
  • SleepDirt
    • 0
      SleepDirt  
    • vicgal:

      Nonetheless, Hersh has proven repeatedly that his sources are reliable. If they were not, you and I would never have known about My Lai, Abu Ghraib, Project Jennifer.
      He also revealed that the editor of the Daily Mirror, Nocholas Davies, ratted on whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu to the Israelis; Vanunu had exposed the Israelis' secret nuclear weapons program.
      I have come to trust his reporting for good reason.

    • 2 years ago
  • vicgal
  • zakthezomb13
    • -2
      zakthezomb13  

    • OH SNAP! People are being killed? In a WAR? the wrong PEOPLE?!

      we should let them think we are pulling out. bring our damn NATIONAL GUARD home. let the taliban collect themselves and make more intelligent strikes.

    • 2 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • +3
      JanforGore  

    • And we are supposed to support this as Americans? I also posted a story yesterday about the rising deaths of civilians at checkpoints which fell into the abyss as well. Why is this now so far out of the consciousness of Americans? Why were so many so morally outraged when Bush was there, and now are doing exactly as Obama is doing and looking the other way?

    • 2 years ago
  • Andrew_Douglas
  • JanforGore
  • Andrew_Douglas
  • bking74
    • +3
      bking74  
    • JanforGore:

      I have done two tours in Iraq and two tours in Afghanistan, about to head to my third in 30 and a wake up. While I never witnessed or heard about wholesale battlefield executions, I have seen and (God Forgive Me) been involved in instances when innocent civilians were killed at check points and border crossing. Generally due to gross incidents of miscommunication and a general atmosphere of extreme paranoia.

    • 2 years ago
  • SleepDirt
  • bking74
    • 0
      bking74  
    • Image
    • bking74:

      The thing thing that truly worries me about these accusations is the lack of any official response from the U.S Military. I read several Pro-Military websites like Military.com and I couldn't find even a hint of a rumor concerning this story. Still, in my personal experience I have not seen or heard of the whole execution of Afghan prisoners of war.

    • 2 years ago
  • masterzip
  • treewolf39
  • dragon1984
  • bking74
    • 0
      bking74  
    • treewolf39:

      I have a lot of respect for Josh Stieber and his Contagious Love Experiment, but he is using an isolated, unfortunate incident as an example of the conduct of the entire U.S Military and it's tactics in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even though I haven't witnessed the same level of deviant, depravity behavior, I respect his views and opinions. Josh Stieber earned the right to his beliefs by his service to our country and deserves our respect.

    • 2 years ago
  • KSirys
    • +3
      KSirys  

    • So much for change... Just reading this article makes me wonder if we are going to see Bush tactics soon.. more wars, more lies...

    • 2 years ago
  • bking74
  • KSirys
  • bking74
  • Incredulous
  • SleepDirt
  • freecrack
  • Nephwrack
  • trut
  • zakthezomb13
  • irie_ojo
    • 0
      irie_ojo  
    • trut:

      i wonder how much of the opium is made into heroin, and then shipped into the usa by our own govt...? it wouldnt be the first time they have done it....

    • 2 years ago
  • freecrack
  • freecrack
  • irie_ojo
    • 0
      irie_ojo  
    • freecrack:

      that and the coca plant....

      drugs make $, busts make money, & the resale makes $....its an awesome drug war isn't it. one big circle with our govt officials making all the money.

    • 2 years ago
  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  
    • irie_ojo:

      i always felt is was a method by wich to paint a rosey face on the institution of police. i mean the benevolent order?without drugs we would see the existence of police as tyranny, but with the scurge that drugs are (still hasnt collapsed our society yet) the cops are heros.

    • 2 years ago
  • irie_ojo
  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  
    • irie_ojo:

      yeah that guy was a shitload calmer then id be
      i still dream of the day i get to meet the person who abused my rescue puppy(who is all of 6 pnds) .shoot my dog and if im cuffed i will try to bite your throat out

    • 2 years ago
  • freecrack
  • bking74
    • 0
      bking74  
    • irie_ojo:

      No, its not the first time and Afghanistan is the world number one exporter of heroin in the world. The U.S Military turns a blind eye to the drug trade because it's the main source of revenue for the tribal warlords, whose support we so need to maintain any pre-tense of order.

    • 2 years ago
  • irie_ojo
  • bking74
  • irie_ojo
  • Nephwrack
    • 0
      Nephwrack  
    • freecrack:

      and you would have ended up like the dog. legal recourse man. if we ignore the cops and then do what they want us to, (violence) it justifies their actions in the eyes of john q. sheeple.

    • 2 years ago
  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  
    • Nephwrack:

      at that point my politics take second stage to my heart. let the savages kill off all the compasionate so that if thier is a heaven we can watch them tear eachother limb from limb

    • 2 years ago
  • Nephwrack
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