Nice Allies...
By Cernig Sunday Aug 24, 2008 5:00pm
President Karzai of Afghhanistan's signature is on a pardon for three gang-rapists who just happened to be cronies of a former Taliban commander and Afghan MP. The woman who was raped and her family didn't even know about it until the men turned up in their village again, but Karzai's office says he doesn't know anything about it.
“Everyone was shocked,” said Sara’s husband, Dilawar, who like many Afghans uses only one name. “These were men who had been sentenced and found guilty by the Supreme Court, walking around freely.”
Sara’s case highlights concerns about the close relationship between the Afghan president and men accused of war crimes and human rights abuses.
The men were freed discreetly but the rape itself was public and brutal. It took place in September 2005, in the run up to Afghanistan’s first democratic parliamentary elections.
... A copy of the pardon was numbered, dated in May and appeared to bear the personal signature of Hamid Karzai. It recommended the men’s release because, it said, “they had been forced to confess to their crimes.”
When showed copies of the presidential pardon and court papers, President Karzai’s spokesman, Hamayun Hamidzada, was visibly shocked and said that if the documents proved genuine, Mr Karzai would be “upset and appalled.”
He said it was impossible that President Karzai could knowingly have signed a pardon for rapists, but refused to speculate on how the pardon could have come about.
An Afghan MP told the Independent's Kate Clark that “The commanders, the war criminals, still have armed groups,” he said. “They’re in the government. Karzai, the Americans, the British sit down with them. They have impunity. They’ve become very courageous and can do whatever crimes they like.” UN officials say cases such as this are increasingly common - and the family of Sara, the raped woman, are in hiding again.
There's none of this that an Afghan Surge can solve - just as the Iraqi Surge hasn't solved very similiar problems there. And yet again the need to pretend that "democracy" follows in the Bush administration's wake outweighs the needs of the common people, while exiles pushed by the West and local crooks carve up the country to suit themselves. Such nice allies we have.
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Democracy flourishing!
Along with opium production and get-out-of-rape-free cards.
Bush and his oil buddies have no problem cozing up to Saudis. They treat their women like chattle. Ironic how Bush and his neo-con buddies said they had to free Iraq from a brutal dictator, and yet many women in Iraq were educated and held some positions in power.
The following comments have been made by mullahs, baptist preachers and catholic priests since time immemorial...
She was asking for it, all women do!!!
What clothes was she wearing?
Was she egging it on?
What is her sexual history?
Ask those questions and it's obvious that those men did her a favor and taught her a valuable lesson.
"Afghanistan" is and always was run by warlords.
"Afghanistan" does not exist as a nation except in the fantasies of the Map Makers of the Imperialist forces which have attempted to conquer that part of the world.
It is time for a 100% rethink of what "we" are doing in Afghanistan.
What a surprise. Maybe McCain can chase these guys to the gates of hell, better known as the Pakistan border, too.
The men were freed discreetly in may... (Sigh), apparently not discreetly enough... Look, I don't know enough about the Afghani culture to say much about it... Doesn't seem all that good to me. Smells pretty much like one of corruptions by-products to me.. I do know that in this culture, if this happened these men wouldn't be running around 'the village' doing whatever the hell they are doing back there again, (lookin for seconds???) while the family of the victim was hiding in fear...At least that shit isn't happening here yet...
I do have one solid comment on it.. The idea that democracy follows in the wake of the Bush administration is patently, demonstrably, provably.... bullshit...... In fact I would venture to say that just the opposite tends to follow in the Bush administrations wake...... Fascism and chaos..... But I don't think that's news to anyone paying attention...............JD
Why should we be shocked, this stuff happens under the US eye too.
Google "Jamie Leigh Jones" or look at this story: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=3977702.
Bottom line if you are connected with a countries leadership (Cheney -> Halliburton -> KBR) you can get away with anything you want.
karen marie @ 2:
Actually this is what you get when certain religious sects of MEN do not respect
a woman and her rights.
the American people are being played......
by the bastards in the whitehouse bush/cheney/cundi
and most of congress....
the criminals are running the govt of America,
spreading their virus around the world and
expect everyone else to pay for the privilege
of being shit on by bush/cheney and the rest
of the reichwingneocon fuckers.
America has sunk to it's lowest level and
the average IQ now is barely above a single
digit as they sit at home watching reality
shows about other morons.
"I have called for two additional brigades, perhaps three," he told CBS.
Finally...A Surge We Can Believe In.
So if Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are our "allies" then who are we fighting against? I mean, aside from each other in the election.
If these were Christian men getting raped and savaged, it would get more attention from today's GOP. But women?
crickets...
