Account of Bagram homicides outrages Karzai

The New York Times gained access to the full text of a 2,000 page report on the deaths of two detainees in Bagram in 2002, and its reporting of their brutal homicides has sparked outrage in Afghanistan and the US. The account of the torture and physical abuse which led to the deaths of two Afghanis, both known only by one name, Dilawar and Habibullah, provoked President Hamid Karzai to demand immediate custody of all Afghan detainees in Afghanistan. Speaking before a news conference, on the eve of his departure for the US to meet with President Bush, Karzai appeared uncharacteristically angry, saying, "It has shocked me thoroughly and we condemn it."



The New York Times feature, reporting the sadistic and horrifying treatment of the two victims is extremely graphic, benefitting from the Army's own interviews and investigations into the matter. The NY Times has also created a shorter, more "interactive" feature which is worthwhile.

The media seems intent on squashing the story, reporting instead on the "tough stance" the US is taking with President Hamid Karzai on opium. Given the detail and violent sadism apparent in the story, it seems clear that the issue will not go away.

When one of the First Platoon M.P.'s, Specialist Corey E. Jones, was sent to Mr. Dilawar's cell to give him some water, he said the prisoner spit in his face and started kicking him. Specialist Jones responded, he said, with a couple of knee strikes to the leg of the shackled man.

"He screamed out, 'Allah! Allah! Allah!' and my first reaction was that he was crying out to his god," Specialist Jones said to investigators. "Everybody heard him cry out and thought it was funny."

Other Third Platoon M.P.'s later came by the detention center and stopped at the isolation cells to see for themselves, Specialist Jones said.

It became a kind of running joke, and people kept showing up to give this detainee a common peroneal strike just to hear him scream out 'Allah,' " he said. "It went on over a 24-hour period, and I would think that it was over 100 strikes."