CBS News) Four former U.S. military advisors in Afghanistan testified to Congress Tuesday that the Army general in charge of the NATO Training Mission there tried to delay an investigation into alleged human suffering and corruption at Dawood National Military Hospital, funded primarily with U.S. tax dollars.
The military whistleblowers, two of them still on active duty, say they discovered "Auschwitz"-like atrocities in 2010 at the hospital for wounded Afghan soldiers: open vats of blood draining from soldier's wounds, feces on the floor, and Afghan doctors and nurses demanding bribes to provide patients with food and basic care. According to the witnesses, patients routinely starved to death, were operated on without sedatives, and died of simple infections.
Army Colonel Mark Fassl was NATO's Training Mission Afghanistan Command Inspector General in 2010. He says when he requested the inspector general to investigate the hospital, he was admonished by the three-star general in charge, Lt. General William Caldwell.
"His first response to me was 'how could we make that request with elections coming?'" Fassl told a House oversight subcommittee Tuesday.
Another advisor in Afghanistan, Col. Gerald Carozza, says Caldwell's deputy delivered a similar message: that the general was upset that Fassl had asked for an independent investigation "so close to the (2010 midterm) election."
"We were to consider postponing it until afterwards," Carozza testified. "It was a stunning moment for me."
Fassl says he followed orders to take back his request for an investigation. But U.S. advisors began documenting the horrors and eventually blew the whistle to and Congress.
Now the inspector general is investigating allegations against Caldwell. A spokesman for Caldwell says he would "welcome the opportunity to respond to any inquiry" and that "all allegations will be proven false." Meantime, the Pentagon says strong actions have been taken to correct corruption, mismanagement and abuse at Dawood Hospital and by all accounts, conditions have improved dramatically.
"I would point out that some of the problems we saw at the hospital have in fact been resolved, corrective measures have been taken and patient care was improved as a result," Pentagon spokesman George Little said Tuesday.
Meantime, the witnesses told Congress the story is reflective of rampant, out of control corruption in Afghanistan where billions of U.S. tax dollars have been spent.
Col. Schuyler Geller, the former Command Surgeon of the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan, told Congress there's still a lack of accountability at Dawood Hospital. Doctors and nurses who committed "unspeakable" acts still "walk the halls of the hospital, unrepentant, unscathed and unprosecuted," he told Congress.
The poor guys. You get shot defending these worthless guys and they have the gall to demand money from you before they do their part?
These corrupt guys should be shot. Death penalty is exactly the right thing in this case, especially considering they are fighting a war.
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
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A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
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Yeah. And even when they get the money they want, the way they treat the soldiers is unspeakable. The Auschwitz part is not an exaggeration- those men are clearly in the final stages of starvation, and the medical pics strongly resemble those from Unit 731. We're talking about surgery without anesthesia, major wounds left untreated for weeks, etc.
Holy FUCK. It's incredible, especially since from the pictures, it's not like the hospital lacks funds ; They are decently equipped. And most of these horrifying pictures aren't things that CAN be a result of having to do with meagre supplies...
MAYBE if the hospital was incredibly understaffed it could be some sort of justification. Maybe. But that's not the picture painted by the testifying officers, now is it?
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Signature dedicated to the greatest achievement of mankind.
MILDLY DERANGED PHYSICIST does not mind BREAKING the SOUND BARRIER, because it is INSURED. - Simon_Jester considering the problems of hypersonic flight for Team L.A.M.E.
Yeah, but the US general in charge tried to cover it up, did not want any investigation and the people are still not punished.
So yes, at least partial US responsibility here.
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
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A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
------------ My LPs
weemadando wrote:Yeah, I saw this article a few minutes ago and my first reaction was "Is it any wonder that they keep deserting/turning on us?"
Because the way that we demand their loyalty and then deny them their humanity?
We're fucking evil people.
"We"? It sounds like this was US-funded, but operated by Afghans.
Shifting the blame won't change the reality.These men turned against their fellow countrymen on behalf of foreign powers. Right,wrong that is a massive leap to take and this is how they were rewarded. Afghans will probably still join the army because it's one of few well paying jobs in a poor country but it does send a damning message about what the occupation entails.
I have to tell you something everything I wrote above is a lie.
Grumman wrote:
"We"? It sounds like this was US-funded, but operated by Afghans.
Shifting the blame won't change the reality.These men turned against their fellow countrymen on behalf of foreign powers. Right,wrong that is a massive leap to take and this is how they were rewarded. Afghans will probably still join the army because it's one of few well paying jobs in a poor country but it does send a damning message about what the occupation entails.
So you are saying these soldiers are being treated horribly because the Afghan staff see them as "traitors"? Anyhow as I said before, Afghans are identified more by their ethnicity (Tajik, Pashtun, Uzbek etc.) than by their country so fighting against the Taliban isn't really a big deal (considering there was the Northern Alliance before the US intervened after 9-11.
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That said...it is growing on me.
Thanas: It is one of those songs that kinda get stuck in your head so if you hear it several times, you actually grow to like it.
General Zod: It's the musical version of Stockholm syndrome.
The article has examples of decisions made by American commanders for political reasons that impacted on these wounded Afghans. It's pretty hard to imagine those decision makers gave a shit.
I can't help but think this sort of thing falls under the purview of treason for the US folks in positions where they could do something. If not, something is wrong with how treason is defined. This is exactly how NOT to handle an occupation.
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Err.... isn't the problem more of corruption at the hospital, and how the US commander refused to interfere and manage their aid money?
Let him land on any Lyran world to taste firsthand the wrath of peace loving people thwarted by the myopic greed of a few miserly old farts- Katrina Steiner
SirNitram wrote:I can't help but think this sort of thing falls under the purview of treason for the US folks in positions where they could do something. If not, something is wrong with how treason is defined. This is exactly how NOT to handle an occupation.
Constitution wrote:Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
There's the definition of treason as used in the US. You'd have a hard time convincing anyone that either the person in charge of the hospital is levying War against the US, or adhering to it's enemies, and giving aid and comfort. It's a deliberately hard thing to charge people for.
"preemptive killing of cops might not be such a bad idea from a personal saftey[sic] standpoint..." --Keevan Colton
"There's a word for bias you can't see: Yours." -- William Saletan
Okay I just finished reading that article and looking at the pictures, if there is anything that resembled justice in this world the people responsible for this be dragged in front of military court-martial, found guilty and sentenced to life in front of a firing squad. As in the execution detail would be ordered to shoot those convicted in the gut and those shot that survived would then be treated in the same hospital.
It seems from the article that it was just the 3-star general in charge trying to cover it up, and the other Americans that knew about it went to Congress pretty quickly. Doesn't make any of this any better, of course, this is still one of the most horrifying things I've ever seen, but at least whistle-blowers are taking action instead of being institutionally bullied into silence.