PEACE
These poor women. I wish I could personally take them all in. How can these "men" even be considered human? I won't even call them animals, as animals are more civil than they appear to be. It's like they cannot control their Id, or something.
MountainMan23 @ 4:
Methinks tis country is run by warlords....
14 Leadership Says:
MountainMan23 @ 4:
“Afghanistan” is and always was run by warlords.
“Afghanistan” does not exist as a nation except in the fantasies of the Map Makers of the Imperialist forces which have attempted to conquer that part of the world.
It is time for a 100% rethink of what “we” are doing in Afghanistan.
-----------
Methinks tis country is run by warlords….
=======
GW Bush - our WarLord President.
This is what you get with a bush hand-picked leader.
Sorry. The U.S. has no business being militarily in Afghanistan.
This sickens me so much. I believe that any group of males that would allow such a thing to happen in their society are cowards. I don't care a fig what God you honor, your God would not approve of this treatment of one of his children.
Even though the war in Afghanistan is bogus, we used to be able to justify it a little bit by saying to ourselves , "at least we got rid of the Opressive Taliban and women are alot better off...but now......?
Who gives a shit about a bunch of women? Not there and not here (at least to our own American Talabanic right-wingers.
Hey you women...GET OFF OR LAWNS!
This is terrible, but not suprising at all. The country is run by criminals just like ours
No possible chance this is BS!! NONE!!
dont worry lady help is on the way, it may take a generation and lots of incriments to help but if you can hide out for just one more generation to pass and some creepy crawly incriments and two brigades of americas finest youll be right as rain!
That's the problem with both right and left Americans, they make analysis that suit their political goals no matter what are the facts. otherwise, how come Iraq comes in the mix? Iraq does not have the very same problems as Afghanistan. Iraq and Afghanistan have very totally different societies, history and situation. So know your facts before, so the right would not win the elections.
The son of this woman was taken by the local police.
The mother went looking for him one time too many.
The police and soldiers raped her with a bayonetted rifle.
The medical reports confirmed this,
This is one story among thousands.
The son is still missing.
Jack Damage @ 6:
Jack, you're confusing two things. Because you're unfamiliar with the culture you're placing the blame on that unknown factor, but is that the right conclusion? Probably not.
If you take into account the cases in which U.S. contractors have been involved in Iraq, the rape and the torture and the torching of dead bodies of fellow Americans a pattern will start to form.
Culture has nothing to do with it. The major factor is the environment. When you have chaos, no rule of law and very little accountability then you can expect humans to run wild. Not all humans, just the disgusting immoral ones. But you get the idea. Remember the "Lord of the Flies"? Why do you think most Afganis carry around a Klashinkov or two?
mike @ 18:
It's ridiculous how many on here who think they're open minded liberals are quick to stick it to religion, culture or nationality.
People these days just don’t see their own faults.
Just come out and call them savages and barbarians if that makes you happy. "Cowards", was it? You're tough behind your keyboard, but I'd like to see you defending your wife and family with a couple of broomsticks when thugs with Ak-47s came into your town. Sadly, too many buffoons think they know the world outside their borders just because they read up about it or see it on TV.
Next time, at least pretend to know something about what you're talking about before you go throwing around accusations like that. And what the heck does God have anything to do with all this anyway?
Why didn't you criticize "American culture" when U.S. contractors were raping their female colleagues? Where the fuck where you then? Oh that was different. It's a war zone, there's chaos and little to no accountability, and had it been in the U.S., the "community" would have taken care of the culprit. Right.
I keep forgetting that Afghanistan is NOT a war zone. Silly me. [/snark].
Yeah for those who read the story, the reality is even worse than just the gang-rape.
They abducted her son (probably dead by now), and they gang-raped her because she dared ask them to return him.
So common folks get to see how brutal criminals get rich and are well treated by the foreign occupation forces, all this while committing the most brutal crimes, getting caught for it but get the luxury to act in impunity.
I'm sure the coalition forces are winning the minds and the hearts of common Afghans, I don't see how the Talibans could get any foothold back again, really...
The problem is, we seem to assume that all the people in the world want to (or can) casually shrug off centuries of tribalism and ancient rivalies and become “just like us”. Recent events show this to be otherwise. The Neo-Cons have taken this ignorance farther, thinking that we can force others into our way of life with the barrel of a gun. Really? If people don’t share our values and goals, no amount of firepower can change that fact. The wars in Vietnam and Iraq illustrate this point perfectly.
Why should the "rule of law" mean anything to them, it doesn't mean anything to the U.S...
In the link to this story Dilawar says he no longer has any honor. That he and his wife have nothing left to lose. That is why he and Sara have no fear about going public with this story. I hope some day they understand that the two of them are people of great honor. Far more than the cowards who did this. At least one of the filthy pervert rapists died in jail.
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